Cooking broccoli in a little bit of water in a covered sauté pan. Turned the heat on high to get it going. Got distracted by a cuppa coffee and a Doctor Who documentary. Water boiled off. My nice stainless steel Calphalon Tri-Ply pan now has a thin black burnt-on carbon coating.
I’ve put water and soap in it, but I’ve a feeling it’s not going to work.
Any suggestions? Oven cleaner, maybe?
I’ve heard that salt does a nice job.
Moved Cafe Society --> IMHO.
I use Barkeeper’s Friend on my stainless and it does a good job, though I’ve never tried it on really burned-on stuff. And there are always SOS pads.
MrWhatsit swears by boiling some water and baking soda in the pan.
Seconding MrWhatsit. I use it all the time (I burn away a lot of water on pots!) Dissolve a good amount in some water in the pan, let it soak for an hour or so, and then bring it to a boil. As it boils you’ll see the black gunk come up and float on top of the baking soda bubbles. Just be sure not to boil away *that *water! 
I have tried in on really burned-on stuff, and it’s amazing. I’m pretty sure it’s angel dandruff, it’s so good at getting things clean and shiny.
Kosher salt worked a treat. It’s not perfect, but I can pick up some Barkeeper’s Friend tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve filled it with soapy water.
Baking soda… NaHCO[sub]3[/sub] + H[sub]2[/sub]O ==> What, again?
NaOH will not harm stainless. Just spray with Easy-Off and let it sit for a few hours.
This just happened to my dad, and my mom put the pan in a large Zip-loc bag with some ammonia overnight and it worked like a charm. You might need to get 2-gallon bags. Or maybe a grocery bag taped shut. Anyway, I think it’s akin to using oven cleaner.
One of those 3m green/yellow scrub sponges and some Barkeeper’s Friend does wonders on my All-Clad.
If it’s truly stainless steel, oven cleaner would work quite well, I’d think. Just don’t get it on aluminum because it’s very corrosive (caustic?) to it.
In addition to baking soda, etc. I dimly remember dishwasher detergent will work, too. Let it soak in that, and some hot water.
Bartell’s didn’t have Barkeeper’s Friend, so the pan is still sitting with soapy water in it. The salt took off all of the black. Now there are just areas with a brown tinge. I don’t like to use the abrasive pads on my stainless steel, so I may just use the oven cleaner to finish it off.
Bed Bath and Beyond.
Cream of tartar + water, boiled
No clue why, my parents did it
That might be where I saw it recently. (I wasn’t looking for it; I just noticed it and remembered that it was recommended in the ‘instructions’ that came with my pans.)
This won’t help you, Johnny, but my local big grocery store, Cub Foods, also carries Barkeeper’s Friend in the cleaning supplies section. Maybe yours does too?
I know the OP already used salt, so I’m sorry I didn’t see this sooner, but salt should not be used on stainless steel. It pits it almost instantly. I forgot that *once *and now have little visible marks where the individual kosher flakes hit the bottom. It’s not bad enough to affect the performance of the pan, but it doesn’t look quite as pretty as it once did. 