Removing Spots on Pots and Pans

I found an otherwise nice large pizza pan with perforated holes in the free box at a moving sale. It was covered front and back with dried on grease spots (the tan sticky kind) and I wondered if I could save it because it was a nice heavy aluminum one, good for crispy crusts.

I tried with a new SOS type pad (I like the Canadian ones from $Tree, cut in half so it's easier to get in grooves and tight spots) and nothing happened. Nada. The spots were still hanging on for dear life. This was with a hard scrub.

Then I tried this. I took my large soup pot and half filled it with water and heated it to about simmer. Then I put it in the kitchen sink. I got a plastic ladle and brought the pizza disk over to the edge of the pan, ladled hot water about 4 times over on a couple of inches and scrubbed.

The heat melted the oil as if it were fresh and it came right off. I finished the whole disk in 10 minutes, both sides; it was the largest size made. I am going to be 75 at the end of the month, and it took me this many years to solve this kind of cleaning problem? For non-sticks, I'd use a plastic scrubby. I had to use about 1/2 the scrub power that I'd tried before the hot water.