Great pan cleaning tip!

So, my hubby typically does not cook (because him cooking typically ends in disaster) but while I was gone Sunday he tried to make something in the grill pan (the most difficult of ALL pans to clean). I don't even know or care to ask what poor creature he was trying to cook, but after 2 days of soaking and multiple scrubbings with barkeepers friend and there was STILL black burnt on animal who knows what stuck to the bottom:26: Being more than slightly OCD about kitchen stuff being sparkling clean (especially if he uses it for animal products, which just freaks me out because of the bacteria, real and imagined), I needed very last molecule of it OUT. Had a friend tell me the absolute BEST idea I've ever heard for cleaning difficult burnt on matter out of STAINLESS pans (I would not use this technique on those ceramic ones though, it may damage them!). Plus, it's so cheap/easy!

Basically, all you need to do is soak your burnt pan with a *little* hot water (just enough to cover the nasties) and a good amount of BKF. After it's soaked about 10 minutes (ready for it?)...... Use a small piece of CRUMPLED ALUMINUM FOIL, shiny side out, to gently scrub the vile residue out. I would have NEVER thought to use tin foil, but it really worked when nothing else would! And it didn't scratch at all and made the pan look shiny-new! I had never heard this before, so I had to share because I can't be the only home with a slightly-OCD person dealing with a less-than-talented cook :54:

I heard if you soak them with a dryer sheet that it loosens that baked on stuff. I haven't tried it. I'd say "rinse well," if you use the dryer sheet, but after reading your posts, I KNOW you will. ;-) Good luck! Let us know what works. I tend to use SOS pads and if my husband baked it on there, he'd be the muscle man using that SOS pad.

I've never heard of bar keeper's friend. What is it? :52:. I'm glad the foil worked .
Don is not one of those men who can cook either (although unfortunately that doesn't stop him) lol. He always turns the flame up way too high and scorches food on the pots and pans every single time. I tell him daily for as long as the pot is there "you're going to wash that pot, right?" Many times I need that certain pot before he ends up doing it, so guess who cleans it haha!

RavensGryf said:

I've never heard of bar keeper's friend. What is it? :52:. I'm glad the foil worked .
Don is not one of those men who can cook either (although unfortunately that doesn't stop him) lol. He always turns the flame up way too high and scorches food on the pots and pans every single time. I tell him daily for as long as the pot is there "you're going to wash that pot, right?" Many times I need that certain pot before he ends up doing it, so guess who cleans it haha!

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WHAAAATTTTT??? You've never heard of barkeepers friend? It's a miracle product! Restores stainless pans to shiny new (and I am very particular about my pans having ANY "gunk" on them). Aluminum foil is my new (not so) "secret" cleaning tool though:54:

Lol @ your husband doing the same as mine. I think men are either chefs or they can't boil water right, with very few in the middle of the spectrum lol:09: I love how WE get stuck cleaning up after it too! I guess I'm lucky because Joe only attempts cooking a couple times a year at most. I'm actually quite happy to make all our meals and to clean up. The kitchen is my "domain" and (for the most part) a man-free zone

Kiwibird said:

RavensGryf said:

I've never heard of bar keeper's friend. What is it? :52:. I'm glad the foil worked .
Don is not one of those men who can cook either (although unfortunately that doesn't stop him) lol. He always turns the flame up way too high and scorches food on the pots and pans every single time. I tell him daily for as long as the pot is there "you're going to wash that pot, right?" Many times I need that certain pot before he ends up doing it, so guess who cleans it haha!

Click to expand...

WHAAAATTTTT??? You've never heard of barkeepers friend? It's a miracle product! Restores stainless pans to shiny new (and I am very particular about my pans having ANY "gunk" on them). Aluminum foil is my new (not so) "secret" cleaning tool though:54:

Lol @ your husband doing the same as mine. I think men are either chefs or they can't boil water right, with very few in the middle of the spectrum lol:09: I love how WE get stuck cleaning up after it too! I guess I'm lucky because Joe only attempts cooking a couple times a year at most. I'm actually quite happy to make all our meals and to clean up. The kitchen is my "domain" and (for the most part) a man-free zone

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A miracle product, hmm. I better give it a try. We have some very old SS pots and pans that could use a little of that it sounds like. The last time I tried one of the products you recommended it was Orange Guard, and that really is a miracle product I think!
It's funny what we've come to be OCD about and what we're not. Cookware I have to admit I'm not the least bit OCD about, but other things where I am VERY much so, most people couldn't care less.

Unfortunately, Don "tries" cooking about once a month. Occasionally more. It was the worst when we were a new couple, and he'd cook for me so I'd have to sit there and eat it all up without gagging or making faces. ROTFL :18:. The last "experiment gone bad" I didn't even ask what it was he was attempting to make. All I knew it it took him a good long time to get the pot clean. Something had exploded and got all over the outside of it as well :52:.

Parchment paper (on sale same aisle as the foil) works really well on baking sheets and it's safe to use around birds. Nothing sticks to it. I leave a clean sheet on all my cookie sheets in case my hubby decides to try his culinary talents (i.e., heating something up) in my absence. It's really great when baking cookies. They just slide right off.

Glad you got your pan clean. I'm OCD all over the place about my pans, too, so I understand.

RavensGryf said:

A miracle product, hmm. I better give it a try. We have some very old SS pots and pans that could use a little of that it sounds like. The last time I tried one of the products you recommended it was Orange Guard, and that really is a miracle product I think!
It's funny what we've come to be OCD about and what we're not. Cookware I have to admit I'm not the least bit OCD about, but other things where I am VERY much so, most people couldn't care less.

Unfortunately, Don "tries" cooking about once a month. Occasionally more. It was the worst when we were a new couple, and he'd cook for me so I'd have to sit there and eat it all up without gagging or making faces. ROTFL :18:. The last "experiment gone bad" I didn't even ask what it was he was attempting to make. All I knew it it took him a good long time to get the pot clean. Something had exploded and got all over the outside of it as well :52:.

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BKF is awesome. Lots of videos on youtube too explaining how to use it to restore stainless pans (though I don't know if it works on aluminum). I am so OCD about cookware it isn't even funny. My moms (what I learned to cook in) has those OLD-style aluminum pots and pans that are very stained (almost a yellowish/brown color) and while rationally I know it shouldn't matter, it always freaked me out that "old food" or "the wrong food" would touch whatever I was cooking in them because of the stains Mine must be looking like-new at all times. I have all kinds of weird food "contamination issues" (always have, probably do have some mild form of actual OCD).

I guess you should make sure Don doesn't watch any of those cooking shows or he may decide to cook more often I am glad Joe only cooks out of absolute necessity (like the rare occasion I'm gone and he doesn't feel like ordering something). He can make basic stuff like pasta or eggs, but get into much more difficult than that and it's not pretty. Not to mention, he always indescriminantly uses whatevers closest for prep. I have other weird habits pertaining to which prep tools, knives, mixing bowls ext... can be used for which types of food/tasks:54: Totally nuts, I know, but it really freaks me out when he gets in the kitchen and messes up my order of doing things lol:30: For the most part, he keeps out I think he understands where I'm coming from because he feels the same way about all his computers/electronics.

OOwl said:

Parchment paper (on sale same aisle as the foil) works really well on baking sheets and it's safe to use around birds. Nothing sticks to it. I leave a clean sheet on all my cookie sheets in case my hubby decides to try his culinary talents (i.e., heating something up) in my absence. It's really great when baking cookies. They just slide right off.

Glad you got your pan clean. I'm OCD all over the place about my pans, too, so I understand.

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I have occasionally used parchment paper, but I rarely have sticking issues. Trying to get hubby to remember to use it would be a futile effort