One of the best materials used for cookware is Stainless steel. It is very durable and shiny. Before non-stick pans came into the picture, stainless steel pots rocked every kitchen. The only problem is, stainless steel is very challenging to clean if misused.
After the best part of the party or event, cleaning could be a tedious task, especially if you’d be cleaning stainless steel pots and pans. These may be one of the most precious and expensive collections that you have in your kitchen.
Stainless steel pots and pans are essential cookwares that need special care after use. Worry no more because we have easy steps for you on how to clean stainless steel pots and pans.
Clean Stainless Steel Pots and Pans
For cleaning your pots and pans, you need a few items such as soap, water, and a sponge. Cleaning them is actually depending on what it was used for. These precious pots can acquire bad brown and black spots oftentimes.
Using warm water with soap is perfect for general washing or cleaning if there is no burnt food cooked in the pot. You may use a simple sponge to get rid of the food residue and rinse it with water.
For your daily cleaning of pots and pans, you can start to wet the surface and discard any residue of food. Then, using a sponge or a soft cloth, wash in warm soapy water. Remember not to use cleaning materials such as steel wool, to avoid scratches on the pot’s surface.
Should there be a need for you to remove something hard on your cookware, make use of a nylon scrub that has soft bristles? After that, dry it off with some paper towels or soft cloth.
If food was burned in the cookware, you can remove it by adding water into it and boil it. It will soften the burnt food. This has been proven as one of the easiest ways to remove it.
Aside from using soap and water, another effective way how to remove stains from stainless steel pots is the use of vinegar. Here are what you need:
[su_list icon=”icon: check” icon_color=”#02810b”]
- A cup of vinegar
- A tablespoon of baking soda
- Water, depending on the size of your pan
- A sponge
[/su_list]
Once you have that, you can follow these steps:
[su_list icon=”icon: check” icon_color=”#02810b”]
- Fill the pot with water, just enough to fill the parts with spots
- Then, add the vinegar
- Boil the pot for a few minutes.
- Once done, add the baking soda while the solution is still warm
- Use the sponge with soap to clean the pan.
- Stubborn stains should now be gone!
[/su_list]
We’re providing you several methods below that you can employ to know, how to remove stains from stainless steel pots and pans.
1. Remove Food Crusts from the Stainless Steel Surface
Soak the stainless steel pans for several hours in soapy water. Soaking I overnight does the trick also.
After draining the water, scrub the pot with a scouring pad. Avoid using copper or steel wool pads or scrubbers because scratching the surface of the pot can do a lot of harm than good.
2. Clean Burn Marks
Most of us have experienced accidentally leaving the pot to burn. If your pots and pans have heat damage, you can remove the black burns with baking soda. After cleaning the stainless cookware from food build-ups, wipe it dry.
Sprinkle a generous quantity of baking soda on the surface and rub thoroughly using a sponge or a cloth. If you want, you can add a little water until it turns into a paste. Rinse it off with water.
The mild abrasive cleaners you can buy in local stores also do the trick, especially for those hard to remove burn marks. Simply sprinkle it over the bottom of your pan and add a little water to make it pasty.
Scrub the bottom pan with a sponge and wet it a little to make a paste. Clean with a wet sponge, and then thoroughly rinse with water.
3. Remove Water Spots in Stainless Steel Cookware
If you notice some sort of white plaque building at the bottom of the inside part of your stainless pots, those are called water spots. They are caused by the minerals in the water.
This often occurs in areas where the source of water is still rich in minerals and from tap water cured with fluoride. This will not be a problem if you wash your cookware every use. You can usually see this issue in kettles where water is often heated.
They are generally safe to ingest but if you want to get rid of them, swish a generous amount of baking soda with water in each. Rinse and let them dry. You can also soak the kettle with vinegar.
4. Cook Serious Burns Marks
If you cannot scrub away the burn marks in a stainless steel pan, you can basically cook them off. Fill the pan with water just enough to cover the damage. Boil the water on a stove. Add two spoons of salt in the water and turn the stove off. Let it sit for two to three hours.
Throw the water and with scouring pads, scrub away the damage. Repeat the process for stubborn burn marks. You can also replace salt with white vinegar or lemon juice. Tomato juice also works pretty well.
Seasoning
Prevention is the best way to avoid having a problem on how to remove stains from stainless steel pots. Because food sticks easily in a new pot, it must be oiled before use, and this process is called seasoning.
Seasoning pots and pans have been around for ages. This process coats the pan naturally with a thin layer of oil polymerized in the surface with heat. With use, you’ll notice that the coat will darken with repeated use. The process is straightforward.
First, heat the stainless steel pot or pan on medium-high heat for around two minutes until the pan gets very hot. Next, oil your pan. After heating, take the pan off the stove and pour one spoon of oil. Swirl the oil all over the pan and make sure all the areas are covered.
Then return the pan over the stove. Heat the pan and oil until the pan smoke. This process allows molecules of the pan’s surface to expand embedding the oil into the stainless steel pan and making it a non-stick stainless steel pan.
After that, turn off the stove and let it cool off. Notice that when the oil has cools, the pan will have a mirror-like look, an indication that it has been seasoned properly. Lastly, pour out the excess oil into a cup and wipe the pan with a paper towel.
To maintain this non-stick surface, avoid cleaning with dishwashing. After using, just remove the food debris with water and wipe with a paper towel. If you used it for frying, simply remove all the oil and wipe it with a paper towel. No need to wash it with soap.
Maintenance
Maintaining your stainless steel pots and pans clean every use prevents you from the horrors of scrubbing hard just to remove dried foods and stains.
If you haven’t seasoned your pots, you may wash them with warm water and dishwashing soap and scrub them with a scouring pad.
But seasoned pans should be cleaned simply by rinsing with warm water and never use soap. Just use paper towels to remove the grease before storing it away.
Remember to not use bleach or ammonia-based cleaning products because it will definitely damage and discolor your stainless pots and pans.
If you can find cleaning products in the local store specifically safe for steel cookware, do use those. Prevention is always the best way to avoid tough to clean stains for this kind of pot.
Conclusion
That information will help you deal with stubborn stains in your pot. Now that you know how to clean stainless steel pots and pans, make sure to share this with your friends and family on social media to help them with their kitchen troubles!
Leave a Reply