We have just come back from the Lake District, but that’s a different story. Three days before we went I stewed some apples, took my eyes from the ball, and ended up burning the pan. The apples tasted quite nice actually, nutty and toffee flavoured. The pan was something else. A thick black crust looked back at me, as to to say, ‘Come on big boy, do your worst.’
It was clearly a case for Dr.
Google, and I scanned sites, British and American, on the best way of dealing
with a badly burned pan. Each one assured me they had the answer, that this
method or another would deal with the problem in no time at all. Certainly
nothing so horrid as scraping.
In order then:
Leave it overnight soaking in Coca
Cola—Rubbish.
Leave it overnight soaking in vinegar
and baking powder. That looked promising, gave off a nice fizz at least.
Verdict? Rubbish.
Soak it in washing powder. Again:
Rubbish.
Some suggested boiling with said
concoctions beforehand. I tried that, too.
I finally admitted defeat and set
to it with a great ball of wire-wool and elbow grease. This is how far I’ve got
so far. I think it makes quite a pretty pattern, a fantasy archipelago but not
the pan I started out with before burning the apples.
At last I tried the final cure-all.
Boil a dishwasher tablet in some water and leave overnight. I did better than
that. I left it soaking while we went of to the Lakes. And came back to find
this:
A fresh ball of wire wool and elbow
grease it is then, with no quarter given and no further truck with quackeries.
No stewed apples for a time either.
6 comments:
I burned one of my pans once and I boiled club soda in it. It actually took a lot of the burnt gunk off, but it still needed elbow grease to do the rest. I've always wondered if I had repeated the process a couple of times if I would've saved myself extra labor.
I actually just buy a new pan when I do that! But then I tend to buy new pans ONLY when I do that, so usually I'm due for a new one by the time I've burned the one I have!
I didn't try soda crystals, Maria but I'm making progress, refreshed from our few days in the Lakes. The top, left side is now entirely clean. I'm focusing on one segment a day. Entirely satisfying - but then life is uneventful in Monmouth.
Stephanie, buy a new pan? Perish the thought! Meanness runs through my genes : )
Hate to admit it but I'm with Stephanie, unless it's a special pan like the big stock pot I inherited from my mum-in-law. That one would merit elbow grease.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
The same applies to pans!. I'm posting a pic now L D
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