Try using an oven cleaner on cooked-on, burnt messes in the bottom of stainless cookware. It works better than scrubbing with SOS pads!
By Linda
This page contains the following solutions.
I got this terrific stainless steel whistling tea kettle at the church thrift shop yesterday for $2. It was full of grease and dirt. The black handle had some white residue on it. I figured for $2 I could see how the steel part cleaned up with a soap-filled pad. I assumed the handle would always be stained.
This idea/tip is to make the handles of your cookware look new again. I KNOW that most cookware makers stress NOT to put your cookware in the dishwasher.
I find that using liquid bleach on the inside of my stainless steel pans removes tea stains immediately.
To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan and bring to a boil on stove top.
I was reading all the tips on stainless steel cookware. I clean mine with soap pads. It seems the more I scrub the brighter they shine! Just sayin.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I've been told to use WD-40 to clean the burnt stainless cookware I have. Has anyone else ever tried this method?
By Brian from San Francisco, CA
It is an industrial product and the can says not to be ingested. So I would not use it for cooking utensils, but that is up to you.
If the interior is 'bluish', pour clear Vinegar, place cover on, and heat up to boiling point. Let set for about 2 minutes and pour into kitchen sink.
If more drastic measures are required, use MAAZ S.S. Cleaner [a paste usually found with all the other household cleansers]...absolutely amazing. Then wash with a detergent (or use the vinegar method) to remove any questionable residues.
Never use WD-40 on anything you cook with or eat off of! It's not meant for ingesting in any way, shape or form!
WD-40 web site lists it as useful for cleaning:
* Displaces moisture from guns after cleaning
* Cleans woks after - cleaning
* Cleans blackened skillets - after cleaning
The bottom of the pan should be cleaned as well as possible, then soaked in WD-40 for at least an hour before attempting to clean again. And of course wash the pan again before using.
I have never heard of using WD-40, but would only try it on the outside of the pan while still making sure to clean well with hot soapy water. Bar Keeper's Friend is a powdered cleaner that I have had good luck with for cleaning my stainless steel pots when they get discolored from heat or burnt food.
I have all stainless steel cookware and I was having trouble finding something to use. Then I moved to a mobile home with a septic tank and did some research and found that white vinegar can be used to polish stainless steel. I now use white vinegar in my dishwater to cut grease and polish my pots and pans and silverware.
For the hard to clean pots I use white vinegar and baking soda.
When nothing else worked (vinegar, baking soda, fabric softener sheets... all the usual tips you see), I most certainly did use WD-40! When I purchased my pots and pans, several years ago, I paid almost $500 for them, so, I was not about to send them packing;) A couple of my skillets had deep burn marks. I followed the directions on the can... spraying it only on the marks, then letting the skillets sit (if the marks didn't scrub right off, which they usually don't, right away), overnight, then tried again the next day.
Not in a million years would I use WD40 to clean pans. I have good stainless too and use easy off on them. WD40 can cause seizures in some people so it is not something you would want to take a chance on.
When I burn something in one of my stainless pots, before I scrub, I put warm water in the pot, just enough to cover the bottom, heat to boiling and using a spatula scape the burnt stuff off. This cleans the majority off and then let it sit over night with a little dawn and water. Comes clean every time. I also use the Bar Keeper stainless cleaner when I want to shine up the pots.
I fell asleep on the couch shortly after I'd put water on to boil in a Revere Ware saucepan. It's somewhat discolored, usable, but discolored. Any ideas on how to get it shinier? I also, have a frying pan with the same discoloration. It's old, but still usable.
By the way, to get copper bottomed sauce and frying pans clean, there's a great product named Penny Brite by a company called EZ Brite here in Westlake, OH. Website is ezbritebrands.com. The paste really works wonders. The frying pan I mentioned above was my mother's and I've had it at least since the 80's and she had it for years before that. Penny Brite makes it look great at least on the outside.
The inside has seen many a meal. It's still very usable, but the metal has kind of a bluish tint to it. In other words, the metal in it has somewhat discolored. Anyway, any help anyone can provide would be appreciated.
By Judy from Willoughby, OH
Pour some white vinegar in the pan and add some table salt and rub with a cloth or sponge and it should take care of the blue tint on the stainless steel.
Barkeeper Friend is a mildly abrasive powder that cleans nearly any metal.
Catsup. For the outside of the pan on copper bottom on burns etc. rub it on, let it sit a little, then using a sponge or damp cloth, start rubbing off any leftover stains. I'm not sure about discoloration on the inside though.
Pampered Chef makes a stainless pot & pan cleaner which works very well. We have well water & whether that is why my ss pots stain or what, I don't know but this product works. The last bottle I bought cost $9.95.
When I burn food in my pans and can't get it out I spray them with Easy Off Oven cleaner - fume free and it works cold not in a hot oven. You could also use their other product for Bar-B-Q grills. Let the pan sit overnight and then wipe it clean with a paper towel the next day. This has worked on stains too.
I've found a wonderful product called Bar Keeper's Friend and it is great for cleaning all my stainless steel posts and pans. I also use it to clean my sink. Good Luck.
The finish is very flat instead of shiny inside my stainless steel pan from boiling water to humidify the air. How can I get the shine back?
By Bunny
Anyone have a homemade solution for cleaning stainless steel cookware? My cookware has been darkened by dirty gas burners. The cookware has copper bottoms.
The inside of my stainless steel cookware has a tendency of getting discolored, so what I do is pour in a small amount of vinegar and that cleans it up very nicely.
Pour some vinegar and salt on the copper bottom and rub with a dishcloth. The salt acts like an abrasive. You can use any vinegar. The vinegar and salt do a great job in cleaning copper.
Copper bottoms can be cleaned with catsup. The acid from Tomatoes does the trick. Adding baking soda may help the stainless part.
Get some Bar Keeper's Friend (looks like Comet) from Walmart. Try that. I recently attended a cooking show and that was one of the tips I received.
Tomato sauce also works well. Just coat the pot and wipe it with some paper towels. Repeat as needed.Then wash, rinse and dry. GG Vi
How do I clean a stainless steel teapot with lots of tea stains?
By dasguptat from Kolkata, W Bengal
How do I get black spots, from boiling cloves and cinnamon in water, out of the inside of my vintage Farberware 1 qt. pot?
I am having problems cleaning a pot that has burned cranberry sauce in it. I let the cranberries cook too long. The inside of a Revere pot is now black. How can I clean it?
By EH
I need to clean the bottoms of stainless steel pots and pans. There is some old grease that I can't remove.
By Olga from Tampa, FL
There's a powdered abrasive cleaner called Bar Keeper's Friend. There was just an article about this on Lifehacker:
lifehacker.com/
My husband used to be the cook and dishwasher in this house. I just recently took over. I'm trying to get our pots and pans back to new looking. I just saw some black on the lid of the saucepan. I tried to scrub it, but I don't have any scour pads right now. It wouldn' come off. I had just soaked the pan in baking soda, vinegar, and water. I hope the black is not mold from food residue, is it? And how to I get rid of it. I will purchase some scour pads.
By T L
How can I remove purple stains from stainless steel? It was too close to an open fire, and now I'm struggling to remove the purple stain as a result of this hot fire.
By Stoffel de Beer
I found my large skillet with lid way back under the sink, which had slowly (for months) filled with water from a slow leak. I managed to wipe away (warm water and dishsoap) most of the rusty gunk, but small black spots (pits?) remain around the lid and a couple places inside. Is it too late to try baking soda or other things?
By stephanie r.
My husband has been using steel wool pads to clean my All-Clad pan. Can it be restored or is the finish ruined?
By Helen
How do I clean a stainless steel pot that has been boiled very dry?
By Ina
This page is about cleaning burnt sugar from a stainless steel pot. When sugar is burned onto a pan, it can be a challenge to remove.
Removing burned on food or burn marks from your stainless steel cookware can be difficult. There are products and techniques that will help and not damage the finish in the process. This is a page about cleaning a burnt stainless steel pan.
Oven cleaner, sanding disk, or steel wool are all good ways to clean burn marks from a stainless steel skillet. This is a page about how to remove burn marks from a stainless steel pot.
Scrubbing a stainless stop pot with a lightly abrasive cleaner like Bon Ami or Barkeepers Friend will get rid of any rust stains. That is how to remove rust from stainless steel pots easily.
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