How to Remove Cooked on Food with Cold Water and Ice

Everyone loves a great meal; most of us enjoy preparing the great meal; almost no one enjoys cleaning up after the great meal! One of the hardest things to do when washing up after a delicious meal is cleaning the pots and pans. It seem that no matter how hard you scrub and soak and try to get those bits of stuck-on meat, cheese, egg, and so forth, nothing cleans it easily. Hot water seems to cook the mess on harder. Despite the promises of leading dish washing applications, the real solution is amazingly simple and easy to do. Here's how to keep your cool while easily removing cooked on stains from your pots and pans and skillets in a remarkably short time and avoid adding more heat to the kitchen!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A little elbow grease
• Skillets or pans with cooked on food residue
• Rubber gloves (to protect your hands if you like, but not needed otherwise)
• Dishwashing liquid - any brand will work
• Pot scrubber - non-abrasive but a little stronger than the old plastic mesh type - the green squares work great (Scotbrite?)
• Ice cubes

1. 
    

   For years I have used cold water and pot scrubbers to quickly pre-wash dishes when I know I can't get to them for awhile. Hot water seems to continue cooking the food residue, making it stick harder, while cold water chills the surface; a quick wipe with the scrubbie and you can set the pot, pan, or skillet aside for further washing later. Cold water works great on egg, cheese, red sauce, etc., if you rinse as soon as possible after cooking. You can use hot water later for sanitization.

2. Fried and baked foods are the worst when leaving stuck-on residue on pots, pans, and skillets, even bakeware. I recently cooked fried pork chops and had to leave the cast iron skillet for a day or two before I could wash it. I needed the skillet for another meal and needed to clean it quickly. After draining any leftover oil or grease from the skillet, I set the skillet in the sink and drizzled some liquid dishwashing soap around the bottom (do not add water at this point).

3. Next, I wet my well-worn scrubbie with cold water and began swishing around the bottom of the skillet. Some of the gunk started to wash away (you will create a greasy paste so you may want to use the rubber gloves here if you don't want that on your hands). Some of the harder residue may not want to come loose. Rinse off some of the soapy paste and rinse your scrubbie. Add a few drops of fresh dish soap (still do not leave water in the pan).

4. 
    

   Take one or two ice cubes from your freezer and apply directly to the surface of the skillet or pan. Rub around the stuck on food (you can even wrap your scrubbie around the ice cube). Rub the ice cube over the surface a few times, mixing with the dish soap to create new paste, and then use your scrubbie and apply a little elbow grease if necessary to work loose the residue on the bottom. When I did this, it took only about ten minutes to clean the very stuck-on skillet vs. leaving it soaking overnight and then scrubbing again. The surface of the skillet was smooth and gunk-free - I rinsed in hot water and was ready for the next meal! Super easy!

Tips & Warnings

• While a simple pre-scrub with cold water and scrubbie may work for some stains, avoid filling the container with water when tempted to let it soak. Just use liquid soap and the scrubbie. Rinse as needed and add more soap as needed. If you do choose to let it soak, the cold water/ice method will still work later too.
• Any size/shape of ice cubes will work - it's the cold that seems to freeze the cooked-on gunk off the surface of the container!
• Try using ice on other items when you don't want to scrub hard, like candle wax!
• Wear rubber gloves if your hands are sensitive to soap, the scrubbie, grease, or you don't want to touch the ice directly
• While the pots and pans may feel clean when done "icing" them, be sure to rinse very well in hot water to sanitize, or wash/rinse in normal dishwasher cycle

Resources

• ehow home improvement - cleaning