The Joy of Baking Soda, Miracle Degreaser

Just had a lovely experience. I was washing some greasy fluorescent light covers. They are big, long and hard to clean.

More frustrating was the grease that was sticking to the nylon brush I was using. Rather than removing grease, I was spreading it around. Plus I was temporarily ruining my nylon brush. What to do?

On the vague hope that baking soda can be used as a degreaser, I googled baking soda degreaser. The following web page showed up:

How to Make a Natural Degreaser

Now I had a little more hope. The above web page claims that baking soda is one of 6 natural degreasers. Furthermore, it suggested that baking soda has at least some value as a degreaser even with no other ingredients mixed in. I had to give it a try!

I was already using Palmolive Ultra Dish Liquid, Concentrated, Original Formula dish soap. My sink was full of warm water and Palmolive dish soap. To this I added approximately 1 cup of baking soda.

Voila! The dark stains on my nylon brush cleared almost instantly! And the grease started coming off the long fluorescent light cover rather than just being pushed around. Wow! This mixture really works!

I really didn't expect baking soda to be so effective! I thought it might work a little bit, but I didn't think it would work almost instantly!

It makes me wonder what other secrets I've been missing out on. Why have I not been doing this for years?

You're probably wondering how the light covers became greasy. Well, we have an extended family member who is from the fast school of cooking. Faster is always better.

I simply cannot believe the distance that grease travels when this person cranks up the heat on the stove top and sends airborne grease all over the kitchen. Unbelievable! This person cooks meat on the stove top.

Oddly enough, this person also seems to feel that meat, such as hamburger, does not have enough grease on its own. The first step to frying any meat on the stove top is to grease the pan and crank the heat all the way up, or almost all the way up.

I think you can see the problem. A cast iron pan at high temperature sends hugh amounts of grease airborne. This grease forms microdroplets which can easily travel upwards and away from the stove 10 or more feet. It's amazing, really.

The person who always cooks using a faster-is-better methodology started out in life very poor. People who have had a hard time growing up sometimes see life as something to be endured. This person definitely sees cooking this way. Cooking brings her little joy. She gets it over with just as quickly as she possibly can.

Tolerating relatives, especially elderly relatives, is something I regularly do. Sometimes it's easier to tolerate something than it is to try to change it.

Since I'm also tolerating all the grease spatter, baking soda makes it much easier to deal with. Thank you baking soda!

Ed Abbott

Removing the White Silicone Power on My Oven Walls

I received the following email a few days ago from a woman who has silicone powder coating her oven walls after accidentally leaving a silicone mitt in her oven:

Dear Ed,

I have no idea if you can help so all I can do is ASK. Right?

This afternoon I turned my electric oven on to roast a chicken for dinner. I inadvertently left a small silicone hot mitt in the oven the last time I used it. Well...the darned mitt "dissolved" into thick white powder that has coated the entire interior of my oven!!! (Yes, it coated the chicken, too!!!)

Of course, I threw away the chicken and have tried getting the gritty powder off all of the interior surfaces using various methods: I vacuumed the sides with the vac brush attachment; I wiped off what I can reach with wet towels; I used the dryer vent-cleaning brush to try and reach around the elements at top and bottom. The stuff is horrible! It blows like snow and so I wore a mask and goggles in case it is toxic...who really knows?!

My oven interior is extremely hard to access and I am ready to get out the high pressure washer that we use to clean the deck and just go crazy! Of course, I would probably electrocute myself in the process AND flood the kitchen...so, instead, I am asking if you might suggest an alternative. I may have to hire someone to get the oven really clean again...darn it!

NO MORE SILICONE ANYTHING IN MY HOUSE!!!

Thanks,
D.

I've thought about this for a few days now. I've wondered what I might do if I found silicone powder coating my oven.

It occurs to me that ammonia breaks the bonds of many things. That's why ammonia is so effective as a window cleaner. It breaks the bond that holds the dirt on the glass.

If it were me, I might try ammonia first. I'd use a soft bristle brush and I'd scrub the ammonia into the walls of the oven first. Perhaps I would use a toothbrush to scrub the knarly little corners where a soft bristle brush might not reach.

Since this is all an experiment, I'm not sure what I'd do next.

Perhaps I would let the ammonia dry and then try and see if the powder will now vacuum with a vacuum cleaner. However, if I did use I vacuum cleaner I'd use a good model such as a Miele which would presumably keep the silicone in the dirt bag and out of my lungs.

I would not try vacuuming silicone powder with an ordinary vacuum cleaner as may vacuum cleaners filter the air very poorly. Whatever I did, I certainly would not risk getting silicone powder in my lungs!

Perhaps wiping the powder with a damp cloth is a better option as there is no risk of getting silicone powder in the lungs. At least, I hope not.

All of the above is experimental. Since it is an experiment, I might try the ammonia on a small spot on the oven first. There's no point in trying it on the whole oven if it will not work even on a small spot.

My hope would be that since ammonia seems to work on the smooth surface of a glass window that it would work on the smooth surface of an oven wall. You can always hope.

Note that I have not tried any of the above. Therefore, there is some risk in being the first to try it.

However, in general, ammonia is considered to be pretty safe. The one exception that I'm aware of is mixing ammonia and chlorine. I believe that this combination can kill you! Don't do that.

Here are some near-death experiences people have had mixing ammonia and chlorine together:

Chlorine and Ammonia Mixed Together Can Kill You

Make sure the oven is off before trying anything. Since ammonia is wet, it is not a good idea mixing ammonia (which surely has some water in it) with electricity.

I might take the additional precaution of turning off the oven at the circuit breaker if I were to do some really heavy duty cleaning with ammonia

Good luck! Let us know if this works. You can post your results below by hitting the appropriate button. Feedback would be quite welcome.

I have no idea whether or not this will actually work.

Ed Abbott