Tin, nickel, stainless-steel or silver ’ which is the best lining?
By Editor Team| March 16, 2022
Copper is highly reactive. Acids like lemons, wine and vinegar can leach copper into the food, which might lead to copper toxicity overtime. Except some specialties that utilized advantage of chemical reaction of copper, most copper cookware is lined with a non-reactive metal.
Which lining is the best? Probably, this is the ongoing debate among both pros and those who love copper cookware for a century. For answer this, the benefits and drawbacks of each material are taken into the account.
Ruffoni Historia Stockpot
The traditional option that is popular in Europe and America at around 1700s. It’s fine heat conductor and relatively nonstick.
The Good:
High heat conductivity.
Low-sticking surface.
Nickel-free.
Not hydrophilic, good for browning.
The Bad:
Only use medium-low heat, less than 450°F.
No metal utensils or abrasive sponges.
Required re-tinning every 15-20 years.
Recommended for: Those who enjoy the natural low-sticking properties of tin, and its great heat conductivity.
Collectors who are fascinated in the traditional look, hammered copper as a showpiece.
Mauviel M'Heritage
Stainless-steel lining becomes a go-to choice for copper enthusiasts these days for its convenience to use and care, no re-lining required.
The Good:
Durable, wear-, corrode- and scratch-resistant.
High heat resistant, up to 500°F.
No special cleaning and caring.
No extra cost of re-lining.
The Bad:
Prone to stick and burn food.
A bit less heat performance.
Can’t be fixed easily.
Recommended for: People who love copper cooking but don’t want to sacrifice some modern convenience for preserving your cookware from scratching- and wearing-off, no re-lining.
Duparquet Copper Fait Tout
Silver lining, a new choice, bonds molecularly with the copper. It’s the luxurious option and will last long with proper maintenance.
The Good:
Unsurpassed heat conductivity.
Very high heat resistant, up to 500°F +.
Durable and more wear-resistant than tin.
The Bad:
Very expensive.
Required re-silvering.
No metal utensils or abrasive sponges.
Not good for acidic foods.
Recommended for: Serious chefs who expect for its unrivaled thermal responsiveness or cooking with copper at very high temperature.
Bare Copper Cookware
Though most copper cookware is lined due to highly reactive to acidic foods and wine, bare or unlined copper also has their place in the kitchen. By harness the reactive of copper property, copper ions help delivering jobs more successfully. Here’re advantages of unlined copper pots and pans:
Produce better meringues and egg white recipes. It helps stabilizing the protein in egg white as helping to produce more air in the whipping process and maintaining the peak longer. It lets making better foamy meringues — way faster and more effective than doing in glass or stainless-steel bowls.
With chemical reaction of copper, the Mauviel M'Passion Egg White Bowl helps producing the huge egg white volume and preventing overbeating.
Great for caramel and high-sugar delights. With sudden thermal agility, a bare copper pot also great for making candies, caramel, sweets and melting sugar, or else you need to control the temperature consistently and accurately.
That’s why it’s favorable by so many pâtissiers, chocolatiers, pastry chefs or even sweet lovers.
Perfect for making jams. Unlike other cooking materials, when turning-off the heat, a copper pan lets the jam the pot stop boiling immediately without overcook results.
The shorter time it takes the jam to cook, the more flavorful it is — the fruits will preserve their fresh taste, bright color and texture more deliciously. Even after half a year in a jar, your jam still retains its fresher color and flavor.
With unlined 1.2 mm copper and its good design, The Mauviel M'Passion jam pan sets an apt choice for making jams.
Is the bare copper safe for cooking?
As known, a large amount of copper can be hazardous to your health, so any unlined copper cookware is suggested not to cook with acidic foods, vinegars and wines to prevent copper toxicity.
You can work with it sometimes on non-reactive foods, like eggs or sugar, however.
But why bare copper pans are recommended for making jam, jelly and preserved fruit, which are made from acidic ingredients? Because these recipes are mixed into high concentrated sugar. When the acidic fruits and sugar are combined together, they help reluctant to copper and prevent the ingredients from the reaction — giving no (or much less) possibility for metal intoxication.
Remember, when cooking these recipes, only put the acidic ingredients with high sugar. Don’t put the fruits into the pan directly.
For centuries, tin is the traditional and common lining for copper pots and pans as it’s a pure element that has some great qualities — whether molecularly, thermally or purely, tin lining takes the cake.
The Advantages
It sticks so readily and firmly to copper. Tin is soft and melts easily, so it’s merges beautifully into the lining of copper cookware — a good pure element for coppersmiths to work with.
It’s high heat conductivity. Tin won’t interfere with the thermal performance of copper. When tin and copper are heated together, the molecular bonding allows the thermal conductivity properties of the copper to transfer seamlessly through the crystal structure of the tin. The result is: the super-fast heat conductivity.
It’s naturally low sticking. Since its crystalline structure is very smooth, it’s relatively nonstick — not equal to Teflon but much better than stainless-steel, nickel or silver. With a small amount of oil or grease and the right (far low) temperature, it gives impressive nonstick surfaces.
It’s molecular inert, not hydrophilic. Tin is molecular and chemical inert, so it doesn’t disturb flavor or leave any chemical substances into your food.
Unlike Teflon or coated pans, it’s not hydrophilic — it doesn’t create a layer of water between ingredients and the pan — that is fantastic for making beautiful golden-brown meats.
It’s nickel-free. People with nickel allergies and their families can have a peace in mind when cooking.
The Disadvantages
It can’t cook with high heat. With a low melting point, tin will start to melt at 450°F (in fact, 430°F or 220°C). Some high-heat cooking techniques — roast, regular boil, long fry or high-heat sear/sauté — are forbidden to preserve the lining. The quick sautéing/searing or thickening sauces of under 430° are acceptable, though.
Also, never cook on powered burners or heating elements.
For longer lifespan, regularly and intense cooking with highly acidic foods, like lemon juice, tomato or vinegar should be avoided, as well.
It needs to use carefully, no metal utensils. Avoid scratching it with metal tools; only use nylon or wood spatulas. Don’t scrub it with steel wools, rugged green scrubbers or abrasives.
Still, tin-lining isn’t such a fragile stuff that you should be frightened to regular use. Just treat it at the same level of Teflon pans.
It needs re-tinning. With regular use and proper care, it can slowly wear down. After about 15 - 30 years, your tin-lining cookware may need re-tinning, which must be done by a skilled craftsman who is hard to find these days. The expense of re-tinning is not that low, too.
Courtesy of Ruffoni
Recommended For
People who enjoy the combination of the unsurpassed heat conductivity of copper and the natural low-sticking surface of tin.
Also, because many of these pieces are crafted in classic and gorgeous styles, they’re popular among collectors or beauty-fanatics who are fascinated in the traditional look, hammered copper as a showpiece that can be practically used.
After the mid-century, stainless-steel becomes increasingly popular over the years, mainly from its modern convenience.
The Advantages
It’s durable. With common use, it’s very hard and nearly unbreakable. It won’t wear off, corrode, develop patinas or easily get scratches. Just like any stainless-steel pans, it can be scrubbed and scoured (not recommended doing regularly, though), using metal utensils or cooking with highly acidic foods.
It’s very high heat resistant. Like stainless-steel cookware, it can freely cook on 500°F (or up to 600°F, occasionally). Though most daily recipes don’t need any higher than that used by the tin-lined pans, the high temperature allows producing superior sears and roasts.
It needs no special cleaning and caring. You don’t have to take extra effort for cleaning and maintaining, just a simple way as a stainless-steel pan.
It doesn’t need re-lining. Unlike tin and silver, stainless-steel lining doesn’t need to re-lining later, which costs you around half price of the pan. As a result, it’s more value overtime.
The Disadvantages
It gets food stick easily. The biggest downside is, like a stainless-steel pan, food sticks badly, which leads to tacky food burns.
It slightly lowers heat performance. As a poor conductor, it makes your copper pan less heat conductive than tin- and silver-lining. However, with a thin layer of lining, this don’t make a huge difference.
It can’t be fixed easily. Unlike tin or silver, if any defects are happened to the stainless-steel lining, it’s not easy to fixed or re-lined. This is uncommon to find, though. Keep away from high-concentrated salt cooking.
Courtesy of Mauviel M'Heritage
Recommended For
Beginners or people who are adored cooking with copper but don’t want to sacrifice some modern convenience — simple to use, clean and maintenance.
Those want to invest in copper cookware without any costs of future re-lining, which is nearly half of a new pan.
Silver lining, a new choice, bonds molecularly with the copper. It’s the luxurious option and will last long with proper maintenance.
The Advantages
It provides unsurpassed heat conductivity. As a highly conductive material, silver-lining yields the fastest heat responsive.
It has very high heat resistance. Since silver has higher heat tolerance up to 1700°F, it allows for high temperature cooking, which is good for perfect golden sears or roasts.
It’s more durable than tin. It’s harder and more scratch- and wear-resistant than tin but still poorer to stainless-steel. Silver has lower foods stick than stainless-steel, however.
The Disadvantages
It’s stellar expensive. The big downside: the cost. A Soy Turkiye 12” 2.5 mm copper skillet with silver-lining is at $614*, comparing to $315* of Mauviel at the same ranges with tin-lining — an extravagant option, definitely.
It doesn’t allow for metal utensils or abrasive sponges. Silver is more durable than tin but can scratch with metal utensils and even wear away by vigorously scrubs. Stick with wood or nylon utensils.
It’s not good for acidic foods. It can get tarnish when cooking with high acidic foods, an aesthetic issue.
Required re-silvering. With proper use and care — stay away from metal scrubs, abrasive sponges or highly concentrated acids, it should need longer time to re-lining than tin.
Re-silvering requires both the skilled artisans and an extra about $500 per a pan.
Duparquet Copper
Recommended For
Serious cooks expect for the most superlative thermal responsiveness or cooking with copper at very high temperature, whose their budget is off concern.
Since 1950s, above from stainless-steel, nickel and aluminum are used as new options for copper liners.
Aluminum was rapidly phased-off for decades due to doubtful health issues.
Nickel, on the other hand, is still found used today but not widely common as stainless-steel. Possibly, the main reason is it can affect to people who have nickel allergies or any types of nickel aversion. Nickel doesn’t leach into food directly, like lead or cadmium, but it can contact to the food and leave a small amount of chemical reaction with it.
