Hi,
We own a number of very old copper pots that we would very much like to use. However, back when they were made, they used lead in solder. I have heard (from chefs who use them) that it is safe to use them if one gets them tinned. Any thoughts on where I could have done? What would that trade be called?
Thanks!
Aaron
I call it metal plating. Look under metal plating in the phonebook.
I've seen lots of copper pots, but never any with solder. What exactly are they supposed to have used solder for in a copper pot? For one obvious thing, one would think lead solder could start to soften at temps that a pot might occasionally experience firing up on a hot burner.
It is a common service which should be offered in most large cities. The reason for the in lining in copper pots has nothing to do with solder and everything to do with the reaction of acidic foods with the copper itself. You can probably find a company to do re-tinning by contacting companies which provide cookware and services to the restaurant industry.
Take a look here:
If there is lead based solder in a cooking pot why risk the health of your friends and family? If it has lead use it for a decoration and buy a lead free pot.
If there is no lead, then go ahead and get it replaced with tin.
I'm skeptical that:
1 - Lead solder was used in copper cooking pots at all, because solder could easily start to weaken at temps that a pot might experinece.2 - That it's a common service readily available to get pots like this dipped in something to cover them.
Like you state, what's the point? If I had such a pot, I'd just chuck it and go buy a new one.
Tinning is commonly done for processing equipment for the food industry. It is often a hot melt dip like galvanizing to take advantage of the low melting point of the tin and the speed of such a process. Don't know if you easily could find a shop that can do a hot dip, but an alternative and better solution would be to have the pot interiors heavily silver plated. The advantages are keeping the exterior its natural color, and having a more robust interior that could stand mild cleaning better than tin. HTH
Joe
Silver? That's a new one :o) Silver would react with some foods, especially those containing egg. Don't know what kind of compounds would form from a reaction, but I sure wouldn't want silver-lined cookware. Copper cookware is a traditional favorite of gourmet cooks, unless they sell their own brand of some other type of cookware. Tin keeps the copper from reacting with food, and is a very old style of cookware. Copper is expensive, but lasts forever. I don't have a maid to polish it, so I never touch the stuff :o)
Copper pots are lined with tin, and the old tin alloy was often heavy in lead content and was used in this tin coating. The modern tin coating for cookware is lead free.
Copper pots are very expensive and I consider them the best for certain things, right up there with cast iron. Copper conducts heat well, heats up fast and cools down fast which makes it great for sauces, reuxs, etc.
All copper pots need to be retinned every few years and it is not that expensive, nor is it dangerous.
Clean them up and hang them on the wall as display pieces, and use the money you would spend at metal plating shop to go buy modern pans for actual cooking. Seriously, I doubt any plating shop would want to expose themselves to the liability of doing anything other than a display piece. 'Food safe' is a term probably totally outside their experience, and while a little lead leaching probably won't kill adults, it can screw up kids bigtime. Any kids every eat the food you cook? It just ain't worth the risk, IMHO.
aem sends...
2 - That it's a common service readily available to get pots like this dipped in something to cover them.
Like you state, what's the point? If I had such a pot, I'd just chuck it and go buy a new one.
******************* ******************Agree with #1. Should NOT be leaded.
As for #2, not every town has them, but they do exist.
Tinning is very common for copper pots.
GE and others for years made copper percolator coffee pots with silver plated interiors. Grandma lived to 94 and used her GE coffee pot every day. Never seemed to bother her. The so-called silverware in most households is almost always silver plated copper. It is well known that copper compounds are lethal to many organisms, hence antifouling copper paint for boats. It follows, then, that careleess use of copper utensils with certain foods might not be wise. True, silver has a great affinity for sulfur (tarnish) but I haven't found any references to AgS toxicology nor poisoning. In sum, your concerns about silver utensils for food preparation don't appear to have a factual basis. Who knows, with copper prices being pushed out of sight by Chinese demand the French chefs may be using cheaper silver skillets.
Joe.
Tinsmith.
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