Thursday, November 5, 2009

Cleaning Pots and Pans With Baking Soda

 
OK. Just burned dinner last night.
I burned red beet bulbs on to the
bottom of the pan.

I was watching TV and not paying
attention. That's an old story.

The new story is that baking soda
works great to clean the black stuff
that adheres to the pan.

I really did a good job of burning
the black stuff on this time. The
black stuff is carbon.

Anytime you have food that is burned
on to the side of the pan, it is called
carbon. This is especially true if it
is black.

How did I get it off?

I followed these steps:

  1. I put some baking soda in the bottom
    of the pan.
  2. I wet the baking soda just a little bit,
    just enough to make it a little bit sticky.
  3. I finger-painted the baking soda on to the
    black stuff.
  4. I let it sit like this for a few hours. Overnight
    is probably a good idea.
  5. While I let it sit, I kept the top on the
    pan so that the little bit of water I put in there
    did not evaporate too quickly.
  6. I tested the pan for readiness by finger-painting
    the baking soda again. If the black carbon rubs off
    on it's own, the pan is probably ready for scrubbing.
  7. I then rinsed the pan. In my case, it came out clean.
  8. Had the pan not come clean, I would have
    repeated the above steps. Sometimes you have
    to do this if the black burned-on carbon is too
    thick and has too many layers.

Here are tips that will help you be successful:

  1. Be sure to give it enough time. It's a chemical
    reaction. Chemical reactions take time.
  2. Don't use too much water. Just enough so that
    the baking soda can be finger-painted to the sides
    of the pan. If you use too much water, you dilute
    the effectiveness of the baking soda. At least, that's
    my experience.
  3. Don't start scrubbing until at least some
    of the backed-on carbon comes off when you
    finger-paint it with your finger. Why scrub
    if you do not have to?

Hope this helps someone out there.

Ed Abbott

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