West Bend 82306 Stir Crazy® Popcorn Maker

I don't really care for popcorn much and when I do get a craving it's for movie theater popcorn, which I've never tasted replicated at home. Still, I do own a West Bend Stir Crazy, I just don't make popcorn in it. If you are looking to make popcorn in this it does a pretty darn good job and, quite frankly, I like it quite a bit better than air poppers.

The Stir Crazy is effectively a hot plate with a stir rod built into it and a bowl sitting on top—the look always makes me think of the Jetsons' car. To make six quarts of popcorn (the maximum capacity for this machine) you simply put three tablespoons of oil (butter will smoke or even burn) for a cup of corn kernels—to make smaller quantities just maintain the three tablespoons of oil to one cup of corn kernels ratio—and plug the stir crazy in. If you want buttered popcorn you simply place butter (in the same quantity as the oil) on the "butter holes" on the top of the bowl/lid so that it melts over the popping corn. Once all of the popping has stopped—the Stir Crazy really does seem to pop more kernels than traditional air poppers—you simply unplug the stir crazy, put the plastic lid over the butter holes, and flip the whole unit upside down. This way you simply remove the hot plate unit and have a yummy bowl of popcorn just waiting to be salted.

One of the nice things about this item is that it really does stay cool. While the hot plate inside gets extremely hot the handles and plastic body stay cool to the touch even after it's been on for a while (although during long coffee roasting sessions with the added heat the body does get quite hot, be careful). The bowl itself (if you're popping corn) merely gets warm to the touch as it's simply heated by the rising hot air. This means that you don't—well, I should probably say "shouldn't" to be safe—need hot pads to flip the bowl off of the hot plate.

Cleaning the unit is incredibly easy: the hotplate surface is nonstick so simply wipe it down with a soapy sponge and dry, the bowl can be cleaned in the same manner. The trick comes when people make "kettle corn" by adding sugar to the popping kernels. This tends to leave a sticky residue over the bottom of the hot plate that is a devil to get out. Use hot water and do it as soon after popping as you can to prevent an impenetrable goo from forming and never, I repeat never, pop another batch without cleaning the sugar out, unless you want a perpetually sticky machine (or enjoy spending hours scrubbing with a hot plastic scrubby).

This extremely simple to use machine does produce good popcorn and the buttering method actually prevents the "super soggination" that generally occurs when buttering after popping. Even so, as mentioned above, I still don't care for the popcorn, but I do think the Stir Crazy makes a fabulous coffee roaster.

While the Stir Crazy doesn't get hot enough by itself to roast coffee it does an excellent job of stirring the coffee while roasting. If you supply another heating method, such as the heating element/lid from a "turbo oven" style convection oven, then you have a great coffee roaster. By simply increasing the size of the stir arms (some people use European style barrier strips, I pounded paddles out of 1/2" copper pipe) this method gives a fabulously even roast that's highly controllable (much better than the air popper methods). Depending on the you exact system and the darkness of the roast you can roast the best cup of coffee you can find in less than twenty minutes. For more detailed information about homeroasting I highly recommend Home Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival by Kenneth Davids.

Two more things to note: cooling & size. This is the six quart model but there is also an eight quart model, which generally runs about ten dollars more. If you are making popcorn and think you'll want to make those extra two quarts per batch, go for it. If you are buying this to roast coffee: don't waste your money. The hot plate is the same size in both units and the only difference is the size of the bowl/lid. As for cooling coffee: even if you disable the heating element in the Stir Crazy the hot plate will stay hot so you should consider constructing a separate unit to quickly halt the roasting.

While roasting coffee in the Stir Crazy certainly voids the warranty (even if you don't modify it first) I think it's better suited for this task and will go to the movies when I want real popcorn. Either way the Stir Crazy is a top notch item that I highly recommend.