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Mon 28 Jan, 2019 11:10 pm
Hello,
I've seen tons of suggestions on how to clean burnt stuff off of a pan. The issue is always that someone burned *food* in a pan and the burnt food is stuck to the bottom of the pan. I burned a small cooking pot by boiling water and then forgetting about it, until I smelled burning copper (from the bottom of the pot). Now I'm left with a pot that has a layer of soot that I *cannot get rid of* no matter how many times I scrub it. After scrubbing and scrubbing, and then letting it dry, when I run my finger along the inside of the (dried) pot, I get soot on my finger - which I do not want to be added to the next thing I cook in there.
How do I get rid of this? I've tried vinegar and baking soda, but I'm still getting the soot on my finger. Thanks for any suggestions.
@Bastette54,
Aha I had this issue myself. But keep in mind, mine was cast iron.
Bleach in the pot. Let it soak overnight. If you can run it in your dishwasher afterwards, then do so. If not, then you will need to wash it with hot water and soap a few times, to make sure you get rid of the bleach as you don't want to be eating/drinking any.
Some ideas suggested to me fir same pan:
Ketchup scrub, Barkeeper’s Friend, toothpaste scrub, ammonia in pan set outside in hot weather.
Nothing worked for me. I finally gave it away.
@PUNKEY,
Off topic, but for what it's worth, Barkeepers Friend (liquid) was recommended to me for cleaning ceramic sharpening stones. For that use, it worked for me when nothing else worked at all.
@roger,
get some dilute nitric acid and test a bit (gloves and in a well ventilated area). put drop on the copper and see if it shines a bit. If it works (Im not sure those copper bottoms are really copper or just coated), then wipe some on the copper and see if the whole thing shines a bit. Then take a good copper cleaner (with a pumice paste back) nd scrub.
Nitric Acid should remove the oxide pretty well. Conc acid will work the best but you could gas yourself and burn tissue if you breathe in a closed space. Id really wait till warm weather an do this outdoors or under a chemical hood if you have access to one. G'luck.
@roger,
tell me about ceramic sharpening stones. I have a bunch of wood chisels that always need sharpening and I use this diamond wheel and Im not as good with that (hard to keep the chisels really flat)
@farmerman,
if its the stainless thats burnt badly, I think youll need to buff it out with a hand buffer with a ss paste. Youre actually scraping off the oxide
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:
tell me about ceramic sharpening stones. I have a bunch of wood chisels that always need sharpening and I use this diamond wheel and Im not as good with that (hard to keep the chisels really flat)
No help from the ones I use. They are triangle shaped in cross section and way to narrow for any chisel I've seen. Not a bad idea, though.
@farmerman,
Hi,
Thanks for your suggestion. What is a hand buffer and what is ss paste?
Yes, it's the stainless part (inside the pot) that burned, so it makes sense that I'm scraping off something weird like oxide. There was only water in the pot, and then it all boiled away and that's when the pot burned.
@farmerman,
Thank you, but I think I'll pass on this one - I'm asthmatic, so I'd rather not inhale anything potentially dangerous, even outside. Anyway, I don't care about the copper bottom, real or fake. I scrubbed off the burnt flakes and the bottom seems OK - stained but not dirty. It's the inside of the pot that I'm concerned about because that's where the food will go.
@jespah,
Do you know whether bleach is safe for stainless steel? My pots are almost 20 years old, and they *are* stained (from burns, mostly - I am very absent-minded). However, I think the "stainless" part just means it won't rust. Anyway, bleach is pretty strong, although I imagine I won't have to use very much, but I want to make sure it won't further damage the pot.
@Bastette54,
Hi, I would go with engineer's suggestion. Also contact the company as they probably answer such questions a lot.
@farmerman,
Where would us civilians get dilute Nitric acid? Any hardware stores?
@engineer,
This method (vinegar) has worked for me but only on lighter, less problematic issues. For heavier issues, my experience has been that more caustic powerful methods or products are needed.
@Bastette54,
Bleach will not hurt stainless steel. I’d just avoid getting near the handles depending on what materials they’re made of.
@Ragman,
Once upon a time pharmacies would sell stuff like that. You can look up "aqua fortis" (commercial name for nitric acid) online and see places to buy it. Lowes will sell you muriatic acid (commercial HCl).
@engineer,
Whoa, baby!That chemical is known to be one of the most dangerous chemicals you can use in a household. I have used it to clean a cement wall or brick 🧱 but never inside the house. I’m pretty sure that hydrochloric acid (hCl) is the same chemical (varying in purity and concentration).
Bottom line is I would heat up the pan with baking soda and vinegar and scrub with a bristle brush or even soapy steel wool pads. What was baked-on may be just some minerals if it was only boiled-off water. If that doesn’t do it, just get another pan because life is too short to labor over it. In the future, set a timer to avoid this from happening again.
@Ragman,
I get nitric at a chem supply company. Its an acid so its hard to mail or UPS. Id just run down to the lab supply in Philly.
However , reading the op, the real problem wasnt the burnt copper but the ss cladding being discolored.
Temperature discoloring is most easily gotten off by a pumice based SS cleaner and nothing more lab related.However, he may not be fully successful.It may take several cleanings (or tke it to get polihed with a buffing wheel and a pumice power (Using a .4 micron dust mask)
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