Advice on cleaning a really badly burnt pot

In My Humble Opinion
1

We have a pot that was allowed to boil for too long with some berries in it and there is now a layer of black crud on the bottom. We have tried to use steel wool, but it is really stubborn. Any advice or cleaning products any doper can suggest? The pot has a stainless surface (but may be aluminum underneath).

2

When I have that problem I simply fill the pot with boiling water and some detergent and leave it in the sink overnight. The next day it has loosened enough to scrape out using a plastic scrapping tool. That’s never not worked for me, and I used to do a lot of home canning in my day.

3

When I was in Boy Scouts, we solved this problem with a layer of lighter fluid in the pan, took it outside, and burned it out. Obviously, be very careful if you go this route. Like, at least, more careful than a bunch of teenage boys.

4

Hang it up outside and let the sand blast it clean?

5

The steel wool didn’t loosen anything? I’ve never had it not work, though it’s a lot of work. I use stainless steel wool pad rather than the SOS ones, which rust immediately. The stainless steel pads are usable for months.

6

Fast and easy way to deal with the problem: Fill the pot with hot soapy water and leave it in the sink. Order a replacement 8qt stainless pot from Amazon for $40, next day delivery. Empty and discard the old pot or repurpose it as a geranium planter. You got better things to do with your life than trying to worry a layer of carbon off a steel surface while probably ruining the pot anyway.

7

A glue-consistency-ish paste of ordinary baking soda and water left to sit in the pot for 24 hours or so often does an excellent job of helping lift cooked-on crud.

8

Don’t people know about Bar Keeper’s Friend (or just oxalic acid if you have some at hand)? It will remove pretty much any crust of burned fats and sugars with just a few minutes soak and a minimum of elbow grease. You can’t use it on aluminum because it will strip the anodizing (and you shouldn’t be cooking with unanodized aluminum) but it is fine on stainless or carbon steel.

Stranger

9

I’ll second this, but more specifically, use as much dishwasher detergent as you can dissolve in the hot water. Don’t get this on your skin - dump and rinse before scraping.

Dan

10

What Stranger said.

Three other things that have worked for me:

  1. Alkaline draino ( sold at dollar stores) - add half drano and half water and bring it to a boil. (Needs the pot to be steel )
  2. Heat the pot and apply oven cleaner (prefer pot to be steel).
  3. Use goof off with steel wool(doesn’t require pot to be steel)
11

Do yourself a favor and never use steel wool on stainless steel. Stainless steel pads (I am assuming SS scrubbers, which are typically much heavier than typical steel wool) aren’t that bad, but steel wool will imbed itself in the stainless steel and cause it to rust. Scotch-Brite is best, IMO.

My advice is a soak (one to four hours) with automatic dishwasher powder or oxyclean (about one tbsp per gallon). What doesn’t loosen in 4 hours isn’t going to get any better in 40 hours, so after the soak try and remove it with scotch-brite. Repeat if it helps, but rinse well.

Also, the above mentioned Bar-Keepers Friend is a good product to use on Stainless Steel. It has Oxalic Acid which will remove oxidation but won’t hurt the stainless. A helpful tip, if someone has used steel wool on stainless and it starts to rust, scrubbing with Bar-Keepers Friend will help the stainless “heal” so it no longer rusts.

Strong caustic (lye, sodium hydroxide) will attack any organic material, but it is very hazardous, so gloves. goggles, ventilation, and be extra careful. It’s bad stuff. As it will attack any organic material, you need to keep in mind that your body (as well as everyone else’s and your pet’s) is composed entirely of organic material, so it will tend to dissolve you. It will also make you blind if you get it in your eyes. It will severely and violently attack aluminum, so you need to be rather positive about your material identification if you are going to try it.

12

Thanks for all the suggestions. We are trying some out. It goes against my grain to toss the pot.

13

One last vote for a long soak, then metal scrubber and a paste of Bar Keeper’s Friend~it is great stuff. Just used it last month to salvage a steel saucepan my roommate forgot and let boil dry with ramen, into crusty blackness.

I could have replaced it but it was part of a wedding gift set from 50 years ago. I’d lost the husband, wasn’t going to give up so easy on the pan.

14

The last “steel wool” I bought was actually copper. Softer than steel, but that means it won’t scratch up steel pans, and pretty close to unreactive.

15

Had anyone suggested FOOF yet? No? Don’t!!!

16

Good luck ordering that from Fisher Scientific:

“Being a high energy oxidizer, dioxygen difluoride reacted vigorously with organic compounds, even at temperatures close to its melting point. It reacted instantaneously with solid ethyl alcohol, producing a blue flame and an explosion. When a drop of liquid 02F2 was added to liquid methane, cooled at 90°K., a white flame was produced instantaneously, which turned green upon further burning. When 0.2 (mL) of liquid 02F2 was added to 0.5 (mL) of liquid CH4 at 90°K., a violent explosion occurred."

Stranger

17

You shouldn’t clean burnt pot, you should throw it away and reload your pipe.

18

Are these two paragraphs related? IOW, is Barkeeper’s Friend that toxic?

19

I don’t know how dangerous Bar-Keeper’s Friend is, but it’s a completely different chemical from lye. For starters, BKF is an acid (specifically, oxalic acid), while lye is one of the strongest bases, the exact opposite of an acid.

20

Bar-Keepers Friend is a strong cleaner, but like you should consider Comet Scouring Powder or similar products. Oxalic acid is not a strong acid, but people who use it a lot might want to use rubber gloves. Not in the same league as lye.