Inexpensive and lightweight, aluminum pots also heat quickly and evenly. These features make them popular home cookware. Uncured aluminum pots, however, react with some foods. Tomatoes, cabbage and other acidic foods develop a metallic taste when prepared in aluminum pots. Other foods can discolor the pots. Curing, or seasoning, your aluminum pots stops the metal from leaching into food, and the food from darkening the pots. This quick process also simplifies cleanup by making foods less likely to stick.
Stovetop Curing
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Step 1
Squirt liquid dish soap into your sink. Add hot water to make suds.
Step 2
Remove packing oils from your new aluminum pot with the hot soapy water and the scrubbing brush. Drain the water from the sink and rinse the pot in clean water.
Step 3
Dry the pot with the clean dish towel. Continue air drying it until it is completely dry. Place it over a heat source to speed the process.
Step 4
Pour enough vegetable oil into the pot to cover its bottom and sides when you spread the oil with your fingers. Peanut oil has the highest smoking point of any vegetable oil. Using it will let you heat the pot longer, for more thorough seasoning.
Step 5
Heat a stovetop burner to medium heat.
Step 6
Place the oiled pot on the heated burner.
Step 7
Remove the pot from the heat when the oil begins smoking.
Step 8
Cool the pot completely.
Step 9
Use the paper towel to wipe excess oil from the now cured aluminum pot.
Oven Curing Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to between 300 and 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2
Remove your new aluminum pot's packing oils with the hot soapy water and the scrubbing brush. Drain the water from the sink and rinse the pot in clean water.
Step 3
Dry the pot with the clean dish towel. Continue air drying it until it is completely dry. Place it over a heat source to speed the process.
Step 4
Pour enough oil into the pot that you can cover its bottom and sides by spreading the oil with your fingers.
Step 5
Place the pot in the preheated oven for one hour.
Step 6
Remove the pot and let it cool completely.
Step 7
Wipe the excess oil from the newly cured pot with a paper towel.
Tip
Anodized aluminum pots have a factory-applied, protective layer of aluminum oxide. They don't require curing.
Warning
Use only hot water to wash your cured aluminum pots. Soap will strip away the cured coating, and you'll have to reseason them.
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