Using and cleaning ss cookware 101, please

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Barkeepers Friend is not scouring powder. DO NOT USE SCOURING POWDER on your stainless! Either Barkeepers Friend or, if you can't find it, use Bon Ami.

Use a blue, NOT GREEN, scotchbrite scrubby when severe scrubbing is necessary. I use Stainless Steel utensils in mine. If something gets burned on, a two hour soaking with dishwashing liquid and hot water will usually allow you to just wipe it away with the sponge side of the scrubby

 

[Andy M.]

...I've already put some stains on my new pan--why is that? why is it that stainless steel stains so easily?

Your stains are food residue, not metal stains (such as rust).

 

[Dawgluver]

While we are discussing cookware...
If anyone knows or hears of a saucepan set, let me know. They seem so outrageously priced singly, but are only offered as part of a larger set with items I don't need. I would love to get a set of just three saucepans.

Try Walmart or Target. I seem to recall some smaller sets there of decent quality.

 

[Sumikclark]

I have a non scratch metal scrub bud. Low cost and some organic cleaners for pots pans/metal

 

[pacanis]

Thanks Jenny. I'll Google them.

BKF is found in the local hardware store here. I've never seen it in a grocery store or Walmart though.

Andy, maybe by "staining" they meant that funky blue color SS gets sometimes.

 

[Andy M.]

...BKF is found in the local hardware store here. I've never seen it in a grocery store or Walmart though.

I've seen it in BB&B and kitchen stores too.

 

[vitauta]

got a canister of the bkf at my regular kroger's market. it works like a charm. and yes, i picked up one of the requisite blue non-scratch scrub sponges as well. god, this new ss pan of mine is already proving to be more high maintenance than some of my former boyfriends....

 

[dcSaute]

vitauta -

I have multiple pots/pan with interior stainless of varying "constructions" - I use BKF to keep them polished and clean.

and, I am known to fire up the hand mixer and mash the potatoes in the same ss pot they boiled in.

edit add: forgot to mention, I use metal whisks and that marks them. plastic whisks (not seen a wooden one....) don't work - so there's some tasks/techniques that'll doom the pan...

here's the dirt: over time they're going to collect "marks" - it's not dents, dings or scratches - you can't feel anything even with a fingernail. it's 'mark' that a couple atoms thick. you can spend your life trying to avoid the inevitable, or get on with cooking for fun (g) here's a thought - buy two pots. keep one in the cabinet - never use it - it'll stay pretty. use the other one. when company comes, hide the used one and put out the new one for display . . .

 

[justplainbill]

SS pans are particularly susceptible to 'staining' from deposits of food starches. Dried starch (eg pasta) is not an onerous food hazard. The starch deposits/stains should disappear if the pot is used to cook an acidic dish like a tomato based pasta sauce.

 

[vitauta]

thank you for the helpful tips an pointers, dcsaute. that's a nice thoughtful thought at the end about how to keep the pretty pan pretty. but it is actually myself who this pretty pan needs to impress and please, after all. but i suspect it will be a lot like scratches on a new car--the first ones are painful, but then they are joined by many more, and pretty soon you no longer notice them or even care so much about it....

 

[vitauta]

SS pans are particularly susceptible to 'staining' from deposits of food starches. Dried starch (eg pasta) is not an onerous food hazard. The starch deposits/stains should disappear if the pot is used to cook an acidic dish like a tomato based pasta sauce.

i am starting to feel like what i'm dealing with here is not so much a piece of practical cookware but a science project that becomes more complex with familiarity....seriously though, so far the most difficult stains on my pan are not from cooked on burgers or fried potatoes but from plain butter being melted for sauteing!

 

[Dawgluver]

I have scratched up the interiors of mine using the "boat motor". I also use wire whisks. I do like wooden/silicone utensils as they seem to get into nooks and crannies.

 

[justplainbill]

We have several 1960's WMF brand copper bottomed stainless steel pots which do not have many of the issues of modern multiply stainless steel pots. Do not know of any pricey AllClads that perform / clean up as well.

 

[jennyema]

SS is pretty maintainence free. Dishwasher and BKF if you have a stain or anything stubborn.

 

[dcSaute]

>> it is actually myself who this pretty pan needs to impress and please.

the proof of that is in the cooking, not the shine (g)

I have some copper pots - first question from DW was "and who is going to shine that?"
answer: "nobody. these are for cooking, not polishing."
the pot cooks great - tarnish and all.

 

[vitauta]

i'm getting a $100.00, 2 1/2 quart saucepan, calphalon, ss clad, for under $40. now i am looking with some interest at the tramontia line of all clad cookware. (18/10 ss and .1 " thick back and sides is a description of one of their saute pans.) is there something i should know about this company? their prices are so low, it's worrisome. andy....?

 

[TomatoMustard]

I mean as hell to my pans. I use all sorts of metal utensils during cooking and scouring pads to clean. Still, I've had no problems with food sticking and the pans hold up just very well

 

[Andy M.]

i'm getting a $100.00, 2 1/2 quart saucepan, calphalon, ss clad, for under $40. now i am looking with some interest at the tramontia line of all clad cookware. (18/10 ss and .1 " thick back and sides is a description of one of their saute pans.) is there something i should know about this company? their prices are so low, it's worrisome. andy....?

I have a Tramontina clad skillet that works fine. I don't know of any negatives associated with their stuff.

 

[vitauta]

I mean as hell to my pans. I use all sorts of metal utensils during cooking and scouring pads to clean. Still, I've had no problems with food sticking and the pans hold up just very well

tomatomustard, your description of the way you (mis)treat your ss pans strikes just the right chord with me. it is everything i wanted from a relationship with my new indestructible ss pans, too. i couldn't wait to replace the wimpy scrub with a TerM-a-BraSeR, and go get to work with my heavy duty metal spatula, whisks and spoons! too bad, so sad, it wasn't to be. from the moment my shiny new stainless pan slid out from its packing carton, it began a mesmerizing show of graceful turns, bending its shapely curves, back and forth, in a satiny soft glow of its luminous patina, until....i was out buying barkeepers, gentle cleansing pads, and looking for suitable lodgings for this lofty new culinary guest, in my humble home....

 

[TomatoMustard]

tomatomustard, your description of the way you (mis)treat your ss pans strikes just the right chord with me. it is everything i wanted from a relationship with my new indestructible ss pans, too. i couldn't wait to replace the wimpy scrub with a TerM-a-BraSeR, and go get to work with my heavy duty metal spatula, whisks and spoons! too bad, so sad, it wasn't to be. from the moment my shiny new stainless pan slid out from its packing carton, it began a mesmerizing show of graceful turns, bending its shapely curves, back and forth, in a satiny soft glow of its luminous patina, until....i was out buying barkeepers, gentle cleansing pads, and looking for suitable lodgings for this lofty new culinary guest, in my humble home....

Is it weird that I'm turned on?

... too far?