Aluminum Foil
 

When cooking what side faces out the shiny or dull side. This has always stumped me.

Thanks

Hi
 

It's shiney side in, If shiney side is out it reflects the heat off of whatever it is your cooking.

Ahah, we have gone over this Devo you put the shiney side on the inside and the dull side on the outside.

I watched a Food Network show about the making of aluminum foil a couple of months back and the host asked this exact question. The aluminum foil manufacturer said that it made no difference whatsoever which side you use :neutral:

I can't believe that guy. All my life its been shiny side in. Reflects the heat back in.

when I google it 50% of the respondents say shiny in while 50% say shiny out.. :noidea: I have personally never paid attention to which side is in or out when I use foil.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_the_shi..._wrap_for_heat

shiny-ness has nothing to do with heat conductivity. the maufacturer is perfectly right. it makes absolutely not a lick of a difference. you use aluminum foil not to reflect heat, but to keep in moisture, while conducting as much heat as possible.

it looks prettier with the shiny side out though.

unless your cooking with light, it doesnt matter

shiny side is just reflecting the light.

My question(s) is

1. How has this gotten more than 1 or 2 responses

2. Why am i making it 8 responses

feel free to discuss further

Devonious, when i make my secret UFO hat, i always put the shinny side out.
I find this stop the chatter much better then leaving the shinny side in.
One time i did shinny side in and i really thought more clearly.
But every time after that its been shinny side out.

Remeber when making a tinfoil hat to keep the aliens from reading your mind that if you make a spike on the top be sure if you are tall to make it under 6 foot 6 or it will get bent everytime you walk thru a doorway.

So the better question to ask is;
Why does tinfoil really have 2 different colored sides?

So which side keeps in more moisture? This could be the cause of many a runny lasagna.

at the shops i always go shiny side out :lol:

try poking some holes in the foil during the last 15-20min of your baked pasta it will let the excess moisture out, or take off the foil for the whole cooking process and have the cheese all browned up.

maybe the tomato sauce is not reduced enough ??

ok this is getting side tracked, sorry to highjack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_foil

While many believe that the different properties keep heat out when wrapped with the matte finish facing out, and keep heat in with the matte finish facing inwards, the actual difference is imperceptible without instrumentation.

Its just part of the proccess used to create the foil.

"The shiny side is produced when the aluminium is rolled during the final pass"

Interesting, now, does aluminum pass into our food when we cook with foil? Aluminum in deodorants leads to cancer, i dont want it in my food!

Oddly I learned something new from this thread hahahah.
I really thought it would be a simple thread, but this is reaching a new level!

IMO, yes, aluminum does go into our food when in contact with it. Especially acidic foods like tomatoes. Aluminum cookware, aluminum foil, aluminum in your cake mixes, aluminum in your deoderant. I do believe some studies have shown that aluminum can lead to Alzheimer's. But if one thing doesn't get you, another certainly will...muhahahaha. :D sorry, evil laugh.

actualy there is a difference weather it is shinny side in or out, but it is not enough of a differance for us to worry about.

3 types of heat transfer conduction, convection, and radiation, the shinny vs non shinny side of the foil will only affect the radiation method of heat transfer. but not by mush as itis shinny but not as shinny as we thing. talk a look at the oilwell firefighting suits., very shinny and very very reflective. aluminum foil is shinny but not very reflective due to the nature of aluminum.

so don't worry about it. what ever way your potatoes get wraped up is ok.

as for lasagnia tent the aluminum don't seal it so the moisture can escape during the whole cooking time.

Steve

True, but thats a little bit of a downer way of thinking, isnt it? I mean, most of the things that lead to all the problems we get can be removed from our lifestyle. Anyways off topic :p

I think the risk of aluminum is a little blowen out of proportion.

if we do all our cooking and eating with uncoated aluminum then the average person will ingest 3.5mg of Al / day, where as one antacid contains 50mg. Several Dr's are now listing Al as a very low factor in Alshimers now also. yes it is a concern, but anyone who worries about using foil on there food in the oven or on the BBQ when they chew a couple antacids a night is just silly :mrgreen:

Steve

Steve, if you're eating two of these a night, you might want to see a doctor :) I have maybe 2 a year....

Allready did :mrgreen: its the lesser of two evils. couple tums a week, or another pill every day which causes low levels of vitimin b. i put up with the aluminum :mrgreen:

Steve

I guess after a while you forget about it anyway....:P

thats the great part. hmm.... what were we talking about? :question:

Steve

Fishward has it correct.... When cooking, its not like you are putting in the sunshine and has nothing to do with conductivity.

The Foil will get hot and keep heat in, no matter what side you use.

HEHE, great thread though.

Umm.. The whole foil discussion is well over with, we've all moved on to bigger and better things in this thread, like tums?!? :lol:

actualy tums don't contain AL, but some of the more powerfull antacids do.