# Need Help Cleaning!



## superman0710 (Jun 14, 2004)

So I have a nice set of Mikasa pots and pans and then a few random Caphalon (sp?) and some of them have some crazy.....grease stains? This doesnt make sense but the bottoms are reallly dirty and its not like I can just scrub with a sponge or anything to get it off. Its like a dark dark brown color and it gets a tiny bit tacky, think 1/4 that of post it notes tacky feeling.

How can I get this stuff off. General products dont take it off and I dont want to go using something that might ruin them. Good pots and pans so I'd rather them be ugly than ruined.


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## kitchenelf (Jun 14, 2004)

I'm not sure what kind of Calphalon you have.  It sounds like some residue from cooking was left on and then oxidized.  If it's tacky, and if it's the bottom of your pan, try Bon Ami.  I use Comet and my Calphalon cleaner but I have the hard anodized Calphalon.  I'm trying to look up Mikasa pots and pans as I have never seen them.  Check back and I may have found something by then.

Pots and Pans take a lot of work.  If someone helps with kitchen cleanup I always go back and clean my Calphalon myself.  If anything is left on the pot and I cook without cleaning it will oxidize on and I will never get it clean.  It looks kind of like an opal color when it oxidizes.


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## superman0710 (Jun 14, 2004)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> I'm not sure what kind of Calphalon you have.  It sounds like some residue from cooking was left on and then oxidized.  If it's tacky, and if it's the bottom of your pan, try Bon Ami.  I use Comet and my Calphalon cleaner but I have the hard anodized Calphalon.  I'm trying to look up Mikasa pots and pans as I have never seen them.  Check back and I may have found something by then.
> 
> Pots and Pans take a lot of work.  If someone helps with kitchen cleanup I always go back and clean my Calphalon myself.  If anything is left on the pot and I cook without cleaning it will oxidize on and I will never get it clean.  It looks kind of like an opal color when it oxidizes.



 thanks, will do


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## vantage (Aug 22, 2004)

Sounds like a residue of burnt grease or oil.  This can happen from something on the burner burning, or from oil making its way through the pan if it is a cast iron pan or other metal.  

I know that this will sound crazy, but I use Orange GOJO hand cleanser to remove such muck from pots and pans.  Be sure to wash thoroughly after use.  Put the gojo on pan and cleanse while still dry, do not add water until you are ready to rinse and wash the GOJO off.


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## Michael in FtW (Sep 8, 2004)

Vantage - you get two gold stars! Don't know why I never thought of these things before but you definately got me to thinking and turned on the light-blubs    

I've been using Bar Keepers Friend, a Scotch-Brite pad, and a lot of elbo grease. Never cut the grease 100% - but I got most of it off. But, the idea of Orange GOJO kicked the old brain into thinking mode. I know GOJO from my teen years when I worked on cars a lot, and the Orange got me to thinking about the infomercials for orange oil cleaners. and since oil soaps cut grease ... cogs in the brain click-click-clicks ... I remembered I have a bottle of Murphy Oil Soap. So, I got up from the computer, went into the kitchen, and tried out my idea on a Calphalon anodized pan that had a little grease residue on the bottom like superman described. I gave it a good spray of Murphy, a gentle rub with the scotch-brite, and rinsed - it was almost totally clean! I wiped it dry, repeated the process ... it hasn't been this clean since it was new!

Then the second light blub went off ... how to prevent it. Yep, cook on one burner and it spatters a little onto another burner ... not enough that you really can see it but enough to mess up the bottom of the pan the next time you use that burner. Now I see why they have those funky cheap burner covers at WalMart.


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## Claire (Sep 28, 2004)

When I was young, my immaculate, perfectionist, clean Mom used to say that what you are talking about is what held her pots & pans together.  It is in fact burned oil.  It is pretty much inevitable, and cooking on a gas stove makes it worse (the flames licking up the sides catch more of the oils you're cooking with).   Dawn makes a product called "power disolver" that works pretty good.


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## pst1can (Sep 30, 2004)

*Cleaning help...*

For cleaning any high end pots and pans the fear everyone has is to not scratch, mark or wreck the appearance. An old trick that I can't even remember where I first picked up is if you have Cream of Tartar in your pantry....wet the bottom of your pot....sprinkle some cream of tartar....and scrub like you are using a cleanser. It is softer and not aggressive like a cleanser...and you won't scratch your pots. I now use this as "maintenance" on the bottom of my pots. Thanks Pst


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## leigh (Oct 13, 2004)

Looks like I'm getting in on this discussion pretty late, so maybe nobody will see this, but here goes:

Put your stained pan in a pot/kettle that's big enough to hold both the pan and enough water to cover it.  Sprinkle plain old baking soda into the kettle of water and all over the pan you're cleaning.  Be generous!  Cover kettle and set it on a burner over the lowest heat setting.  Leave it overnight, turn off heat, let cool, remove and wash with your regular dishwashing potion.  The grease/stains/even burnt-on gunk will be gone.  (If anything DOES have the temerity to have stuck around, just repeat the process.)

I discovered this by accident, more years ago than I like to think about.  But I don't mind contemplating the hours of rubbing and scrubbing and scouring and swearing I've saved!


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