Trying to remove burnt stuff from stainless steel pot

I have a set of Lagostina stainless steel pots. I accidentally burnt the sauce pan while making chicken stock. I had unintentionally left the pot boiling on high when I thought I had turned it down to a simmer. Less than an hour later, I could smell that all was not well with the stock. That was when I ran downstairs to the kitchen and discovered the dried, mess of charred chicken bones burnt to the bottom of the pot. I put water in the pot to start the cleaning process.

Once the pot cooled off a bit, I scraped out the mess. I gave it a bit of a scrub, but it was obvious that it would take stronger measures. I soaked with baking soda. That got a bit more off. I tried Lagostina stainless steel cleaner (similar to Barkeeper's Friend). I put water and baking soda in the pot and heated it to boiling, then turned off the heat and let it soak until the next day. After scrubbing with something abrasive, it was some better.

I tried using the ammonia trick. I brought the pot, a large plastic bag, an empty jar, and a bottle of ammonia outside. I put some ammonia in the jar and sealed it up with the pot, inside the plastic bag. That was yesterday. This morning I brought the pot inside and scrubbed with something abrasive again. It got some better, but not good enough. Are there other tricks that might help? Should I give it another round of the ammonia treatment? Should I just go at it with steel wool and assume that enough elbow grease will get it clean?

This will sound silly, but use a can of coca-cola, Taxy. Pour it in and simmer it for perhaps 20 minutes and try scrubbing. If needed, follow up with a paste made cream of tarter and water. Slather it and let it set overnight.

Or scrub the dickens out of it.

Taxi, you tried everything I'd think to do.

Desperate times - use a fine grit sandpaper.

Kathleen said:

This will sound silly, but use a can of coca-cola, Taxy. Pour it in and simmer it for perhaps 20 minutes and try scrubbing. If needed, follow up with a paste made cream of tarter and water. Slather it and let it set overnight.

Or scrub the dickens out of it.

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It's worth a shot. I'll add Coca Cola and cream of tartar to my shopping list.

taxlady said:

It's worth a shot. I'll add Coca Cola and cream of tartar to my shopping list.

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The cola thing makes sense. The acids in colas are supposed to be good for certain cleaning jobs, just like colas are bad for teeth. I'd try it. Just keep an eye on the pot, this time.

CD

Ladies choice: Comet or Ajax and Brillo or S.O.S., then scrub like hell.

Kathleen said:

This will sound silly, but use a can of coca-cola, Taxy. Pour it in and simmer it for perhaps 20 minutes and try scrubbing. If needed, follow up with a paste made cream of tarter and water. Slather it and let it set overnight.

Or scrub the dickens out of it.

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Okay, we'll see how that goes with the cream of tartar paste. The Coca-Cola seems to have done a little bit. We'll see how much the cream of tartar takes off. It's sitting with the paste now. I went over it with steel wool both before and after the boiling Coke and that got off some more. I'll try to remember to post the results tomorrow.

I finally remembered to report on results so far. I scrubbed a fair bit more with steel wool, but I stopped seeing any improvement. I've been thinking of adding Comet to my grocery order and try that. It just occurred to me that I probably have some Comet and I have a couple of ideas where it might be. I'll give that a shot. I'm not too pleased with as good as I got it so far. If the Comet doesn't do it, I think I will give up on improving that, at least for a while. I have too much other stuff going on to spend much time on this.

Have you used powder Barkeeper’s?

Boil some water with baking soda, rub lightly, do not scrub.

It seems to be getting better. From all treatments that you tried, repeat the one(s) that you feel you got the best results.

jennyema said:

Have you used powder Barkeeper’s?

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No, I don't have any. I did use Lagostina brand stainless steel cleaner, a powder. The stuff comes in a container like scouring powder e.g., Comet. I may be able to get Barkeeper's friend locally now, I haven't checked recently.

CharlieD said:

Boil some water with baking soda, rub lightly, do not scrub.

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That was the first thing I tried once I knew it was a problem.

Honestly? After a couple of attempts - I would not even think about it. Other than maybe giving it a couple of extra scrubs after each use, forget it.

Unless you are thinking of starting a Youtube video series wehre everything must be looking as if it just came from the store. In which case - chuck it and buy a new one.

dragnlaw said:

Honestly? After a couple of attempts - I would not even think about it. Other than maybe giving it a couple of extra scrubs after each use, forget it.

Unless you are thinking of starting a Youtube video series wehre everything must be looking as if it just came from the store. In which case - chuck it and buy a new one.

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Oh, I have every intention of putting back in use without waiting for further improvement. As you wrote, " a couple of extra scrubs ..." is a good description.

taxlady said:

That was the first thing I tried once I knew it was a problem.

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And it did not help? Usually you 'd have to do it several times. And try to scrub gently.

Oh

CharlieD said:

And it did not help? Usually you 'd have to do it several times. And try to scrub gently.

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The baking soda helped. It helped a lot. I didn't take any pictures of the pot until I had worked at getting it clean by various means. I will probably give it another go with baking soda, but it won't be very soon. I have too much else going on here ane only limited energy.