It’s simple.
It’s cheap.
You got it in your house already! :eek:
It’s aluminum foil!
Wad it up in a ball, or into a “pad”.
Use it like a Brillo pad. 
Works great, & it’s cheap!
I agree here, DuckDuck. BUT- if it is indeed so caustic, then why do we keep a bottle of Coca Cola syrup around the house…for…sore tummies? I actually remember that bottle in the fridge when I was a kid. Small thing, tasted- well, like thick flat Coke.
We now return you to your original thread, already in progress 
Cartooniverse
Soak the pan overnight in some very hot water and dishwasher detergent; in the morning it will come out easily.
Here’s a different way to clean a pan!
http://www.distinctmaint.com/wwwboard/messages/377.html
Posted by John B. Fulton on February 26, 2000 at 17:41:09:
In Reply to: burnt food on pan posted by Sammy on February 22, 2000 at 18:33:04:
: How do I clean hardened burnt food stuck to the bottom of a Magnalite Professional frying pan?
: Boiling plain water in it doesn’t work.
Sammy,
Place the pan in a thick plastic trash bag and add a cup of household ammonia. Then tie the bag closed tightly and place in an out of the way location for a few hours. The ammonia fumes will soften the carbonized food and allow it to be washed off easily. Be careful that the bag does not leak, nor the ammonia come in contact with anything else.
John
My father was a research chemist. Chemists get hardened goo stuck in flasks that is just unbelievable.
Here’s what a chemist uses to scrub that pan: Lemon, salt, ice.
Lotsa ice, a coupla tablespoons lemon, a coupla dashes of table salt. Rub into that nasty burnt crud vigorously.
Try it. Works like a charm.
(And do NOT use ammonia. Danger, danger, Will Robinson!)
Cool. I’m printing this one out. I usually soak in dishwasher soap.
In Boy Scouts, we did actually occasionally burn a pan clean… But that was only after making the Scoutmaster’s patented sausage gravy in one of them (caked an inch thick in the bottom of the pan), and only in cast iron.
You should be able to use almost any solvent or corrosive (such as oven cleaner) on copper pans, other than nitric or hydrofluoric acids (neither of which is commonly commercially available). If it’s aluminum, don’t use any acid stronger than lemon juice or vinegar, and I probably wouldn’t even let that sit overnight.
Personally, I use a combination of boiling detergent, boiling vinegar, soaking, and scrubbing, as necessary.
I was thinking about this very question earlier today, maybe I’ll start a thread.
I have burnt many pots in my lifetime. The best solution is to just buy a new pot!
Unless I misunderstand the Coke question, this may help. Snopes did an article on cleaning with Coke, and why it isn’t harmful for consumption.
I use a good coating of just baking soda, left overnight. Just dampen pan and use maybe 1/2 inch soda. This usually works even if I just put it in the dishwasher, soda and all with no scrubbing. But if there is residue, just repeat and scrub.
I’ll concur with Zenster and Lissener.
Another method is to use a sandblaster. If you have acces to an air compressor, one of these is a must have. You’ll have your pan clean in about 30 secons, for a nickels worth of sand and electricity.
A less extreme method to either my or Lissener’s solution is to simply put the pan on the stove with the burner set on high for half an hour or so. Then just blow out the ashes. You will need to reseason your pan with any of the above methods though. Keep that in mind.
I’m tellin ya, just try soaking it overnight in hot water and dishwasher detergent. Didn’t you ever wonder how you can put dirty pots in the dishwasher and they come out clean just from a water spray?
Look in the laundry section of the supermarket for a box of washing soda. Put a couple of tablespoons in the pot with some water and let it soak.
This stuff is sodium carbonate, and it takes anything off of anything.
This one always works for me! I usually clean it to the best of my ability and then make a nice pot of chicken noodle soup for my mom. She always brings it back sparkling!
I wonder how many new pans she’s bought me?
:::Note to self:::
Don’t accept any food from handy or fun2d8
I have also found that Alka Seltzer tablets help as well.
matt, tell us that you bought a new pan so we can put a fini on this.
Someone suggested Alka-Seltzer tablets. I suppose Efferdent (or some other denture-cleaning stuff) might do the job as well.
Seriously, matt_mcl, you ought to go to the store and price a replacement pan. If the replacement cost is less than it will cost you to get those last few bits of crud out of the pan, method 5 (which was suggested not entirely a jest) might still be your best bet.
~~Baloo
I just wanted to back-up what Suziek was saying.
Think about it: it’s not just man-hours of research, but probably several lifetimes worth of effort by PhD chemists have gone into devising just the best detergents known to man for precisely this problem.
And the result is called Dishwasher detergent.
For years i would soak the burnt on crap overnight using the dishwashing liquid. works ok.
One time i left an impossibly backed on mess for 2 nights with the handwashing liquid with vigorous scrubbing in between and it didn’t cut it. but the 3rd night i used dishwashing detergent (cascade) and it all came off.
It is very amazing stuff.
of course, if the oven cleaner wont etch the metal, i bet lissener is spot on and it will work even better (as that is precisely what it was designed to do).
just my 2cents.
-Luckie