Andrew Zimmern loves tomatoes. He shared on his , "I buy buckets of them at the farmers market to supplement my harvest and turn half into sauce, the other half I halve, toss with olive oil and roast in a 225-degree oven for 6 or 7 hours." But whether you roast these red fruits for a pizza or pasta dish or use them for a , Zimmern says you don't want to cook them in anything made of soft metal, especially aluminum pots and pans.
He thinks you should even avoid using aluminum utensils when preparing tomato recipes. But why is this an absolute no-no? Again, Zimmern explains on his , "The acidity in the tomato doesn't do well with them, they create a chemical reaction and can turn cooked tomatoes bitter, fades the color and the food will absorb some of the aluminum!" And if you use your aluminum pots to cook tomatoes in, chances are they aren't going to look very pretty after the fact. The TV host and entrepreneur further said, "The acid in the tomatoes can pit and discolor the aluminum cookware.
But you shouldn't be cooking with those anyway." Use carbon steel or cast iron He isn't wrong. Aluminum pots and pans that are uncoated do pose a risk of leaching, especially when you cook foods like tomatoes that are acidic, and no one wants their to develop a metallic taste.
However, before you get rid of a pot or pan that is aluminum you should know that if your aluminum cookware has been anodized, meaning it has been coated with a protective layer, you can use it to prepare your red.