Disinfect sink, dishes and flatware. Help!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Remove ALL the dishes from the sink. Place them in a plastic bag. CLEAN, first use something like Comet and really scrub everything down. You wouldn't cook with a dirty pan, so you shouldn't clean dishes in a dirty sink.

Then, I'd fill the sink with water and a half cup of bleach. Use the bleach water to wipe down the sink, counters, faucet handles, refrigerator door/handles, anything they may have touched.

Wash the bleach around the sink as well.

Empty the sink, and fill with clean hot water and rinse everything off. Use paper towels or a very clean kitchen towel to wipe everything dry.

That should take care of initial cleaning.

Then, I'd recommend filling the sink with HOT water and maybe a tablespoon of bleach and soak the dishes for an hour.

Afterward, wash as normal, rinse and dry them.

It sounds like a lot of steps, but it should prevent you from getting sick and killing any bacteria.

Maybe others have tips for you, but this is a start.

Good luck!

FF

You would be welcome in any kitchen I'm associated with any time.
 
Oxyclean soak everything. That busts everything loose. Then, you need to rinse rinse rinse to get the soapy flavor off. This will ensure that you are going to do a great job.
 
Now I understand why many in the bike forum recommend Dawn for cleaning bikes. Bicycle chain grease is tough to remove. If I have to touch the chain for maintenance I use Gojo hand cleaner, but it still takes about a day for the black stains to go away.
 
99% of the problem has been solved, thanks to the wealth of advice that you've all provided me. Thank you for that. The considered posting before and after photos, but honestly the before wasn't a pleasant sight. I decided to spare you the carnage.

1% remaining : (1 of 2) There is a single stainless steel knife, which has a noticeable amount of rust on it. It's part of my flatware set, it's not a chef's knife or anything. It's was clearly submerged in water for the past month and somehow rush has developed on it. Can I save it, or is it a goner? I was thinking of trying the ajax with bleach. Suggestions?

(2 of 2) I have a stainless steel 12" frying pan, which has something baked into it. I'm guessing that it's baked on bacon grease. I tried soaking it for 90 minutes attempting to use a sponge and detergent, but no success. I was considering using steel wool (which I don't currently have) or using ajax with bleach. If I use the Ajax, is that safe to use since, since I will obviously be cooking food on the surface of the pan?
 
Brasso works wonders with both brass and stainless steel. I use one of those green 3M scrubbing cloth things, not the coarse ones tho. Non abrasive Ajax or Comet is ok, don't use the abrasive Ajax.
 
Last edited:
For these two items you don't need bleach. It doesn't make cleaning easier, it just sanitizes.

As a general rule, you want to use the least damaging method that will clean the item.

Put a couple of inches of water into the dirty pan and bring it to a boil. Simmer it for 20 minutes to loosen the residue then scrub with a non-abrasive sponge (like the blue sponge with the scouring pad on one side. Blue means teflon safe). If that doesn't work, buy some Barkeepers Friend. It's a stain remover and minimally abrasive powder. USe that with the blue sponge. If that doesn't work, put the pan in a plastic bag in your back yard put a hallow dish of ammonia in the bag with the pan. Close off the bag and leave it overnight then try to clean it again.

Use the BKF to clean the rust off the knife.
 
I would simmer the pot with water and baking soda. I would try dry baking soda on a damp cloth on the knife. If that doesn't work, then try the Bar Keeper's Friend, as Andy suggested, or some other stainless steel cleaner. I use one from Lagostina and it takes off the rust that my cutlery sometimes get in the dishwasher.
 
Too rough a pad used will definitely put scratches on the surface. I found that out the hard way. Brasso has enough grit to polish off stains. I use a very worn 3M green scrub cloth, when new, they're too abrasive.
 
Last edited:
(2 of 2) I have a stainless steel 12" frying pan, which has something baked into it. I'm guessing that it's baked on bacon grease. I tried soaking it for 90 minutes attempting to use a sponge and detergent, but no success. I was considering using steel wool (which I don't currently have) or using ajax with bleach. If I use the Ajax, is that safe to use since, since I will obviously be cooking food on the surface of the pan?


Haven't tried it yet but just recently saw where supposedly you can use a dryer sheet to get off messes like that. Fill pan with hot soapy water, drop in a dryer sheet and let it soak for at least an hour, preferably overnight (which I'd do in your case). Per the article I read, you should just be able to wipe off a good portion of the gunk (if not all). If some of it comes off but not all, just repeat. The dryer sheet supposedly softens the gunk plus breaks the molecular bond of the gunk to the pan.

We don't normally use dryer sheets (never will after I saw the chemical residue/build-up on the lint trap that will actually hold water if you don't clean it (brush, soap and water) from time to time) but it's worth buying some to see if it actually works. We just keep forgetting to put them on the grocery list so that we can try, not that we have too many messes where it would of use but it's a lot better than putting out all that elbow grease when we do if it actually works.

Just had a lightbulb moment and looked it up, Duh, supposedly liquid fabric softener works the same way. I do use that so will give it a try next time we have a nasty pan.
 
Last edited:
Haven't tried it yet but just recently saw where supposedly you can use a dryer sheet to get off messes like that. Fill pan with hot soapy water, drop in a dryer sheet and let it soak for at least an hour, preferably overnight (which I'd do in your case). Per the article I read, you should just be able to wipe off a good portion of the gunk (if not all). If some of it comes off but not all, just repeat. The dryer sheet supposedly softens the gunk plus breaks the molecular bond of the gunk to the pan.

We don't normally use dryer sheets (never will after I saw the chemical residue/build-up on the lint trap that will actually hold water if you don't clean it (brush, soap and water) from time to time) but it's worth buying some to see if it actually works. We just keep forgetting to put them on the grocery list so that we can try, not that we have too many messes where it would of use but it's a lot better than putting out all that elbow grease when we do if it actually works.

Just had a lightbulb moment and looked it up, Duh, supposedly liquid fabric softener works the same way. I do use that so will give it a try next time we have a nasty pan.

Excellent advice medtran. Even just filling the pan with water and dish detergent will loosen most of the stuff. When the water starts to boil, scrape the bottom. Use a wooden spoon if you have one. If not any spoon will do. All that is, is fond. The stuff that makes great gravy. But you don't want this water and fond. :angel:
 
The only thing I'd add to what others have offered is to use 1/4t of Mercurochrome or Iodine to the water.
Google the reasons.
 
Yep.

I think if I burned something hard and fast onto a bare aluminum pan I'd just get rid of it. These things are available by the half dozen from restaurant supply houses for not a whole lot of money, not much extra for just a single.

They just aren't worth kicking a whole lot of dust up over, you know? Pure commodity items.
 
Last edited:
If I have stuff sticking to a pan it's my foolproof method of removing gunk. Add vermouth to the pan, just enough to get all the gunk wet. Turn the heat on low and start stirring. When it starts to come off start scrapping with a wooden spoon. Pretty much a deglazing method that works on stuck-on stuff. Wash as normal.
 
If I have stuff sticking to a pan it's my foolproof method of removing gunk. Add vermouth to the pan, just enough to get all the gunk wet. Turn the heat on low and start stirring. When it starts to come off start scrapping with a wooden spoon. Pretty much a deglazing method that works on stuck-on stuff. Wash as normal.
Use in a sauce then? LOL
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom