Quick question on aluminum pans

[ws dave]

I'm in the process of cooking for my son's grad party on Saturday and had a question I'm hoping someone can help me with. My part of the menu is pulled pork with smoked beans so I'm making everything in batches ahead of time. My MES 30 will only comfortably fit one large butt and a tray of beans at a time so I did five batches and froze them as I went. The day of party everything will need to be reheated so I was planning on using the big aluminum pans and doing it all in the oven. My question is are those pans safe to use or will everything taste like a metal pan? I'm more concerned about the beans than the meat but that's also a concern. If anyone has any tips on how to keep the pork moist and delicious through the freeze/thaw/reheat process I'm all ears. The plan before serving is to hit it with the SoFlaQuer finishing sauce and then a touch of BBQ sauce and served as sammiches. Thanks!

 

[sqwib]

You'll be fine, you won't get any off tastes.
The only time I have seen something interact with aluminum was something like tomato sauce eating through the aluminum foil covering a dish, that's why I use plastic wrap then foil for stuff with tomato based sauces. I just have to make sure to remove the plastic wrap before terrain. Lol

 

[ws dave]

Excellent, thanks Squib! I plan on serving the pork with a vinegar finishing sauce. Does anyone see a problem with that? I've heard acids and metals don't play nice sometimes. Also any advice on keeping it moist? Some apple juice maybe? I've never had to reheat a big batch like this before. I was afraid of drying it out in the oven but I just scored a big roaster from my sister so I think I will use that to reheat it.

 

[dward51]

Excellent, thanks Squib! I plan on serving the pork with a vinegar finishing sauce. Does anyone see a problem with that? I've heard acids and metals don't play nice sometimes. Also any advice on keeping it moist? Some apple juice maybe? I've never had to reheat a big batch like this before. I was afraid of drying it out in the oven but I just scored a big roaster from my sister so I think I will use that to reheat it.

You are spot on with that plan.  The finishing sauce will work just fine.  I use one all the time on pulled pork in disposable aluminum pans and have never had any issue with the vinegar in the finishing sauce reacting with the pans.   Just make sure to cover the pork in the pan when reheating. Either roll aluminum foil or the lid for the roaster will work just fine.  Covering will help to keep the pork moist and the finishing sauce also aids in that.

Although I've not used an aluminum roaster, I don't see where it would be any different than the disposable aluminum pans for pork, especially if it's one of the modern roasters and the aluminum has a coating on it.

 

[bluefrog]

When we have a large gathering, I serve pulled pork with a vinegar finishing sauce in disposable aluminum pans. I also smoke baked beans in these pans also. No off taste and they both get rave reviews.

 

[ws dave]

Worked like a charm guys, thanks for the help! We don't get real deal smoked BBQ around here so this was a special treat for most of the people and they loved it. The beans were a smash hit too. Everybody wanted to know the secret ingredient to everything but the only "secret" is time. Slow and low and let the meat work its magic. Broke my heart to put BBQ sauce on that meat. [emoji]128533[/emoji]