You’re one phone call, one bathroom visit, or one ring of a doorbell away from ruining your favorite frying pan. Cooking requires a thousand eyes, and carelessness can cause not only the food to burn, but also your pan. It is possible that, after having burned the pan, we think that there is no remedy, but with a little love and patience, it can be cleaned. It is possible that you already have many of the products you need to make your pan like new at home, so you will be able to rescue this kitchen utensil in record time.
Remember that although you want to get rid of stains as soon as possible, your pan will be unusable forever if you scratch it in the cleaning process. In the case of pans with non-stick coating, most are coated on the inside with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), known commercially as Teflon. As detailed in the San Francisco Environmental DepartmentPTFE “are non-stick, stain-resistant and waterproof (…), but have been linked to health problems in humans such as abnormal thyroid function, a decline in the immune system and cancer.” If you have one at home, don’t worry, the Singapore Food Agency details that as long as you keep the pan free of scratches or avoid subjecting it to temperatures above 350 degrees, it is safe to use. With this in mind, keep in mind that you should avoid scratching your burnt pan while cleaning it.
How to clean a burnt pan
To clean a burnt pan, your best ally will always be time. Some of the tricks that we will teach you below work over low heat – literally and metaphorically – so remember to be patient. As a reward, you will recover your burned pan and save dozens of euros on getting a new one:
- Dishwasher and hot water: Dishwashing liquid will always be a powerful ally to remove burnt remains. It is a substance with great degreasing power, along with what we need to clean a burnt pan. Remember that, in general, what tends to burn in the pan are traces of fat or oil. First, fill the bottom of your pan with water and a few drops of dish soap. Next you are going to put the pan on the fire so that the water heats up. We recommend that you cover the pan with a lid to prevent water from splashing on you. Although this method is very effective in removing burnt residue stains, remember to proceed with caution. When it boils for about ten minutes, let your pan cool and discard the mixture. Next, scrub your pan as you normally would.
- Baking soda and half a lemon: For this remedy we are going to benefit from the power of lemon and baking soda to remove fat. To put it into practice you just have to sprinkle two tablespoons of baking soda over the pan. Open a lemon with a knife and use one half to rub the baking soda across the pan. Rub insistently until the bottom of the pan is clean. Then wash it normally
- Aluminum foil and coarse salt: If instead of burning the inside of the pan you have burned its outside with the stove, we recommend that you use aluminum foil and coarse salt. This is a trick that will be especially effective on your iron pans. Start by sprinkling coarse salt on the burnt area of your pan. With aluminum foil, make a ball and rub the salt with it. From the blackness of burnt stains you will recover your pan.
How to clean a stainless steel pan
What happened is totally understandable: you bought a stainless steel frying pan because you wanted to improve your cooking of meats, or because you were seduced by the idea of being able to put it directly in the oven. What no one had explained to you is that it is not used in the same way as a conventional frying pan, and now the bottom is completely blackened and unrecognizable. It is a very versatile and safe product, but you must clean it carefully so that it does not get scratched. Remember that each scratch will be very visible on a surface as reflective as these pans. Fortunately, there is a trick that only requires a little care, water, vinegar and baking soda from you:
- Cover the bottom of your stainless steel pan with equal parts water and vinegar and add a tablespoon of baking soda.
- Heat the pan with this mixture on your stove over low heat. As we mentioned in a previous trick, use a lid to avoid burns. Let it begin to boil; it is possible that in the process the vinegar and baking soda will interact and form foam. As long as this doesn’t cause the mixture to overflow into the pan, don’t worry.
- With a spatula, carefully scrape the bottom to remove any burnt residue stains. If you have a wooden spatula, it is time to use it only for this purpose, otherwise use a plastic one. They should be soft materials with which you can scrape the bottom of the pan without fear of scratching it.
- If the remains do not give way, let the mixture in the pan boil a little more and repeat the previous step.
- When it’s stain-free, let your pan cool, discard the mixture, and wash as normal.
How to use a stainless steel frying pan
As we have mentioned previously, it is possible that if your pan is made of stainless steel, it has burned because no one has taught you how to use it. Using this kitchen utensil should not be more complicated than using its non-stick mode. You just need to keep in mind that it is guided by different rules:
- Prepare your ingredients before turning on the stove: keep in mind that stainless steel pans are very good at transmitting heat, so we recommend that you light the heat with the food you want to cook close to you.
- Heats the pan very well: a very common mistake is to assume that since the stainless steel pan transmits heat very well, it will work better at low temperatures. Nothing could be further from the truth, a very hot stainless steel pan is the key to success so that your food does not stick, especially when cooking meat.
- Don’t leave the pan on the heat empty: when your stainless steel pan reaches the temperature you want, add the ingredients you were going to cook. Waiting too long can excessively raise the temperature of this utensil, causing the oil you use or the food you were going to cook to burn.
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