I bought Mr. BEG an electric griddle to make his Pancake Sundays a little easier on him. While cleaning it, I noticed a few sticky, greasy areas on the cooking surface that didn’t come off with regular (gentle) cleaning in the soapy water. Without ruining the cooking surface, how do I get the sticky left-over grease off the griddle?
You can try the easy-off stuff that is non-toxic, and not in an aerosol can. In my experience, this stuff gets baked on and it just never comes off. Ever. Without abrasives.
I used Barkeeper’s friend on one of my nonstick pans to remove similar stuff recently, and it seemed to work (at that point I figured it wasn’t very non-sticky anymore, so I couldn’t hurt it much more), but I don’t know if I have done any serious damage to the surface.
Does the griddle have a lip? If it does I would put water in the griddle and turn it on let the water come to a boil then try and scrape the stuck on stuff off with something like a wooden spoon (so as not to scratch the surface) while the water was boiling.
No, it actually has a drainage ditch around the griddle surface and appears to be sloped slightly. Maybe I’ll try the wooden spoon with a hot water spritz while the griddle is on if I can’t find a less time intensive solution.
Ooh, good idea! Spray non-toxic oven cleaner. I’ll have to get some and give that a shot. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin the non-stick surface. Maybe I’ll patch test it first.
You could try mechanic’s hand cleaner. It’s formulated to cut the worst grease, through chemical means. It’s like Dawn® squared.
Sooner or later, though, you have to grab yourself by the front of the shirt, and Face The Truth. Non-stick surfaces work very well for a limited range of jobs. Treated gently, with medium heat, they’ll serve you well. However, with the kind of higher heat needed for pancakes or browning meat, you’ll not only be disappointed, you could very well be exposed to toxic fumes. If I’m the first one to tell you this, I’m sorry. I remember the letdown when I first learned it.
If you’re cooking hot enough to burn the oil, that’s too hot for modern non-stick surfaces, and as you now know, non-stick is no longer non-stick. You need to go back half a century, to the best non-stick surface, cast iron. It’s not the iron that makes it non-stick, it’s the coating of burned-on oils. It’s black, it’s ugly, and food doesn’t stick to it. It’s a rude jolt to realize that great-grandma had better non-stick pans than you do.:smack:
If by “spray” you’re meaning “aerosol spray,” you may want to re-read crazyjoe’s post, which recommended (bolding & capitalization mine) “the easy-off stuff that is non-toxic, and NOT in an aerosol can.”
Bwuh? Pancakes need high heat? In my experience, high heat and pancakes end me up with pancakes that are burned to shit on the outside and still raw on the inside.
Medium to Med-low heat makes pancakes that are nicely browned, and you almost have enough time to eat one before the next one is done 
Full Disclosure: I use a gas range, and tend to cook thicker pancakes, not paper-thin ones.
I can’t find it. It’s all aerosol from what I can see. But I’ve used the no-fumes one (on an oven, of course) and it works very well.
Seriously? Yeah, first I’ve heard of this. I’m not sure that’s going to make me throw away all my pans, frankly. From a quick googling, I can’t find any indication that any fumes released from non-stick cookware is a significant health risk, unless you’re a canary. I smoked cigarettes for over 20 years and sit in traffic several times a week; I would find it incredible if Pancake Sunday killed me (well, somebody would find it incredible, to be sure).
I’m pretty sure Mr. BEG is not burning the oil as his flapjacks taste pretty good. Besides, I think he prefers butter, which, ISTR, burns at an even lower temp than oil. You really don’t need a hot griddle to fix pancakes. Incidentally, I got the electric griddle because it has a larger surface on which to prepare multiple regular sized pancakes at once as opposed to the smaller pancakes prepared 3-at-a-time in a pan on the stove. The electric griddle also allows him to make bacon and eggs simultaneously with the pancakes should he so desire. Multi-tasking has never had it so good!
As far as I know all the electric griddles have a non-stick cooking surface. Should I replace his brand-spanking new electric griddle with a cast iron pan, I fear Pancake Sunday would come to an abrupt end. I would rather eat Teflon than risk this. It’s a thing of beauty for a daddy to get up early on Sunday to make pancakes for his two best girls, you see. Grandma can keep her cast iron pans; Grandpa probably new better than to mess with the cook anyhow. 
I stand corrected. He used Promise, which is essentially an oil, I guess.
I have a rather large stake in learning this answer-
my roommate and/or myself burned quite a bit of oil over a couple of years, and my walls, cabinets, furniture, ceiling fan, ceiling, and nearly all of my kitchen appliances have this supersticky coating that will not come off with any cleaning stuff I have come across.
The ceiling fan has also grabbed dust, which grew and itself became coated, then slowly spraying this superdirt across the walls… The upper layers come off with some scrubbing, but at this point I have been replacing items.
After using the supertoxic foaming aerosol oven cleaner I have been able to get some of it off of certain things, but that stuff takes off paint…
Any other ideas?
This disagrees- it’s still going on…
Not really. Most are lanolin-based and ultimately work by replacing the dirty grease with something that cleaner and better for your skin. Detergents leave your hands dry and cracked, and they still don’t get all of the dirt.
It sounds like the greasy spots might be where the Teflon was a little rough, allowing the oil to stick and polymerize. Unless there’s enough gunk to affect the taste of future foods, then I doubt that it will be a problem .
Try this:
Get yourself a box of baking soda. Put a few handfuls of the baking soda into a bowl, and add just enough water to make a paste. Wet the griddle surface with a little water. Rub that baking soda paste onto the griddle surfacewith your fingers. Gently scrub the griddle surface, with your fingers, not with a rag or sponge. Rinse with warm water. You may be pleased with the results. It worked for me, on my griddle and on my George Foreman Grill. (And, it’s cheap and non-toxic!)
This is the stuff I used:
I suspect that the fume-free oven cleaner is similar. Dawn also made something for a while that was a gel-based grease dissolver for doing dishes, I think it was the same stuff. It took a LONG time to break down the stuff, though.
Whatever detergent you plan to use, here’s a way of letting the thing soak in it for an extra long time. Especially handy of your sink is only big enough to accomodate half the pan, as most sinks will.
Put the pan + cleaning suds in a plastic garbage bag. Close tightly. Lay on horizontal flat surface, with knot of bag on top, so pan is immersed in water. Let it soak for as long as you think makes sense.
YEP. Go to the hardware store and buy TSP. I get it in a blue milk carton. Very cheap and even better it actually works. I do find it somewhat galling to have to admit to my moma that the stuff she used is still the best. Be sure to wear gloves and I always rinse. It evens cleans that stanky range hood fan!
I feel I should reply and give you all an update although there’s really not a whole lot to update. I did the next best thing and mentioned the problem to husband who said he would give it another shot at getting the stickiness off.
He says he stuck it in really hot water and using soap and the soft side of a sponge managed to get most of it off. I guess he’s more persistent than I am.
In any case, I forgot to pick up the Easy Off while I was marketing, but I thought I’d give the baking soda a try after the next Pancake Sunday.
Thanks for all your responses.
Just a warning in case you are not aware, baking soda is fairly abrasive. It could damage the non-stick surface of your griddle.
In that case, maybe I’ll just let Mr. BEG clean his own damn griddle. He seems to do a much better job at it than I do. If only he’d clean it on Sunday.