damage. No one will be poisoned by the
occasional meringue whipped in a copper
bowl, but bare copper isn’t a good candidate
for everyday cooking. To overcome this major
drawback, manufacturers line copper utensils
with stainless steel or, more traditionally,
with tin. Tin has its own limitations (p. 791).
Iron and Steel
Iron was a relatively late discovery because it
exists in the earth’s crust primarily in the
form of oxides, and had to be encountered in
its pure form by accident, perhaps when a fire
was built on an outcropping of ore. Iron
artifacts have been found that date from 3000
BCE, though the Iron Age, when the metal
came into regular use without replacing
copper and bronze (a copper-tin alloy) in
preeminence, is said to begin around 1200
BCE. Cast iron is alloyed with about 3%
carbon to harden the metal, and also contains