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How to avoid and clean burnt grease and scorch marks off the bottom of pots and pans? Who has never been tempted to give up in front of a nasty burnt grease stain that doesn’t want to come off your favorite skillet? Hopefully, you can clean and improve the performance of virtually all cookware by following these few advices:
Maintaining and cleaning your pots and pans
1. When cooking, heat the empty pan slowly to the desired temperature. Avoid starting the stove at max right at the beginning, especially if you lower the fire afterward. This can damage non-stick surfaces.
2. Use wooden spoons and spatulas rather than stainless steel. This will avoid scratching nonstick surfaces and enamel when deglazing or scrapping.
3. Never use the dishwasher, especially for cast iron. Regular dish soap —or other cleaning agent—, a sponge and elbow grease are all your cookware requires.
4. For stubborn stains, soak for a while before cleaning. For really difficult stuff, boil some water in the pan while scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon.
Additional methods to clean your cookware
Ketchup
This works extremely well on copper-bottom pans, and tomato paste can be used as well. So when your copper pots and pans get tarnished, try to brighten them with ketchup. You can apply without gloves and its cheaper that tarnish removers. Let sit for 30 minutes before scrubbing. Acids in the ketchup will react with the tarnish and remove it. Rinse the pan and dry immediately. Note that this doesn’t work well on stainless steel surfaces, nor cast iron cookware.
Aluminum Foil
If you don’t have a scrub pad at hand, ruffle a handful of aluminum foil. This makes a great tool without being too much abrasive.
Baking Soda
Try adding 2 tablespoons baking soda to the usual amount of washing liquid you use. It’s a grease killer!
Lemons
Lemon is a powerful natural cleaning agent. Just rub the cut side of half a lemon all over your saucepan and pots and buff with a soft cloth.
Alka-Seltzer
Works wonders on ovenproof glass cookware: Just fill your container with water, add up to five or six Alka-Seltzer tablets, and wait for one hour. The stains should easily scrub away.
