Cleaning up saucepan disasters
So, it’s bound to happen. You forgot about the rice, the quinoa, the couscous. You scrambled the hell out of the eggs (bain of my stainless steel skillet’s existence). You ended up with one of these types of situations.
Your poor pan.
Well, as it turns out you have a magical powder in your pantry that will combat even the crustiest, most-permanent-looking, charred cooking disasters. Enter: Baking soda.
Sprinkle a tablespoon or two on a damp sponge, as shown above, and start working your way through the char. What’s great about baking soda versus steel wool or some other super-abrasive material is that baking soda won’t scratch your pan while you’re scrubbing off the food.
Scrub. Breathe a bunch. Scrub some more. Repeat.
And…
Voila! Admire the bottom of your pan once more.
Cleaning, Kitchen Tools & Equipment
Reader Comments (9)
Ohhh good tip to have on hand! I always have baking soda in my cupboard. Another one is hydrogen peroxide. If you pour some in your charred pan and bring it to a boil, it brings up all the nasty with it :) But, Baking Soda is definitely more handy :)
Is there nothing baking soda can't do? Okay, maybe it can't cook dinner for you, but other than that I'm continually amazed at its usefulness.
I got this trick from MSL for use on copper pans: kosher salt and half of a lemon. It scrubs AND polishes in one step.
So funny - that's completely what I spent a half-hour doing last night, after leaving on the heat on too high for a batch of green-tomato chutney! Baking soda to the rescue again.
BP also works great to clean your stove top instead of Soft n Scrub!
What a great idea! Rice is the one that always gets me. It never fails.
I also discovered recently (not through sheer laziness or anything!) that if you sprinkle baking soda liberally on the bottom of, oh, for example a pot you burnt chutney in, and leave it for a day (or two, or three) it absorbs all the moisture that you didn't know was still in there and the burnt bits sort of just lift off. The worst of it anyway. Still have to attack the last few flecks of black with a lemon and some baking soda but it's just staining now, no residue as such.
BS works without elbow grease if you put it in the pan, add water, and boil. Let it rest until cool. Easy peasy.
If test batches of my husbands jelly burn on the bottom of the pot it is my job to clean the pot. I put baking soda and vinegar in the pot and boil it. I will scrap the burnt areas during boiling to see where it is releasing. It is easier than scrubbing at the sink and a fun 'volcano experiment'.