TexanCrisps said:
Hi,
I burnt rice to the bottom of my sauce pan and then an omelete to the bottom of a 12" skillet this week. I cannot remove the burn from either. The skillet is by far the worst.
The pans are either aluminium or stainless steel. They both have a thick heavy base, and I think they are stainless steel with an aluminium base but is there a way that I can find out for sure?
Based on the type of pan, how do I get out the burnt on food?
Thanks,
Welcome to Discuss Cooking (DC). Burnt rice or eggs on the bottom of a pan is the ultimate stinko to clean. Although I have done both and more than once, I am not an expert in getting it cleaned off real quickly.
The first wash in moderate temp. soapy water, I use a dish washing brush and scrub off the loose food stuff. Next I put the pots or pans in a plastic tub in the sink, fill with luke warm water and put the pans in to soak all day or over night. (I use the tub because I do not want the water to mess up the finish on my sink) Next time I wash them some more of the stuff comes off but not all. I put away the tub and rinse everything. I place the pots and pans in the sink to drain and dry. Some of the smaller pieces of food are sealed to the bottom and the drying helps to loosen them. Wash again and most of the stuff comes off.
I only use an abrasive cleaning product like comet when I need to remove a grease film and then I use a soft sponge with a green Teflon side. I have never had any success in boiling water in the pan. It has just made the food harder to remove as it seemed to be cooking to the pan.
The ultimate worse thing that you can do to a pot or pan is to leave it unwashed with a tomato product in it (like tomato sauce stuff). It will eat the finish, leave stains and eventually have a hole.
I am not perfect as you may have noticed. Once I get everything learned, I'll treasure these old pots and pans.
I have two pizza pans. Both are the same brand. One will rust and the other does not. Figure that!
Have fun cooking. Don't try multi tasking when you are cooking; like trying to do laundry, vacuuming, ....etc. (unless you are waiting on a slow cooker....
)