theNoosphere.com

This has been a subject of great import and controversy in my house: When using kitchen aluminum or tin foil to wrap food, does the shiny or the dull side go toward the food? For example: If you were to preserve a precious slice of pizza in the refrigerator, should you end up with shiny side facing you on the outside of the package, or inwards toward your midnight munchies snacK? Why?

I think Mom was supposed to teach us this.

Tin, Aluminum, Chromium - washingtonpost.com

Which may explain why I'm still confused...

There is a caveat ... you can now buy non-stick versions of aluminum foil. In this case the dull side should be used as that has the non-stick coating.

True story: I once used ordinary kitchen aluminum foil as a filter to block certain wavelengths of soft x-rays on an experiment. The manufacturing tolerances are very tight and it served the purpose as well as custom made filters that would have cost thousands.

There's a shiny side?

Like the old folk song says...
'Keep on the shiny side, always on the shiny side, keep on the shiny side of liiiiiiife'

Baked potatoes never really look as cool if they're not gleaming in the brightest glare of the heating element possible.

I'm a shiny-out guy myself. Always have been. Always will be.

Besides, my friend says only the shiny side out approach can really block the alien mind probes effectively.

Boone: Looks like your cat has been at this for awhile. Too much catnip, maybe?

Om: When you use the foil, it makes no difference which side is up, down or sideways. Yeah, right. Like we're supposed to believe that. Of course seeing that your source was the Washington Post, no wonder.

My contention is that the shiny side reflects radiant heat better than the matte side. Therefore, if you're trying to keep the pizza warm, you should wrap it with the shiny side in so that the remaining heat in the pizza bounces back and forth off the shiny side, and keeps the slice warm. If you're baking a potato, the matte side should be out to let the radiant energy in, but once in, the shiny side reflects the energy back into the potato. If you're trying to keep something cold in a warm environment, the shiny side should be out to reflect any heat away from the cold object.

When I tenderly and kindly try to explain this to my wife, she kicks me out of the kitchen, which was sort of my goal in the first place.

On a serious note, wouldn't putting the shiny side out result in better cooking - seems like the shiny side would reflect some of the energy away vs. absorbing it?

Wait a second, did you just answer your own question Meteor? I'm not sure that's allowed.

Whoa.

Now that just blew my mind. Simultaneous conclusions (wrong or not, they were simultaneous). I think the foil hat really works?

I'm trying to get some good arguments to present to my wife. So far I've got a flippant answer from Om quoting some liberal government rag, photos of Boone and his cat after one too many gin and tonics, Fibarr tells me that I can use tinfoil in x-ray experiments, and Henry has no idea what we're talking about.

So I was trying to steer this very serious and significant discussion back to the issue at hand.

From the source itself, those lying bastards at Reynolds Wrap:

Frequently Asked Questions

Which side of Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil should I use, the shiny or the dull side?
Actually, it makes no difference which side of the aluminum foil you use—both sides do the same fine job of cooking, freezing and storing food. The difference in appearance between dull and shiny is due to the foil manufacturing process. In the final rolling step, two layers of foil are passed through the rolling mill at the same time. The side coming in contact with the mill's highly polished steel rollers becomes shiny. The other side, not coming in contact with the heavy rollers, comes out with a dull or matte finish.

The exception is when using Reynolds Wrap® Release® Non-Stick Aluminum Foil. The non-stick coating is applied during manufacturing to the dull side of the foil. Always place the non-stick (dull) side toward the food.


This one has 'Mythbusters' written all over it...

Alright folks, allow me to further muddy the waters on this one-this comes from the site AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"Aluminium foil has a shiny side and a matte side. This difference in the finish has led to the perception that favouring a side has an effect when cooking. While many believe that the shiny side's reflective properties keep heat out when wrapped on the exterior and keep heat in when facing exterior, the actual difference is imperceptible without instrumentation . The reflectivity of bright aluminium foil is 88% while dull embossed foil is about 80% ."


I had shared Meteor's view on this topic for some time but this thread has caused me to start digging for confirmation of said view, which is apparently hard to find. Being that I am more than willing to divest myself of an opinion once data has proven it untenable, I'm going to continue researching this until I find some credible source of confirmation or disproof-any input you guys can come up with will help.

By the way, Boone, I hate to say this but your cat's facial expression just oozes "do you believe this s**t?!?"

The volts and amperage entering your computer is also imperceptible without instrumentation, but it certainly has an effect on the computer performance. The amount of fecal matter in your tap water is imperceptible without instrumentation, but certainly has an effect on how much time you will spend in your bathroom.

And for those that say "it doesn't matter which side", it turns out that there is a full 10% difference in reflectivity between sides! Anyone want to turn down a 10% pay raise?

If you are going to argue about reflectivity you need to specify whether you are trying to keep the food hot or cold and if so, what heat source you are using.