6112 Great Northern Popcorn Red Foundation Top Popcorn Popper Machine, 4 Ounce
$ 46.85
- I’ve had the chance to own a Great Northern and a Pagagon popcorn machine. The Great Northern is less expensive and it shows, but for some people that’s the right choice.Who needs a popcorn machine? If you like movie popcorn, and you can’t be bothered use a manual method like Alton’s Brown’s metal bowl popcorn method (look it up), a popcorn machine is great. Popcorn machines are also great for parties, such as hosting movie night with friends. Real popcorn machines are expensive, but they’re also commercial-quality. Basically – do you want to pay a couple bucks for a plastic machine that will break in a few years, or do you want to invest in a metal and glass machine that will last a lifetime? If you want a lasting machine, read on.What size to get? This depends on how many people you usually feed, and how much they eat. My mom is the kind of person who can go through 2 microwave bags by herself. The most common microwave popcorn bag is 1.75oz, and feeds 1 or more people depending on preferences. I’d qualify this 1.75-2oz size as a “medium” bowl of popcorn, suitable for most people. My wife and I find that 4oz (2oz per person) is a lot of popcorn for us. But other people may find this is way too small. Know your audience.What if I have a party or event? Machines are rated in how many ounces of popcorn they cook at a time. Divide the ounces by 2. That’s how many medium-size bowls of popcorn your machine makes at a time. So a 4-oz machine serves about 2 people in a single pop. Note that you can run the machine multiple times rapidly and store the popcorn in the warming drawer. So a 4oz machine can rapidly make 8 servings of popcorn if desired (just run it 4 times, and bag or hold the popcorn as it comes out). This is plenty for a small party of hungry friends, or you can easily stretch this out to 16 small 1oz servings for a school class or bar snack.What other supplies do I need? Great Northern makes a perfect premade bag of popcorn ingredients. It contains the golden trio of ingredients which you’ll need if you don’t buy their packs: 1) Flavacol, or a finely-ground seasoning salt. 2) Good-quality popcorn kernels. 3) A high-heat cooking oil such as coconut oil, which can have added butter flavor if desired. You will also want at least a plastic popcorn scoop (provided), and something to serve popcorn in (I love the paper bags, or a big bowl with friends). Note that you will definitely also want a non-ammonia glass cleaner (Sprayway) for de-greasing the machine between uses.What are the pros and cons of Great Northern? Relatively cheap. Great Northern machines are some of the lowest-cost, commerical-quality machines on the market. One maker. Great Northern makes some of the best pre-measured popcorn packets, not to mention accessories such as bags and scoops, on the market. You can get all your supplies in one place. Same movie-quality popcorn as any commercial machine. Great for a light commercial setting. Serves anyone from a couple who love movie night, up to easily serving a small class of kids or to serve a non-business-critical role such as serving bar snacks to get patrons drinking.- The cheap price shows. A great example is that the “old maid drawer” for catching unpopped kernels is basically just a thin piece of aluminum with the sides bent up. If you accidentally drop the tray it might easily bent out of shape. But the unit works. Just don’t let the kids operate it, as they could easily break some components.- Made in China.- Personally, I don’t find the Great Northern machines very aesthetically appealing. The machine looks fine, but when you compare it to something like a Paragon, the Paragon has a much more iconic look.What are the pros and cons of Paragon Pop? Much higher quality. Thicker glass, thicker cables, better construction all around. Made in USA. Has a range of stylish designs to match any home theater, and I like their designs better overall. They have “the” popcorn design I always wanted in my home theater. Fully capable commercial machines. I’m sure Paragon Popcorn machines are used in actual movie theaters. Fully capable of servicing large numbers of people, depending on capacity. Will stand up to years of abuse.- Not a one-stop shop. They do partner with companies to sell pre-measured popcorn packs and everything you need, but they don’t roll it under one umbrella as nicely as Great Northern does.- Way more expensive. The Paragon equivalent machine might weigh twice as much from the materials used, so the unit and its shipping is way more expensive. It seems like they’ve also been backlogged since the pandemic, and may be charging a fee due to surge demand. So you may have to wait for a fair price, if you still want a Paragon. Yes, the build quality is worth it. But how much do you want to spend on popcorn?The bottom line:I feel like Paragon Popcorn is the absolute gold standard for popcorn machines. Great quality, great looks, great service. The first machine I got from Paragon was broken in transit, and they replaced it immediately. No questions asked. But, Paragon is so expensive. For some people, that’s just too hard to justify.Great Northern therefore provides “bang for the buck”. It’s the same quality popcorn as a Paragon, but at a fraction of the price. So long as you’re careful with the components, a Great Northern machine could last a lifetime. But the components are thinner, the power cord is flimsier, and I find the look of the machine is not as iconic as Paragon. For a small home theater, especially for people who don’t eat buckets and buckets of popcorn, a Great Northern is an amazing budget machine.
