One of the most difficult kitchen chores is cleaning a pan after something is stuck or burned on. It seems no matter how careful we are, some foods just like to stick and burn. I just had this happen the other day.
Mr. One Ash and I had not been feeling well for several days, so I thought I would make something “tummy soothing”. I got out my pan, and decided I would make a really simple version of chicken and rice- I was going to just cook my rice in some cream of chicken soup. It sounded to me like it would work really well, it didn’t take much effort, and we would have a meal that was better than what we had been eating for a few days. So I added my rice, added my watered down cream of chicken soup, and put it to simmer. A little while later I checked it- the rice sure wasn’t cooking like I wanted it to, so I decided to lower the temperature and let it just keep simmering for a while.
Well, we went into the other room, got busy working on the blog, and sort of forgot about our cooking meal. Before you know it, I smelled something. And it didn’t smell good. Yep, the concoction had begun burning on the bottom of my stainless steel pan. I had to quickly take the entire thing outside to cool and get the smell out of the house. Once it all cooled down, I dumped the rice out and discovered my terrible mess, and mistake. There was a very thick, very black, very burnt glopply mess on the bottom of the pan. What on earth was I going to do? Then I remembered my own trick- and guess what? It worked!
You have probably tried all kinds of things, but here’s a trick I have used for years to make the job easier.
With the pan on the burner at medium-high heat, sprinkle the bottom of the pan with baking soda.
Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and make a thin paste with the baking soda.
Simmer this mixture, without stirring, until it makes a thick paste.
As soon as it cools enough, use a light scrubbing sponge or wooden spoon to
loosen the stuck on food. Wash as usual!
I hope you are able to try this trick when you need it- and I hope it helps!
What a great idea. This is new to me. I'm definitely writing this one out and keeping it in my kitchen drawer. I don't often have food stick to my pans, but the other day I was making apple sauce in a large pan that I don't normally use. It's very deep and the pan was almost over-flowing with apples. I was having problems stirring and reaching to the bottom of the pan. Thankfully, it didn't scorch my applesauce, but after filling all the canning jars and saw what had happened, YIKES! I soaked and soaked the pan in boiling water. Then I put the pan on the stove and cooked the water to see if it would help loosen the burnt apples. I ended up spending a great deal of time scrubbing that pan. This 'trick' as you call it, is definitely a keeper for me.
Many THANKS for sharing!