Cooking For Engineers

[Ophirband]

I am cooking for a Boy Scout training weekend. The kitchen has two commercial stoves but no griddle tops. I have access to Aluminum plate at work and was going to make a griddle top out of 3/8" 5061 plate.
One person has told me that any aluminum other than 3000 series cannot be used for food preparation.

I cannot find any information to confirm or deny this danger.

Does anyone have any information that will help? I have access to 5000 and 6000 series aluminum plates.


I can use A36 plate, but it will weigh 100 pounds.

Thank you,


Ophirband

[PieDesigns]

Generally when looking for aluminum that can be used for cooking, you are looking for a high corrosive resistant aluminium.

Your higher grades, like the 5000 series, are commonly used in the shipping/yachting and mining industries. They have a higher % of zinc and magnesium than your lower grades, which generally have more silicon and copper and very little zinc & magnesium.

As a general ISO rule of thumb your lower grades are more suitable for cooking, tho you don't have to use a 3000 series aluminum. You could also use a 1200H4.

Yes, there is an element of contamination that can arise with cooking with certain aluminums, however it is minimal and in the application as a griddle, although the food does come into direct contact with the aluminum, it is important to note that aluminum is in fact a "live" metal and it has the ability to "breathe". This ability means that is not only hardens with age naturally, but it also has the ability to protect itself from corrosion by covering itself with an oxide layer, that will reform after scouring.

In addition, with heat and the fact that aluminum is porus, it's pores open and will become sealed and saturated with oils and fats (natural food fats) which are corrosive to the silicon in the aluminum but also provides a seal and contamination is only an issue if one is cooking for many, many continuous hours at any given time. However, in your application, cooking for a few hours at a time, allowing to cool and be cleaned before every re-use it is quite safe to use a 5000 series aluminum.

Hope this has answered some questions!

[bengomez]

You may try searching the net for some precautions on aluminum... or you may try preciseplate for some info...



_________________
hot rolled steel plate

[budzz89]

[GaryProtein]

What series aluminum is Aluminum Foil ( aka Reynold's Wrap)???


That gets cooked on, and inside of, all the time.

[DrBiggles]

[GaryProtein]

Interestingly, when reading a table of aluminum alloys in Wikipedia

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

and noting the elements commonly used in the various aluminum alloys (including so-called "pure" aluminum), aside from the lead (Poisonous) in 1060, 6262, and gallium (causes inflammation) in 1060, 7116, 7129, and Bismuth (used in cosmetics) and in 1060, 6262, all the other alloys of aluminum (and "pure" aluminum) have the same other elements in their makeup. They include Silicon, Iron, Copper, Manganese, Magnesium, Chromium, Zinc, Vanadium, and Titanium. This latter group of elements are all used or necessary in biological systems. Even vanadium, which does not have an active role in the biology of vertebrates, and in numerous compounds is toxic, is often used in alloys of titanium (along with aluminum to make Ti6Al4V--Grade V titanium) used in some medical and dental implants. Strangely enough, the people who don't like Ti6Al4V, don't like it, because of the aluminum!!! So, it seems to me that the biggest decision to make is not which series of aluminum to use, but whether or not you want to use aluminum at all.

The questions about aluminum and Alzheimer's disease are still really up in the air. One could err on the side of safety and not use aluminum, but the jury is still out on whether the aluminum in the brains of Alzheimer's patients are the cause of the disease or the result of it. I know my grandparents had a lot of aluminum pots and pans, and no one in my family has had Alzheimer's Disease.


I still want to know what series aluminum is used in Reynolds Wrap!!!