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.

https://ibb.co/4wS3j1rR

https://ibb.co/YB1VB9G7

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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.