When I was growing up, my family ate a lot of popcorn. Microwave popcorn on movie nights. Bowl after bowl of air-popped, dry and light as packing peanuts. Kettle corn bought by the sack at summertime ...

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding a heap of sad, unpopped kernels at the bottom of a popcorn bowl. Such wasted potential! Often the culprit is a microwave’s pre-set popcorn setting — mine ...