Cleaning your AC SS

[fishboy605]

So my girlfriend bought me the All Clad Stainless 14 piece set for Christmas with the mirror finish on the outside. I used regular dawn to clean them yesterday for the first time and it left a hazy residue on the outside. My friend suggested using "Bar keepers friend" to clean them. Any ideas or experience?

 

[TATTRAT]

the only thing I can offer is Dawn, has alot of abrasives in it. It might have etched the finish on the item.


...oh, welcome to DC!

 

[StirBlue]

What's is Bar keepers friend? How about using some white vinegar to remove the residue. Some products might damage the finish.

 

[ChefJune]

I don't know specifically about AllClad, but several manufacturers of good stainless steel cookware recommend Bon Ami.

 

[fishboy605]

What's is Bar keepers friend?

From what I gather, it is oxalic acid in powder form and it is only mildly abrasive.

Bar Keepers Friend - Free Shipping

As for the haze I just went and rubbed the cookware under hot water with a towel for a couple of minutes and the mirror finish is back

 

[fishboy605]

I don't know specifically about AllClad, but several manufacturers of good stainless steel cookware recommend Bon Ami.

Never heard of that, is it a liquid or a powder?

 

[Michael in FtW]

Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent is NOT abrasive enough to cause damage to your SS cookware. Barkeeper's Friend is more abrasive - but it wouldn't harm your SS cookware, either. SS is a very hard metal.

The "haze" you noticed is probably just from minerals in the water - which will be amplified if you washed them in the dishwasher.

Wash your pots/pans again by hand with Dawn, rinse in hot water, let drain a few seconds, then wipe dry with a clean dish towel.

EDIT:

LOL - we were typing at the same time! Bon Ami is a dry powder very similar to Bar Keepers Friend ... you can find them in the grocery store among the cleaning products like Comet, Ajax, etc.

 

[fishboy605]

I dont wash these in the dishwasher even though it says they are safe, always by hand . I just read on the all clad website that they recommend using bar keepers friend to clean SS.

As for water quality, your probably right, we have high copper and iron levels in water around here.

 

[kadesma]

I use Barkeepers Friend all the time, When I use it one metals, I make a paste of it with some water keeping it thick and it works great. I also use it to clean the porcelin sink it doesn't scratch and really cleans well.
kadesma

 

[XeniA]

Wenol metal polish works absolutely wonderfully. You can get it at Williams Sonoma and although it's expensive in the U.S. (it's just sold in hardware stores over here), a single tube lasts forever. It also polishes most other metals -- brass, silver, copper ...

Every once in awhile I put various stainless steel items briefly in a fairly weak bleach, hot water, and dishwashing liquid solution. Admitedly, this works better for forks and knives than it does a bit pot, just because of the awkward size of a pot. This was suggested to me by my dad who's a chemist -- he used to do it periodically at home to get rid of tea stains on the spoons. Bleach is caustic, however, so again the emphasis is on brief -- a couple of minutes tops.

 

[Andy M.]

If you stay away from scouring pads such as SOS, Brillo or those green scrubby things, your SS will stay bright and shiny for a long time.

BKF is your friend. Also, Dawn Power Dissolver is a great product for removing baked on stuff. It makes removal a snap and does no damage to the SS.

 

[YT2095]

Oxalic acid will only affect any Oxide of iron present on the surface, it`s typicaly used as a rust remover, and be VERY careful with it Please! it`s extremely toxic (think Rubarb leaves).
I`de go for the vinigar idea, it`s also an acid but very mild and non toxic, these marks could simply be from the dissolved ions in the water like calcium Magnessium and iron, it`s Exceptionaly noticable in a hard water area.
I live in a hard water area and I`ve just given up trying to get all my SS stuff spotless, just dry it well with a towel when you`ve washed it trying not to leave any water droplets on there.
it`s the best you can do really.

 

[urmaniac13]

Smac brand, which is very popular in Italy has a type of detergent specially made for cleaning and making stainless steel surface shiny, with a price just a fraction more than regular detergents. It works very well even without scouring pads. For everyday cleaning I use the same dishwashing soap as everything else, but when I see the surface getting a bit foggy or stained, I use this type of detergent.

I just did a search and I am sure there are same kind of products available everywhere, for example the products on this site.

 

[Crash]

If you stay away from scouring pads such as SOS, Brillo or those green scrubby things, your SS will stay bright and shiny for a long time.

BKF is your friend. Also, Dawn Power Dissolver is a great product for removing baked on stuff. It makes removal a snap and does no damage to the SS.

Actually Andy, BKF didn't make a dent in the carbonized oil on this pan. Brillo, however, cleaned it right off, even on the shiny outside of the pan. The shiny stainless is a lot more durable than you think. I don't use BKF anymore.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Crash - don't know what you were cooking (it looked great) but ...

If you had removed it from the pan and then added 1/2 - 1 cup water and deglazed the pan right then (while the pan was still hot from the original cooking cycle) you probably would not have needed a Brillo pad. If you let the pan cool off and then tried to reheat it - it doesn't work the same. As for the inside sides of the pan ... I make a "swab" of 2-3 paper towels held with tongues and wipe the sides with the deglazing water - and remove the pan from the heat.

As for the outside of the pan ... I generally spray it with Murphy's Oil Soap and use a "green scrubbie" - followed by BKF if necessary, and Dawn dishwashing soap.

Oxalic acid will only affect any Oxide of iron present on the surface, it`s typicaly used as a rust remover, and be VERY careful with it Please! it`s extremely toxic (think Rubarb leaves).

I assume you're talking about Bar Keepers Friend being primarily oxalic acid, YT? Actually, oxalic acid is both a mild abrasive and a bleaching agent ... it can be used to bleach wood, remove stains like tea, coffee, mustard, and Kool Aid, or fruit juices as well as rust, hard water deposits and metal tarnish. When I use it I scrub with BKF, rinse well with water, then wash with a liquid dishwashing detergent, rinse well again, and then hand dry.

Foods that contain oxalic acid extend far beyond rhubarb leaves ... such as buckwheat, star fruit, black pepper, parsley, poppy seed, rhubarb stalks, amaranth, spinach, chard, beets, cocoa, chocolate, most nuts, most berries, beans, asparagus and tea - for starters. And, the human body can actually produce a synthesized oxalic acid from ingestion of mega doses of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) that are in excess of the body's daily dietary needs.

 

[XeniA]

... As for the inside sides of the pan ... I make a "swab" of 2-3 paper towels held with tongues and wipe the sides with the deglazing water - and remove the pan from the heat. with a liquid dishwashing detergent, rinse well again, and then hand dry.

Not with my tongue you don't, Michael!

 

[fishboy605]

So BKF is working great but I notice some ppl only use it "when needed" what soap do you use everytime you wash your SS?

BTW the deglazing that michael was talking about works wonderfully in helping with cleanup!

 

[XeniA]

Deglazing definitely works, although so does soaking, with or without a heat-source underneath (it's just a bit quicker if you stick the pan full of soapy water onto the fire).

However, as for that carbonized mess above, I STILL say a soak in hot dishwater with some bleach will do it. Try it before you knock it.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Not with my tongue you don't, Michael!

You take all the fun out of being a pour spealter!

Acutally ... if you take a hot pan and stick it into a sink full of water - you've got a good chance of warping it. Deglazing doesn't casue the same thermal shock.

Watch the guys demonstrating the fantastic clean-up qualities of SS - it's not from sticking a cold pan into a sink of hot soapy water ... they deglaze the pan immediately with water when they remove what they were cooking!

 

[XeniA]

You take all the fun out of being a pour spelter!

I no, I no. Kall me a perti puuper!