Tin Foiled

So there's something that's been bugging me about tin foil: why is there a shiny side and a matte side?

Every time I use tin foil, I ponder the purpose of the two different sides. Each time, I pick a different side to put facing the food, and each time, I forget to keep track of what difference it makes.

So when yesterday, while helping out at my cousin's baby shower, I was asked to put tin foil over the potato salad, I stopped and wondered, again, which side do I put facing the food and what difference does it make?

Does one side stick less? Does one side cook better? Is one side for meat and the other for vegetables? Is one side for the freezer and the other side for cooking? What, dear gods, is the difference?!

I asked my cousin, Jenny, if she knew. She did not. She hadn't even noticed there was a difference between the sides of the tin foil before, which leads me to wonder how many of you knew and also wondered about the two sides and how many of you think I'm crazy to have noticed.

Last night, as I went to wrap up the unused portion of a three pound package of hamburger, I found myself vis-a-vis with the two-faced tin foil dilemma again. Twice in just one day! I turned to my Eagle Scout boyfriend Jon, because obviously being an Eagle Scout makes you an expert in tin foil, and posed the question to him, "Why is there a shiny side and a dull side to tin foil?!"

Jon proceeded to tell me that the shiny side reflects heat better, so if I want to cook with it I should put the food on the shiny side. I then proceeded to stare at him in astonishment. Apparently being an Eagle Scout really does make you an expert in tin foil. He also knows how to make an oven out of tin foil and a cardboard box. Good to know, if we ever end up on the street.

This explanation still leaves me wondering why there is a dull side, though. It seems that if there is a shiny side because food cooks better on it, then why would the tin foil people bother to make the other side completely different? Why not just make both sides shiny?

So, of course, I head to my trusted Wikipedia where I find out that I'm technically calling it by the wrong name. Tinus Foilus (yes, science people, I made that up), more commonly known as "tin foil," is more correctly known aluminum foil.

Fun fact: Reynolds Metals is still the leading manufacturer of aluminum foil, which is funny because I'm pretty sure if my Grandmother were still alive, she'd still be calling it Reynolds' Wrap no matter what brand was in her kitchen.

But why is there a shiny and a matte side, Chanel?

Well apparently, according to Wiki, the only reason that tin foil, 'scuse me, aluminum foil has a shiny and a matte side is because of how it is manufactured. When the foil makes its final pass through the rollers, the shiny side is produced. Because of something about it being hard to make the machines cope with the fineness of the foil gauge, they roll two sheets at the same time through the machine, which means that when the sheets are separated, the sides that were facing the rollers are shiny but the sides that were facing each other are left dull! [Click here and scroll down to "Properties" if you want a more detailed explanation.]

So there is no real reason why there is a shiny and a dull side except that's just the way it is. What's more interesting, is that the idea that favoring one side over the other grants different effects when cooking is a myth! You know what's also a myth, Eagle Scout boyfriend Jon? That the rate at which the shiny side reflects heat makes a difference in cooking. The shiny side reflects at a rate of about 88%, while the matte side reflects at about 80%, which according to Wiki is an "imperceptible amount."

If we ever need to survive by making a cardboard box/aluminum foil oven, Jon, I'll let you build it with the foil facing shiny side in. Because 8% is more than imperceptible to me. And also because I love you.