# How to clean stainless pot



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I accidently made some oatmeal charcoal in one of my favorite stainless steel pots. 

That was several weeks ago and after weeks of soaking in soap water, boiling soap water, soaking in vinegar, rinsed with straight bleach it's still unusable. It is better but no where near usable.

How do you remove burned on oatmeal?


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2015/01/10-best-ways-clean-burnt-food-pots-pans.html


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks.

I've tried some of those but I haven't tried the baking soda yet.

Right now the bottom is covered with dish washing soap. I'll leave it set for a day before trying to scrape it clean.


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## Crankin (Jul 13, 2015)

Try quality oven cleaner. I use EZ-Off. Give it about 2-3 hours.

It is a good engine gasket remover too.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

Crankin said:


> Try quality oven cleaner. I use EZ-Off. Give it about 2-3 hours.
> 
> It is a good engine gasket remover too.


That works on some stuff but some stuff you are not supposed to use it on. I have some baking sheets that have in big letters in instruction not to use oven cleaner on them.

I would just do soaking in soapy water and brillo pads. Sometimes there is no way around the elbow grease.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The liquid soap soak seemed to help but I've tried soaking so many times now that I can't say that it helped for sure.

Now I've got it on the stove on low with baking soda water.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

My Mom run her copper bottom Revere Ware double boiler dry (for a long time) It had scale real bed. Vinegar, salt, steel wool and a lot of scrubbing. Took a while. Good as new....James


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

http://food52.com/hotline/4466-what-s-the-best-way-to-clean-a-very-burned-bottom-of-a-le-creuset-pot


"Use a laundry detergent (like Tide or another brand with enzymes) mixed as one part detergent to three parts water in order to fill the vessel. Boil for 5-7 minutes. Allow the vessel to cool, then use a nylon or plastic scrubby as needed."

ixve not tried this but thought it was an easy thing to try.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

where I want to said:


> http://food52.com/hotline/4466-what-s-the-best-way-to-clean-a-very-burned-bottom-of-a-le-creuset-pot
> 
> 
> "Use a laundry detergent (like Tide or another brand with enzymes) mixed as one part detergent to three parts water in order to fill the vessel. Boil for 5-7 minutes. Allow the vessel to cool, then use a nylon or plastic scrubby as needed."
> ...


Seems to me I have heard of people using fabric softner to clean oven racks. Mixed it into the tub and left the racks soaking over night. Never tried it, but seems like it could be worth the experiment here as well.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Last week I was canning pasta sauce and had two giant pots going. One of the pots got tomatoes stuck on the bottom - tomato charcoal. I tried a Brillo pad, to no avail. I had a metal spatula that the handle had broken off of, so I had just kept the business end to use as a scraper. It worked well. It wasn't a walk in the park, but it did the job.


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## oneraddad (Jul 20, 2010)




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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I have cleaned oven rack by laying them on grass overnight. Something about the dew mixed with the grass breaks stuff down like you wouldn't believe. You could try some grass with a little water in the bottom of the pan.

Otherwise baking soda and a plastic scrubby pad and a little elbow grease works well. 

Or soaking with a bit of oxyclean can't hurt.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

It's almost clean now. I'll pick up a metal scouring pad tomorrow and finish it.


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## AKgalinUT (Sep 15, 2015)

Bar keepers friend helps with my stainless steel. Makes it shine too. For future...


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## free-2-b-me (May 9, 2005)

Razor blade


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

We just boiled our big stainless steel pot dry and burned pumpkin into charcoal on the bottom. Scraped what we could off, then put in a very good layer of baking soda on the bottom and sides and let sit overnight. Steel wool and a little elbow grease the next day, and it's as good as new. Make sure to keep some water in it when scrubbing with the steel wool, to minimize scratching.


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## swinters (Apr 17, 2009)

I buy a lot of vintage cookware and some of it has some pretty horrid messes in or on it. My first try is always with baking soda and water in a real thin paste and most of the time it takes everything off. White vinegar will get off what the baking soda won't in most cases. All the old school books say to use cream of tarter and it really does work but I'm "frugal" (read cheap) so always try the baking soda or vinegar first. Cream of Tarter is awesome with aluminum though. In a worst-case situation you can use oven cleaner if it's steel but it'll dissolve aluminum. Same with washing powder. Really works great to boil some water with washing powder in it but don't use it with aluminum. If you use steel wool, stick with a quality pad like SOS or Brillo, not the dollar store ones, which are coarse and will heavily scratch. Boiling with whatever you're using and then letting it sit overnight can make all the difference. Sometimes it's trial and error and, depending on the burned on substance, what worked last time might not this time. I have yet to find a pan that wasn't physically damaged that didn't clean up.


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## OffGridCooker (Jan 29, 2010)

Try "Bar Keepers" it has oxalic acid.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

by far the easiest way to clean cast iron or stainless steel is lye 

fill the pot over the chared on mess , take it outside , add about a table spoon of lye per quart of water , let sit a few days 


do not do this with an aluminum pan

drain rinse and a slight scrubbing then normal wash and it should look like new


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I'm in the bar keepers freind camp on this one. It works quick with minimal elbow grease. For heavily baked on problems I use it with one of those stainless steel scrubby pads.


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