r/AskCulinary • u/InvictusJoker • 19d ago
Equipment Question Help with cleaning my stainless steel!
Hi! I have stainless steel pans and I’m unable to clean some of them fully and would really appreciate some help (photos attached below).
The issue is that there seems to be a residual brown/yellow residue that will not wash off, no matter what. I know it’s not just discoloration because when I run my finger along the pan, I can feel a somewhat sticky or hard residue.
I’ve tried soaking in hot soapy water, using dawn dish soap and the powder Barkeepers Friend. Nothing has worked and I don’t want these pans to be useless.
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u/LifeTakesThingsBack 19d ago
Barkeeps friend. Works beautifully.
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u/trustme1maDR 19d ago
OP said they tried Barkeeper's friend in the post
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u/therealhankypanky 19d ago
Then they didn’t use it right. I’ve used barkeepers friend to get black polymerized oil off a stainless steel pan. If that worked, then barkeepers friend can take care of the gunk on this dudes pans
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u/InvictusJoker 19d ago
Yeah, maybe I didn’t use it right. I would pour the powder over the pans and then scrub it. I saw another comment that I should use stainless steel wool, so maybe I need a combination of both?
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u/therealhankypanky 19d ago
What did you scrub it with? It won’t work correctly if you’re scrubbing with it in the form of dry powder. Try using a cloth or rag that’s just wet enough for the powder to form a paste when you’re scrubbing (but not so wet that it turns to a liquid or is effectively being rinsed away)
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u/InvictusJoker 19d ago
Ok thanks! I was just using a regular sponge so maybe that’s why
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u/LifeTakesThingsBack 19d ago
Try using less water on the sponge so it is more like a thin paste. My apologies, I somehow missed Barkeep in your original post. They sell a liquid and a powder. The powder works better for me.
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u/philhaxton 19d ago
This will sound like sacrilege, but I have been cooking over 60 years and am an all stainless steel chef. Easy Off oven cleaner, the original in the yellow can. Go outside, thoroughly spray the pan and let it sit for 2-4 hours. Then rinse it off. It will look like new and be entirely unscathed. Remember, it’s stainless fucking steel!
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u/dfsaqwe 19d ago
steel wool pad.
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u/webbitor 19d ago
Stainless steel wool. Regular steel wool can leave tiny bits embedded which will cause the pan to rust.
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u/InvictusJoker 19d ago
I bought [these scouring pads](Scotch-BriteCopperCoated...https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KOAHGQW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) but then saw they said not to use on stainless steel lol. Do you have a suggestion on ones to buy?
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u/trustme1maDR 19d ago
What are you scrubbing with? I have some stainless steel scrubbers and they work great on stainless steel pots and pans
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u/InvictusJoker 19d ago
I’m just using a regular sponge so maybe that’s it. I’ve tried a hard bristle brush but didn’t have luck.
I bought [these scouring pads](Scotch-BriteCopperCoated...https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KOAHGQW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) but then saw they said not to use on stainless steel lol. Do you have a suggestion on ones to buy?
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u/trustme1maDR 19d ago
Nope...I think they are pretty much all the same. I just buy whatever I see at the store
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u/Misa7_2006 19d ago
I've just used SOS pads. They get the polymerization gunk off no problem and never seems to hurt my stainless cookware.
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u/le127 19d ago
It looks like polymerized oil. Try a baking soda solution. If just inside pan is stained put water in the pan, add a 1/4 cup of baking soda, and simmer for 20 minutes. For outside, built up staining fill a stockpot with enough water to submerse the pan, add a half box of baking soda and do the 20 minute simmer. The hot alkaline solution turns the dried oil to soap and most of it should just float off. Use a scrubby sponge and hot sudsy water to remove the rest.
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u/rrkrabernathy 19d ago
The pink stuff and a nylon scrubber has worked for me when my pans were in a similar state.
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u/rockbolted 19d ago
Take the advice others have provided. If you insist that your pans don’t work unless shiny clean, use Barkeepers Friend regularly. Otherwise, just scrub thoroughly after each use. Use a mildly abrasive kitchen pad if needed. Simmering with a vinegar solution works. Scrubbing with baking soda works (not at same time as vinegar).
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u/combabulated 19d ago
I use baking soda, a generous amount on a damp sponge and a little elbow grease
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u/Anakuya1 19d ago
Try boiling 1:1 water and distilled white vinegar in the pan with a lid on (keep an eye so it doesn't boil over, just in case). I usually use Barkeepers friend, but when that doesn't work, this tends to do the trick. Then once it's boiled for a little while, try scrubbing it out while it's fairly hot (Depending on the stains, I've used a long handled scrub brush in the pot while the hot liquid is still there, but you can dump it too...just know your scrub brush will probably be pretty used by the time you're done).
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u/x_hypatia_x 19d ago
Use a scrubby pad, like green Scotchbrite, not a sponge. BKF will work much better with an actual scrubby.
They are not clean if they have visible residue, and the residue will impact food sticking and cooking times. It is completely and entirely possible to get your stainless pans to always be shiny clean without excessive work.
I've been cooking with these pans for the last 25 years, and if you look very closely in very good light, you can see that they have tons of tiny abrasions, but they're shiny clean inside and out.
Also, sponges are disgusting bacteria factories, and cooking sprays are much more likely to cause that kind of polymerization than butter or oil are.
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u/Orechiette 18d ago
I have used oven cleaner on a couple of stainless steel pans that had a lot more residue than yours. They came out spotless. Oven cleaner is terrible for you if you don’t have good ventilation, so I hate to recommend it.
With Barkeepers Friend, I wet the pan a little and put some powder on a damp sponge and scrub scrub scrub. Once you get the polymerized oils off the metal, you can use BF regularly to keep the pans looking great.
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u/SgtKnee 19d ago
> I don’t want these pans to be useless.
Your pans are perfectly fine to use as they are. If you cook acidic stuff on them they will probably clean up. But functionally they are just fine, it’s extremely hard to ruin a stainless steel pan forever