[2 - 2] at America's Test Kitchen and at home we
[2 - 4] use aluminum foil for all sorts of
[4 - 7] things like covering a pan for steaming
[7 - 9] veggies making a foil pouch for steaming
[9 - 12] fish enclosing wood chips for grilling
[12 - 14] or making a foil sling for baking
[14 - 16] brownies in this video we're going to
[16 - 17] answer all your burning questions about
[17 - 21] aluminum foil can you reuse it is heavy
[21 - 23] duty better than regular and what about
[23 - 25] Recycling and safety first up Lisa with
[25 - 28] our foil Shopping Guide and then me with
[28 - 31] some fun foil facts
[32 - 34] [Music] aluminum foil is literally a super thin
[34 - 36] aluminum foil is literally a super thin sheet of aluminum some people call it
[36 - 38] tin foil and it used to be made out of
[38 - 41] 10 150 years ago but aluminum is more
[41 - 43] bendy and malleable so they switched
[43 - 45] Reynolds was the first brand to
[45 - 47] introduce it to home cooks and even
[47 - 50] today Reynolds has over 50% of the
[50 - 52] market share for foil and that is a big
[52 - 54] chunk for one Brand store brand foil
[54 - 57] makes up another 40% our testing lineup
[57 - 59] included products from Reynolds an
[59 - 61] eco-friendly oil from if you care and
[61 - 63] popular store brand options from Costco
[63 - 65] Target and Whole Foods we looked at both
[65 - 68] regular and heavyduty versions to test
[68 - 70] we used foil to line baking sheets and
[70 - 72] wire racks for our misom marinated
[72 - 75] salmon recipe we made foil slings for
[75 - 77] baking brownies we made pouches for wood
[77 - 79] chips and we reused a single sheet of
[79 - 82] foil to cover a mixing bowl a baking
[82 - 84] dish a baking pan and a baking sheet
[84 - 86] crumbling and flattening it out again
[86 - 88] each time we rated each of the foils we
[88 - 91] tested based on performance how sturdy
[91 - 92] and resistant it was to tearing when
[92 - 94] cooking baking and covering containers
[94 - 97] we also rate it based on ease of use how
[97 - 98] easy was it to open and close the box
[99 - 101] and neatly tear off large pieces of foil
[101 - 104] so does a name brand make a difference
[104 - 106] or is saving a few bucks on the store
[106 - 107] brand the way to go what about the
[107 - 111] heavyduty stuff let's get into
[111 - 114] it the first Factor we considered
[114 - 116] regular versus heavyduty now heavyduty
[116 - 119] foil is advertised as being thicker but
[119 - 121] it's also roughly 30 to 50% more
[121 - 124] expensive per square foot than regular
[124 - 126] foil now at almost every brand we found
[126 - 128] whether it was a name brand or a store
[128 - 131] brand offered both regular and heavyduty
[131 - 133] foil to zero in on thickness we visited
[133 - 136] Mike tanian a senior lecturer in the
[136 - 137] department of Material Science and
[137 - 139] Engineering at MIT there we used a
[139 - 141] micrometer a device that can measure
[141 - 144] extremely thin materials and found that
[144 - 147] on average the heavyduty foils were 38%
[147 - 149] thicker than the regular foil of the
[149 - 151] same brand we also used a texture
[151 - 152] analyzer to test the strength
[152 - 154] differences between a double layer of
[154 - 156] regular foil and the more pricey
[156 - 158] heavyduty foil now for the most part the
[158 - 160] thicknesses of all the regular foils
[161 - 162] were all the same and so were the
[162 - 164] thicknesses of all the heavy duty foils
[164 - 166] only the foils from if you care which is
[166 - 169] a bit thinner so which foil should you
[169 - 171] buy in our tests we actually found that
[171 - 173] heavy duty foil was slightly more
[173 - 175] resistant to tearing when it came to
[175 - 177] trickier tasks like wrapping pointy wood
[177 - 179] chips in a foil pouch but not
[179 - 182] significant l so both Styles ripped when
[182 - 183] we used them to line a baking sheet and
[183 - 185] then used a metal spatula to scoop up a
[185 - 188] fillet of broiled salmon for basic tasks
[188 - 190] like lining a baking sheet or making a
[190 - 193] baking sling we found no performance
[193 - 194] differences between heavy duty and
[194 - 196] regular foil so is there any need to
[196 - 198] stock both types we don't think so a
[198 - 201] double layer of regular foil was
[201 - 203] actually stronger than a single layer of
[203 - 205] heavy duty so you can always just double
[205 - 207] up the occasional tougher tasks and
[207 - 209] avoid spending more on a product you
[209 - 211] don't really need most of the time we
[211 - 212] sometimes like wide heavy duty rolls
[212 - 215] compared to the standard 12-in regular
[215 - 217] rolls now if we want to cover broader
[217 - 219] pans or wrap big hunks of meat that
[219 - 222] makes it more easy but otherwise you can
[222 - 225] skip heavy duty
[228 - 228] poil another big factor how the foil
[228 - 230] gets cut by the Box aluminum foil boxes
[230 - 232] come with a built-in cutter to help cut
[232 - 235] each sheet we wanted them to cut easily
[235 - 237] and evenly and that was not always the
[237 - 239] case one eco-friendly brand used
[239 - 241] cardboard serration and those were
[241 - 243] virtually useless our favorites had
[243 - 245] Cutters made of metal serration and that
[245 - 247] made a big difference we could tear a
[247 - 249] sheet of foil straight across in one
[249 - 253] Fell Swoop so metal Cutters yes
[253 - 255] cardboard cutter nope but those
[255 - 257] serration can be sharp you can cut
[257 - 259] yourself when you reach in the drawer so
[259 - 261] we actually really preferred brands that
[261 - 263] covered those sharp points with a flap
[263 - 265] closure that was thick and durable and
[265 - 267] tucked in securely what about store
[267 - 270] brands versus name brands bottom line
[270 - 272] with foil we learned it doesn't really
[272 - 274] matter which brand or type you buy
[274 - 277] details like an effective cutter or
[277 - 279] highquality box made certain brands
[279 - 282] slightly easier to use but what we found
[282 - 284] was that inside the box was actually
[284 - 286] very similar from Brand to Brand product
[286 - 288] to product while we recommend almost
[288 - 290] every foil we tested we particularly
[290 - 293] liked the sturdy boxes and secure
[293 - 295] closures on Reynolds Wrap everyday
[295 - 297] aluminum foil and Reynolds Wrap
[297 - 299] heavyduty aluminum foil and if you have
[299 - 301] the space for a large container the
[301 - 303] Kirkland Signature Reynolds Food Service
[303 - 305] foil is a great bulk option with a
[305 - 307] high-quality well-made box now here's
[308 - 312] Hannah to answer all your aluminum foil
[316 - 316] questions first up can you reuse it yes
[316 - 317] I am always a proponent of reducing
[318 - 319] waste wherever possible and aluminum
[319 - 322] foil is no exception a rep from Reynolds
[322 - 325] told us you can reuse their foil and
[325 - 326] even wash it if it's gotten a little bit
[326 - 329] dirty but if it's been in contact with
[329 - 332] raw meat raw eggs or other Foods where
[332 - 333] cross-contamination could occur and you
[334 - 336] don't want it to it's best to just throw
[336 - 339] it away next up is aluminum foil
[339 - 342] recyclable yes aluminum foil is
[342 - 344] recyclable if there's no food residue on
[344 - 345] it if there's a little bit on there you
[346 - 347] can use soap and water wash it off and
[348 - 350] then recycle it if it's a big old mess
[350 - 352] just throw it away next up shiny versus
[352 - 355] dull does it matter no when aluminum
[355 - 358] foil is made one side comes in contact
[358 - 360] with polished rollers and comes out
[360 - 362] shiny while the other side comes out
[362 - 364] dull some say you'll get a different
[364 - 366] result depending on whether the shiny
[366 - 368] side or the dull side is facing the food
[369 - 371] we tested this and found it to be not
[371 - 375] true and finally parchment and aluminum
[375 - 376] what's the difference and do you need to
[376 - 379] stock both parchment paper is used
[379 - 381] somewhat similarly to foil but we still
[381 - 383] think it's useful to keep both of them
[383 - 386] around here's why aluminum foil is
[386 - 388] better for higher moisture foods like
[388 - 390] juicy Meats or vegetables where
[390 - 392] parchment might get water logged we
[392 - 395] typically use foil instead aluminum foil
[395 - 398] is also better for high heat grilling
[398 - 400] and cooking in the oven most parchment
[400 - 401] products like our winner here from King
[401 - 403] Arthur are advertised to be safe to
[404 - 407] about 425° which is not high of enough heat
[407 - 409] 425° which is not high of enough heat threshold to get you under the broiler
[409 - 411] for example definitely not for the grill
[411 - 413] this would clearly burst into flames for
[413 - 415] grilling aluminum is definitely your
[415 - 417] best bet in favor of parchment on the
[417 - 420] other hand our senior research editor
[420 - 422] Paul Adams told us that unless there's
[422 - 425] enough fat involved food tends to stick
[425 - 427] to aluminum foil but it does not stick
[427 - 429] to parchment so for really sticky jobs
[429 - 430] we are going to be reaching for
[430 - 433] parchment we also use parchment when
[433 - 435] cooking with acidic ingredients aluminum
[435 - 437] foil should not be used for cooking with
[437 - 439] foods like citrus vinegar or tomatoes
[439 - 441] which are highly acidic and could leech
[441 - 444] metal into the food so to summarize here
[444 - 447] is a handy dandy graphic round one
[447 - 450] cooking juicy Meats aluminum foil yes
[450 - 453] parchment no round two baking cookies
[453 - 457] aluminum foil no parchment yes and with
[457 - 460] high heat cooking aluminum foil yes
[460 - 463] parchment no and finally cooking with
[463 - 466] acidic ingredients aluminum foil no
[467 - 470] parchment paper yes and That's all folks
[471 - 473] playing for more information about
[473 - 476] aluminum foil and a ton of great recipes
[476 - 477] check out the links below and visit
[479 - 481] americastestkitchen.com is the aluminum foil treating you right
[481 - 483] is the aluminum foil treating you right in your kitchen let us know in the
[483 - 485] comments like And subscribe so you never
[485 - 487] miss an episode and that's a wrap