How to Clean a Burnt Pan

Sometimes when we cook and do something else in the same time, accidents happen and the food burns and sticks to the bottom of the pan. This is quite an unpleasant, but a very common situation. At least, it happens very often to me.

Most people usually rub and scrub their burnt utensils for hours, using expensive detergents and other materials. This is extremely unnecessary, as you have all you need in your kitchen cupboard, and all you have to do is to put some thought into your actions. Here are three techniques to clean your burnt pan, which I learned from a professional cleaner.

  • As soon as you throw away or eat what you’ve cooked/burnt, fill in the pan with water and put it back on the stove. Leave the water to start boiling and add a tablespoon of salt to it. Switch off the appliance, leave the pan for an hour and wash it afterwards.
  • The second method is almost the same as the first but instead of putting salt you must put baking soda into the water, and leave it to boil a couple of minutes more. Let the water to cool down, throw away the solution, and rub the burnt food from the pan with the back side of a sponge.
  • The last technique, is also with natural products. Put a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda into the burnt pan, and pour one cup of vinegar over them. The products will start fuzzing, but when they calm down, fill up the pan with water and put it on the stove until it starts boiling. When the water cools down, the cleaning of your pan will be a piece of cake.

How to Clean a Wooden Cutting Board Naturally

With no doubt I claim that the wooden cutting boards are the most convenient and practical ones. Their only disadvantage is that they are hard to clean and maintain. The biggest enemies of the wooden cutting board are grease, spices, onion, garlic and fish. Do you want your cutting board to smell nice and be clean? If yes, here are several tips for cleaning your cutting board naturally.

Salt and Lemon Juice

Pour enough quantity of cooking salt directly on the cutting board. Squeeze some lemon juice over it and then rub the mixture into the wooden surface with a sponge. It’s good to leave it like that for a couple of hours. The lemon juice will be absorbed and the salt will dry out. If there is any moisture left, wipe it with a paper towel.

If you don’t have time for the whole procedure, you can simply rub the wood with the leftovers of a peeled lemon – it will clean and deodorise the cutting board immediately.

Baking Soda

In the centre of the cutting board make a solution of 4-5 spoons of baking soda and several spoons of water. Spread the paste gently over the surface and rub it until the cutting board starts to smell. This means that the pores of the wood are open and all the bad smells layered in it are coming out. After that, rinse well with water and absorb with a paper towel.

Vinegar

You can maintain the wooden cutting board regularly with a solution of one part vinegar and one part water. Simply rinse the board with the solution and let it dry in vertical position. The vinegar guarantees that there will be no bacteria or bad smell on the cutting board, once it’s completely dry.

Beeswax

The numerous washing of the wood with abrasive detergents and then the process of drying can cause cracking and fissuring of the surface. In order to increase the life time of your cutting board you should carefully spread beeswax or almond butter on its surface.