The food-grade standard stainless steel pans are useful culinary; everyone must have in their kitchen. They are use cookware to use on ovens & any stoves.
However, improper uses create several types of burnt-on spots on these pans. These burnt spots developed because of several reasons.
Like,- due to overheating, charcoal, oil gets burned & polymerized on this cookware, black stains. Therefore the cleaning procedure of each type is slightly different from others.
Another facet is, stainless steel has low thermal conductivity. Heats take a much longer time to reach the bottom to the top portion.
Hence, the inside bottom portion gets overheated very quickly. And foods that come in contact with inside bottom areas get burnt quickly; if you don’t flip them right time.
Moreover, to deal with this issue multi-clad stainless steel cookware comes into the market. An aluminum or copper ply sandwiched between to stainless steel path.
As a result, heats quickly get travel from the bottom to the upward direction & we enjoy a seamless cooking facility.
In this context, we shall discuss each & every cleaning aspect & proper use of the technique. Consequently, you will get a clear idea, what to do & what not to do with your pans.
How To Clean Burnt Stainless Steel Pans?
As I told you, there are several kinds of burnt-on spots; appear on the stainless steel culinary.
Due to over-preheating & a low amount of oil use, the foods get stuck on the pan bottom; and get burned.
During deep frying, oils & ingredients get over-spill & come on the exterior wall & bottom portion.
If you are cooking on a gas stove or electric coil stove, then these oils get burned. As a result, you get a burned oil spots on the cookware exterior portion.
The electric stove & burner stove users also face the black stain appearance of the cookware-bottom.
Not only do the homemakers & armature culinary artists experience these types of issues; sometimes, professional chefs also deal with these types of problems.
Related: How do you clean burnt greases from pan bottoms?
How To Remove Burnt Food From Stainless Steel Pans?
Removing burnt foods from stainless steel cookware is quite easy. There are several methods you can try to remove these spots, like- using vinegar, baking soda, hot water with mild dish cleaning detergents, oven cleaner, etc.
Let’s discuss these methods-
Using Vinegar:
Hot water & vinegar dilute sticky burnt food from any cookware. This method is beneficial when you are cooking with a low amount of fat content. Make sure there is no polymerized burned grease on the pan.
Only the vinegar solution is ineffective to dissolve the polymerized fat elements.
Here is how you can use it-
- Fill your stainless steel pan with water & put it on a stove. Turn the burners on, & wait until they start boiling.
- Once the water starts boiling, add one or two tablespoons of vinegar to it.
- Use a wooden or silicone spatula and constantly stir the solution for 5 minutes. So that burned foods from the pan bottom start coming up.
- Now let this pan cooled at room temperature, rinse it with regular water & liquid dish soaps. For better cleaning, you can use a nylon scrubber to scrub the pan on both sides.
Clean Inside, Outside & Bottom Using Vinegar & Baking Soda:
This method is most useful when not only the foods get burned, but your cooking pans also have burned polymerized oils on them.
Here is the procedure-
- Wash your pan with warm soapy water & scrub it with a nylon scrubber. By doing this method, the pan will be free from cooking residues.
- Once you complete it, rinse it with regular water & soak excessive water using a paper towel.
- Take one tablespoon of baking soda & vinegar for each one, and blend them very well.
- Apply this tincture on the burned-on spots & leave the pan for 30 minutes.
- Once it is done, gently rub the black residue spots with a nylon scrubber. You will see these black residues how easily get vanish; from your cookware.
- Finally, rinse the pan with regular water & mild dish cleaning soap to get a better result.
Using Hot Water & Soaps:
This method is helpful when the cooking pan contains lightly burned foods & greases. If the stainless steel pan holds badly burned black residues, then apply the vinegar & baking soda tincture method.
Anyway, here is how to use hot soapy water-
- Once you finish cooking, let your cooking pan come at room temperature.
- Fill the pan with hot water & put dish cleaning detergents on it. I forget to mention it; the ratio of this solution will be one tablespoon detergent for one liter of hot water.
- Now, stir this soapy solution with non-metallic utensils for 5 minutes. And leave it overnight.
- On the next morning, pour the soapy water into the kitchen basin. Finally, scrub your pan with nylon scrubber or scouring pads & cleanse under the rinse water.
How To Clean Burnt Oil From Stainless Steel Pans?
The burnt oil grease never leaves effortlessly from your cookware. Most of the time, burnt greases appear on the stainless steel pans outer bottoms & lower wall potions.
Remove Burnt Oils Using Baking Soda:
- Take a large bowel or pot & fill it with water; put it on a stove at medium-high flame & wait until it gets hot. Remember, the pot diameter must be much bigger than the pan diameter.
- When the water gets hot, add two tablespoons of baking soda & aluminum foil to it. And boil it for five minutes.
- Once it is complete, immerse the pan on it & keep it for five minutes.
- Now bring the pan out from the hot water & scrub those grease spots with the aluminum foil, which you put on the hot water. Precaution- please wear silicon oven mitts; otherwise, your hand might get burnt.
- Once this grease gets free from the pan, clean it with regular water & light dish cleaning soaps.
Clean Burnt Grease From Outsides Using Barkeeper Friends:
Bar keeper friend work slightly better than baking soda.
- First, clean your pan properly to pull out all the cooking resides. And make it de-moisturize.
- Once you are done, now comes the bar keepers friend. Apply this paste (bar keepers friend) on the burnt grease areas.
- Leave your pa as it is for half an hour.
- Now gently scrub on those spots with a nylon scrubber. If the burnt grease appears on the cookware exterior portion, you can apply steel wools instead of nylon scrubbers.
- Finally, rinse them with regular water & liquid soaps; the stainless steel pans will be completely free from burnt-on oils.
Note:
You can follow the mentioned instructions & replace the barkeeper friends with baking soda; it will work perfectly.
Other Methods:
If the pan contains black residue with burnt on greases use the vinegar & baking soda method.
Apart from these procedures some people ketchups, salts & lemon, but these are comparatively ineffective methods.
Do We Need Season Stainless Steel Pans?
No, we don’t need to season stainless steel pans. Stainless steel cookware has a smooth cooking surface; but, they also have poor thermal conductivity.
During cooking at low temperature on the multi-ply stainless steel pans, put some good oils or butter on it. It will definitely react as a semi non-stick pan.
However, if you are using stainless steel core non-stick pans like- hybrid cookware, you might need to go for seasoning. The seasoning is quite easy & 100% similar to other non-stick pans.
Most of the stainless steel non-stick cookware has a nonstick-coating on its insides. That’s you only need to season the cooking spot area.
One more thing you have to remember seasoning oil smoke point must be lesser than pan oven-safe temperature.
Here is the gist of the seasoning procedure-
- Cleanse your stainless steel non-stick pan properly & make sure it’s completely free from cooking residues.
- Soak the excessive water from it & make the pan moisture-free.
- Smear some good seasoning oil (like canola oil) on the pan inside walls & bottom areas thinly using a paper towel or cotton buds.
- Put the pan under an oven & set the temperature at medium-high heat 400F for 20 minutes.
- Once it is done, leave your cookware as it’s under the oven; until it comes at its actual temperature. Moreover, you can repeat the polymerization procedure one, two more times to get a better result.
Note:
We picked 400 degrees Fahrenheit because most of these types of cookware are oven-proof over that temperature. And canola oil has smoke points at that temperature.
How To Care For Stainless Steel Pans?
The stainless steel pans are highly corrosion-resistive and very much compatible with high heat cooking. But, once these pans get burnt or catch the black residues, you need to put extra effort to deal with these issues.
Always use multi-clad stainless steel pans & cook at low temperature. This type of cookware will help you in two ways
- 1st, you will enjoy seamless cooking.
- 2nd, the foods get rarely burned.
Avoid oil-free cooking on stainless steel pans. These pans have soother cooking surface, but they are not natural non-stick cookware.
You need to apply a decent amount of oils during preheating to make these pans semi-nonstick.
If you are using multi-clad or copper bottom stainless steel pans, please avoid dishwashers for cleaning. Most of the dishwasher soaps contain some corrosive substances.
Stainless steel doesn’t react with these elements. But copper & aluminum react corrosive dishwasher soaps & get eroded over time.
Chopping vegetables on the pans or uses of metallic scrubber & utensil creates several scratches on stainless steels. Therefore pans lost it smoothness & foods more get stuck during cooking.
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