Foil or Parchment paper?

[ABC123]

When I began cooking on my own, I used tin foil to cover my pans for cooking meat, veggies, and even cookies sometimes. Also for frozen fries. Now my husband tends to pull the parchment paper from drawer when he cooks. I can understand the idea for cookies. What is the rule for the use of these papers?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I don't use any of these. As far as I am concerned the pans, trays and the likes are there to be used and provided you don't scratch the surface of them, there is no problem. So if I use a wooden spatula, I can save on foil and greaseproof paper and save waste!

 

[Berties]

I would say foil is for covering foods when cooking ,to keep juices in
And parchment enables trays to become more non stick

 

[JoanMcWench]

I would agree with @Berties but I generally DO use aluminum foil for coating the bottom & top of the trays I put in the oven. I shouldn't & @SatNavSaysStraightOn has the right idea about how I should be doing things but it's from the laziness in me. I hate cleaning out my oven trays. They're the worst. I would say I absolutely need new ones.

 

[Berties]

I avoid cooking directly on foil or even have it touching food,I find even commercial foil has a tendecy of dissolving slightly or breaking down,
I have cooked on the rubber mats for years for list of recipes

 

[Rosyrain]

My cookie sheets are ancient old and therefore if I tried to cook anything straight on them, there would be a huge mess. I honestly like baking meats and frozen foods on tin foil because you do not have to scrape baked on marinades and sauces (please refer to the above where I said my cookie sheets are ancient old ). I like to use parchment paper when I am baking dough based items like biscuits and cookies. Some would call it cheating, but I like how the bottoms of these items always come out perfectly golden and not burnt.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

My cookie sheets are ancient old

mine are the same and don't stick because of the layer of what has built up. I don't clean them - why bother. You are putting them into an over than will kill any bacteria, so just enjoy the grease and build up and let it become non-stick the old fashioned way!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I either use foil or a cooking spray on baking pans, or parchment paper.

 

[LittleLilly]

I avoid cooking directly on foil or even have it touching food,I find even commercial foil has a tendecy of dissolving slightly or breaking down,
I have cooked on the rubber mats for years for list of recipes

I have experienced this countless times. Some foods, especially acidic ones will eat through the foil. When covering foods with foil, I place a layer of parchment on first, then the foil. Even the steam from these foods will cause foil to melt and drip down into the food. You can see little pieces of molten metal sitting on top of the food.

Typically, this only happens when the food is cooking in an oven or is sitting in a holding oven or 'hot box'

 

[OhioTom76]

I believe one of the reasons to use parchment paper over foil is due to tomatoes and tomato sauce - the acids in which will react to the aluminum, giving the food a bit of an "off" taste. In those situations it's better to use parchment when possible, or even that new foil with parchment on one side, which works really well (though it's expensive). The non-stick foil is also a good alternative since it has some sort of silicone coating on it which won't affect the tomato sauce.

I would say the down side to cooking with parchment is you need to keep an eye on it in an oven because I've seen it begin to smolder and catch fire at the edges from time to time. In most cases it will just brown a little, but at higher temps and/or longer cooking times, it will sometimes burn instead.

Personally I don't use it (parchement) all that often - mainly just for cookies, or for some "pouch" meals, where you put something like a piece of fish and some veggies and wrap them in a pouch and let them steam in their own juices in an oven.

 

[tangela]

I have both. It really depends on what you are cooking and what your purpose for it is. If it's a meal of some kind (like fish, pasta, veggies etc) I almost always use aluminum foil. If it's for baking or baked goods, I almost always use parchment paper. If I use foil instead of parchment paper for my baked goods, what will happen is the baked good (cookies, cake, whatever) will end up sticking to the foil and it'll make a mess of everything. Not worth it!