15 Multipurpose Uses Of Aluminium Foil In The Kitchen
Aluminium foil is not only used to wrap food. It can also be used to :
- Bake a perfect piecrust
- Create special-shaped cake pans
- Soften up brown sugar
- Decorate a cake
- Make an extra-large salad bowl
- Keep rolls and breads warm
- Catch ice-cream cone drips
- Toast your own cheese sandwich
- Polish your silver
- Keep silverware untarnished
- Preserve steel-wool pads
- Scrub your pots
- Keep the oven shiny clean
- Sharpen your scissors
- Make a funnel
Keep the edges of your homemade pies from burning by covering them with strips of aluminum foil. The foil prevents the edges from getting overdone while the rest of your pie gets perfectly browned.
Make a teddy bear birthday cake, a Valentine’s Day heart cake, a Christmas tree cake, or whatever shaped cake the occasion may call for. Just form a double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil into the desired shape inside a large cake pan.
To restore your hardened brown sugar to its former powdery glory, chip off a piece, wrap it in aluminum foil, and bake it in the oven at 300°F (150° C) for five minutes.
No pastry bag handy? No problem. Form a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil into a tube and fill it with free-flowing frosting. Bonus: There’s no pastry bag to clean — simply toss out the foil when you’re done.
You’ve invited half the neighborhood over for dinner, but don’t have a bowl big enough to toss that much salad. Don’t panic. Just line the kitchen sink with aluminum foil and toss away!
Want to lock in the oven-fresh warmth of your homemade rolls or breads for a dinner party or picnic? Before you load up your basket, wrap your freshly baked goods in a napkin and place a layer of aluminum foil underneath. The foil will reflect the heat and keep your bread warm for quite some time.
Keep youngsters from making a mess of their clothes or your house by wrapping the bottom of an ice-cream cone (or a wedge of water-melon) with a piece of aluminum foil before handing it to them.
Next time you pack for a trip, include a couple of cheese sandwiches wrapped in aluminum foil. That way if you check into a hotel after the kitchen has closed, you won’t have to resort to the cold, overpriced snacks in the mini-bar. Instead, use the hotel-room iron to press both sides of the wrapped sandwich and you’ll have a tasty hot snack.
Is your silverware looking a bit dull these days? Try an ion exchange, a molecular reaction in which aluminum acts as a catalyst. All you have to do is line a pan with a sheet of aluminum foil, fill it with cold water, and add two teaspoons of salt. Drop your tarnished silverware into the solution, let it sit for two to three minutes, then rinse off and dry.
Store freshly cleaned silverware on top of a sheet of aluminum foil to deter tarnishing. For long-term storage of silverware, first tightly cover each piece in cellophane wrap — be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible — then wrap in foil and seal the ends.
It’s maddening. You use a steel-wool pad once, put it in a dish by the sink, and the next day you find a rusty mess fit only for the trash. To prevent rust and get your money’s worth from a pad, wrap it in foil and toss it into the freezer. You can also lengthen the life of your steel-wool soap pads by crumpling up a sheet of foil and placing it under the steel wool in its dish or container. (Don’t forget to periodically drain off the water that collects at the bottom.)
Don’t have a scrub pad? Crumple up a handful of aluminum foil and use it to scrub your pots.
Are you baking a bubbly lasagna or casserole? Keep messy drips off the bottom of the oven by laying a sheet or two of aluminum foil over the rack below. Do not line the bottom of the oven with foil; it could cause a fire.
What can you do with those clean pieces of leftover foil you have hanging around? Use them to sharpen up your dull scissors! Smooth them out if necessary, and then fold the strips into several layers and start cutting. Seven or eight passes should do the trick. Pretty simple, huh?
Can’t find a funnel? Double up a length of heavy-duty aluminum foil and roll it into the shape of a cone. This impromptu funnel has an advantage over a permanent funnel — you can bend the aluminum foil to reach awkward holes, like the oil filler hole tucked against the engine of your lawn tractor.
Check out more uses of aluminium foil in nature and also around the house.