After Thanksgiving dinner, I used to cover my leftover stuffing with aluminum foil. But if it touches the aluminum foil, the foil dissolves (little pin-head sized holes) and leaves foily stuff on the stuffing.
I searched the archives and found Cecil’s column on this happening with meatloaf (catsup=acid), but it doubt my stuffing has any acid:
Bread cubes (out of a store-bought stuffing box)
Butter
Saute’ed celery and onion
Giblet broth
The effect is well known among physics and chemistry teachers. It’s actually electrical (well, electrochemical): it’s a “battery” created by putting salty food in a steel pan and then covering it with aluminum foil. The food is the battery electrolyte. The two metals act as the battery plates. If the metals touch together, you’ve got a “shorted out” battery.
To stop the effect, use a glass dish covered with aluminum foil. Or use a metal pan, but put plastic wrap between the foil and the food. Or use an aluminum pan covered with alumium foil.
Once I tried adding a switch to my lasagna battery. I lined just the edge of my steel pan with plastic wrap to interrupt the circuit (the foil still touched the top of the lasagna directly). Then I used alligator-leads from Radio Shack to connect the foil and the pan to a switch. I left the lasagna in the fridge for a few days with the switch off. No little holes in the aluminum. Then I turned the switch on. It took about half a day for the holes to appear. A meter measured a few hundred microamps (depending on how much lasagna touched the foil) running at under half a volt.
And yes, the term “lasagna cell” is more accurate than “lasagna battery” since a true “battery” would need several lasagnas connected in series.
Not being married lets you do all KINDS of things in your kitchen.
I once grew some mold which was black, shiny, and about 3" tall (looked like human hair.) And I think I invented a new food after watching a mushroom cause a wave of “brown” to slowly pass across an old eggplant over several days (smelled like mushroom inside afterwards.) And don’t even get me started about Unwise Microwave Experiments.
