Aluminum Foil, Fat and the Pan

Yeh, I know what you mean...what you need is 1mm thick foil !

I always assumed that folding the foil causes small cracks....

That's a possibility but there seems to be a lot of fat getting through, the cracks would have to add up to a substantial area.

The cracks will have substantially more area than 'no cracks' ..

"Infinitely more area," quoth the Pedant...

Q1 Have you checked the foil for holes when take it out? Q2 Do you use a wire insert in the pan, feet resting on the foil? Check the foil where the feet of the wire insert rests and you may find what you are looking for, raise these areas above the general lake of pig fat that comes from the 10 bacon sandwiches. Good Luck.

davah, yes I do use a wire insert but it sits on 4 bosses formed in the pan so the feet of the tray are about 20mm above the base of the pan. I have been careful to mould the foil around these bosses to avoid tearing there (as I said in the original post this has now become an unhealthy obsession). It's not easy to check the foil after it comes out as it usually becomes stuck to the pan & tears as I remove it.

When following a recipe for baked beetroot the other day, I discovered that foil is also "transparent" to olive oil and basalmic vinegar.

I've tried the foil thing a couple of times, but always find the leakage - as Davah said, it's usually due to holes caused by the mesh feet.

Rather than using foil, try put 1/4" or so of water in the pan before cooking - the fat will float and is therefore easily removed and nothing will burn in the bottom of the pan.

I've used this technique ever since I left home (based on my mother's technique). In certain student houses, this resulted in the grill pan being cleaner when I left than when I arrived.

I'll give the water method a try, it might get over the problem.

Its also a good way to roast poultry (and other meats that are fairly thick)to keep the meat moist inside (and have the start of a great gravy too with what is caught in the water! Do not let it dry out though, replace lost water with fresh....).

A foil shield over the breast stops the breast getting burnt before the thicker meat is properly cooked. Just remove it 30 minutes before serving to brown the breast off and make it more attractive.....

"My problem is that, no matter how careful I am when lining the pan with foil (and I have now become obsessively careful) there is always a thick layer of fat between the foil & the pan, how does it get there? "

The common aluminum foil you buy in supermarkets is not really that solid. If you look at the surface with a magnifying glass or with a microscope, you will find that there are very tiny holes in many places. This is an inherent property of aluminum sheets, there is a certain degree of porosity. Hot oil in the frying pan will certainly pass through these holes.

Well I've just been examining my economy aluminum foil under my admittedly modest 40x microscope but I see no holes. I haven't covered a huge areas (much as I'm curious I do have other things to do today!) but I haven't seen anything even slightly resembling a hole yet, what sort of size are they typically?

Apologies if this is an old thread but I have wondered for years about this phenomenon and tonight I have finally decided I must have some answers!

rOg, I didn't look for holes but I found that a new sheet of foil will hold water but if you crumple the sheet it starts to leak.

Ahh, OK, that makes sense, it's probably leaking round the edges where it get's krinkled up rather than becoming uniformly porous.

Indeed I've just compared some virginal foil and some lightly krinkled foil by holding each in front of a bright light and lo the krinkled foil has a couple of pinprick size holes in it.

Mystery solved, thanks v.much! :)

Hi Nigh,

You don't need microscope. Pour some water in the Aluminum lined pan, heat it up before frying your stuff and find out if there is any holes to let the water penetrate under the foil. If so, use next thicker foil and enjoy your sandwich without having to rub the pan later. Good Luck

jfbenam

Canada

Get a high quality plastic scrubber and some dishsoap!! Geeze!!

better to get a good cast iron skillet and then let the bacon grease season the iron well. NEVER use soap on the skillet. after the iron has soaked up enough of the grease and provided you don't burn anything to a crisp all you have to do to clean up is pour out the fat and then wipe up with a towel.

Oh, on a tangent, I put bird seed into a container (empty OJ concentrate or margarita mix containers are great) and then pour the hot fat over the seed and let it soak in. The birds love the resulting suit cylinders. If you have squrrel problems throw in a little hot pepper and the buggers won't be back....

I would rather have the squirrels than the stinkin birds. Squirrels are delicious...

I don't have squirrel problems, just badgers & foxes.

Badgers..I'd love to see 'em!

when we moved into this house it was all overgrown there were foxes with cubs...brilliant!

I've seen a fox with 3 cubs near the house recently & I regularly see badgers around the street, they get into fights and roll around in the road screaming like babies. The area where I live is near the edge of town so we're bordering on the countryside but I think that the proliferation of wildlife is because, at the end of the gardens of the houses opposite is a disused railway cutting which has overgrown & forms a little nature reserve.

Now THAT is a useful and informative post! Thanks! If one had the room in a freezer, one could accumulate a number of cylinders, plastic wrapped, for winter also.

I have read somewhere a long time ago that fat during the winter is really good for the adult birds, but bad in the spring for the chicks at nesting time.....maybe someone else could comment and confirm or deny that please....?

If you use bacon fat, isn't the "suet" very salty? Is that OK for birds?

I let my grill pan get so full that one say it went on fire. I took it out to the garden and left it burning till all the fat was gone. True most of my eyebrows were also gone but they grow back. The pan itself was remarkably easy to clean after it had burned for some time.

Remember to only do this under strict scientific conditions or when you are pissed like I was.

That should be "one day" not "one say"

Rose, Poached bacon? Sounds like an English dish

You don't put the bacon in the water, you ninny. The bacon's on the wire mesh thing. Still gets lovely and crispy....

There are two or three answers to this. A1 Give up the bacon, A2 Get used to the health warning stuff-dry cured, lean (zero fat) and use a well known fighters griller etc, A3 Lose it completely and go vegitarian. As an off-the-radar you could always try vegitarian bacon.

I don't like the sound of any of those. I can buy bacon straight from the farm, much better than the processed stuff. The grill is relatively healthy, at least I know that all the fat ends up in the bottom of the pan, I might even now know how it gets there.

On aluminum foil, there is a shiny side and dull side. What side do you have up? Oh, doesn't matter, probably holes on both sides..chuckle!

I like using Microwave bacon easy to use and no cleanup. Except for the plate I have to throw in the dishwasher.

As we get older, we get more health conscious. I don't recommend cooking in aluminum at all. It has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. Cast iron, on the other hand is not a problem. The iron can be absorbed by the body, and is good for you. I think stainless steel is OK too. I also don't eat bacon any more. Eggs are a safer type of protein, as are beans. The fat is the problem. Cook your eggs in a good oil, first choice is olive, then canola. Never use lard, and shortening isn't good either. If you must eat bacon, try turkey bacon.

What do you do with all the grilled bacon then? Do you give it to your cat?

I know it's all bad for you but it tastes so good..........

I don't cook in aluminium, I use use stainless because it's easier to clean (which gets back to the crux of my original post).

I've never seen turkey bacon in the shops over here, I didn't even know it existed & what's canola?

If you line your pan with aluminum, you're cooking in it. Canola oil is very low in saturated fat (the kind that builds up in your arteries, and eventually causes a heart attack). It's lower cost than olive oil, and found in every grocery store in the U.S. with all the other cooking oils.

I'm not placing the food in the aluminium it sits on a grill about 20mm above the foil. Do you know what canola is made from? at the moment I usually cook with sunflower oil which is low in saturates.----------Hang on, scratch that question, I just remembered I have Mr Google at hand, canola is rapeseed oil. It is available in the shops here but I have never tried using it, perhaps I'll give it a go.

It's ok - I've been using it for a couple of months now (although the roast potatoes aren't quite as crispy...)

Do you bruise the surface of the potatoes before you roast them, it crisps them much better?

Just scrub them usually...I do use salt on the port crackling though...

With roast potatoes I always parboil them until they just start to go soft then drain them & give the pan a good shake to break up the surfaces. When you roast them for about 40min you get a crisp outside & soft inside. My mouth is really watering as I'm typing this, I'm going to have to go home & start cooking.

I use olive oil to roast potatoes, how does canola compare?

As a side note, I first heat the olive oil with rosemary and garlic, then let it steep (covered) for at least 30 minutes, then strain it. A bit of bother, but the potatoes are just heavenly!

I'll have to try that, I sometimes sprinkle herbs & garlic on the potatoes as they cook to give that extra dimension to the flavour.

Sounds lovely, but you still can't beat goose-fat for roasting potatoes. I was amazed at the difference.

In Germany we use Oils rich in Polyunsaturated fats and Omega 3 oils. Thistle oil is good too as of course is good olive oil and Rapeseed oil......

I find for some cooking that the great taste of olive oil is too strong for the cooking itself.....

StandardsGuy -

The suggested aluminum-Alzheimers link has been largely discredited. I checked with a number of reliable sources, including http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/ where I found this quote: "As evidence for other causes continues to grow, a possible link with aluminium seems increasingly unlikely."

Despite all the shortages, last night an opportunity arose for an experiment with a smuggled fillet fillet of salmon, grilled fresh for 10 minutes each side while placed upon an aluminium foil drip tray (for want of a better term), just kissed with a little butter from the weekly ration. While very little of the salmon juices made their way into the griddle pan beneath, one has to be careful about turning the fillet over so that the fillet occupies the same position in the stable-2 position compared to the stable-1. If one doesn't then there is smoke; opening the windows to let it out attracts all the cats for miles around and also risks the unwanted attentions of Herr Flick.

Perhaps René could put the dish on the menu when the supply situation improves.

..Salmon...did I smell salmon...?

See what I mean? Just don't tell Herr Flick, otherwise we're all in the proverbial frying pan.

BTW: Stable-1 is NASAspeak for 'the right way up' and stable-2 means 'upside down' in relation to Apollo capsules.

being a lazy bugger .

If necessity is the Mother of invention...maybe Laziness is the Father?

Discus.

One of the few Olympic events to date back to the original Greek Olympics. Must be related to plate throwing, eh?

What? But you said discus....you did!

People are looking at me strangely in the office because I'm laughing.

Oivey! It's only now that you notice them looking?!

Try parchment paper. Completely line pan and have paper go over pan sides