Lasagna Battery Cell

Summary

Beware of reactive pans and be afraid of the lasagna cell. Reactive pots and pans made of aluminum, cast iron, hammered steel, brass, or copper can react with some chemicals in foods, especially the acids and salts in sauces, brines, and marinades, and they can undergo a chemical reaction and create off flavors, and in rare cases, are toxic. Non-reactive containers made of stainless steel, glass, porcelain, and enamel will not change when subjected to foods. Plastic is also non-reactive, but it can also absorb flavors and be stained by sauces. Perhaps the most extreme example is the lasagna cell. Lasagna lovers often are appalled when they open the fridge or oven and find holes in the foil on top of the pan and black spots on their dinner. They are not alone. Cooks who put meat in a marinade in a steel pan and cover it with aluminum foil overnight can wake up the next morning horrified to see that the foil has holes in it and cry for help in our comments section. Sometimes barbecue cooks who use the “Texas crutch“, a technique of wrapping their meat in aluminum foil to combat a phenomenon known as “the stall” (when evaporation from the meat cools its surface and stops it from cooking), are shocked to find holes in the foil and juices leaking out when they use a steel pan and foil for the crutch. What has happened is an electrochemical reaction called galvanic corrosion, dissimilar metal reaction. For a better understanding of the process, I asked the AmazingRibs.com science advisor Prof. Greg Blonder. He explained that the cook has essentially created a small battery, a cell, and the electric current running through it has etched away one of the battery’s electrodes. Huh? “All batteries consist of two electrodes, the anode and the cathode, separated by a conducting material called an electrolyte. The electrolyte carries electrons from one electrode in one direction, and waste products scavenged from the other electrode, in the other direction. A car battery has a ne...