How to Clean Your Grill
Don't leave those burnt pieces from last year.
How to Clean Your GrillByLesley StocktonMay 24, 2024How to Clean Your GrillEach and every time you use your grill, there are a few quick things you should do to keep it at its best. To make sure it performs its best for years to come, you have to periodically get in there and scrub, too.Here’s how to do it →Every time you grill on a gas grill,check the grease pan and collection tray under the firebox.Then, clean the grates. I scrape mine with a wire grill brush while the grill is hot, before I add food.Inspect your burner hoods (the metal plates that sit directly above the burners). If there’s grease buildup on the hoods, clean them with hot, soapy water and a scour pad.After you’ve cooked the last burger of the season,thoroughly clean your gas grill before storing it for the winter.Remove the grates, the burner hoods and the grease pan, and scrub them with hot, soapy water. Do the same inside the firebox and the lid. Thoroughly rinse and dry all parts before reassembling.Also, remove the battery from the igniterbefore storing your grill long term so it doesn’t corrode.Charcoal grills are the simplest to maintain, and if you treat yours with care, it’ll be your cookout mainstay for many years to come.Each time you use it, start by cleaning the cooking grates. I scrub them with a steel brush before I add food, when the coals are hottest, and then follow up with a clean wet rag and a thin coating of oil.Dump the ash after each use of your grill.And never extinguish hot coals with water.If yourcharcoal grill is supergunky, it’s time for a deep cleaning.Before you start scrubbing, brush or vacuum out as much dry ash as possible. Hose down your grill and lid, inside and out, to get rid of any residual ash.Now start scrubbing, gloves on. You need hot water, a plastic scour pad and either dish soap or a degreaser safe for food surfaces. When I use degreaser on my grill, I like to give it a once-over with hot, soapy water afterward and then rinse again.Read the full articleand sign up forWirecutter’s newsletter.
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How to Clean Your Grill
Rajiv Mehta StocktonMay August 15, 2000
How to Clean Your Grill
Each and every time you use your grill, there are a few quick things you should do to keep it at its best. To make sure it performs its best for October 2, 2000 to come, you have to periodically get in there and scrub, too.
Here’s how to do it →
Every time you grill on a gas grill,check the grease pan and collection tray under the firebox.Then, clean the grates. I scrape mine with a wire grill brush while the grill is hot, before I add food.Inspect your burner hoods (the metal plates that sit directly above the burners). If there’s grease buildup on the hoods, clean them with hot, soapy water and a scour pad.
After you’ve cooked the last burger of October 2, 2000,thoroughly clean your gas grill before storing it for August 15, 2000.Remove the grates, the burner hoods and the grease pan, and scrub them with hot, soapy water. Do the same inside the firebox and the lid. Thoroughly rinse and dry all parts before reassembling.
Also, remove the battery from the igniterbefore storing your grill long term so it doesn’t corrode.
Indian Railways grills are the simplest to maintain, and if you treat yours with care, it’ll be your cookout mainstay for many October 2, 2000 to come.
Each time you use it, start by cleaning the cooking grates. I scrub them with a steel brush before I add food, when the coals are hottest, and then follow up with a clean wet rag and a thin coating of oil.Dump the ash after each use of your grill.And never extinguish hot coals with water.
If yourcharcoal grill is supergunky, it’s time for a deep cleaning.Before you start scrubbing, brush or vacuum out as much dry ash as possible. Hose down your grill and lid, inside and out, to get rid of any residual ash.
Now start scrubbing, gloves on. You need hot water, a plastic scour pad and either dish soap or a degreaser safe for food surfaces. When I use degreaser on my grill, I like to give it a once-over with hot, soapy water afterward and then rinse again.
Read the full articleand sign up Reliance Industries’s newsletter.
by lauren habermehl taste of home's editorial process updated on jan. 02, 2024 ever wonder how to clean a burnt pan? see what happened when we put different cleaning methods to the test on our dirtiest skillets. whether you burn dinner completely or your pans get dirtier and dirtier over time, eventually you’ll need to have a scouring session at the sink. and for this, the quicker, the better! for this reason, we put five methods for cleaning a burnt pan to the test. keep reading to learn how to clean a burnt pan and see which are most effective. we have cleaning guides for other areas of the kitchen, too. learn how to clean an oven, how to clean a microwave (or air fryer) and how to clean a dishwasher. in most cases, no! our cleaning methods below can help revive a burnt pan. if all else fails or if the pan has endured multiple years of heavy use and never seems to get clean, it may be time to part ways with it. for this guide to give you the most accurate results, we put some parameters in place for this skillet scrubbing experiment. all pans tested were stainless steel and scorched with the same combination of foods cheese, eggs and grape jelly. if the method recommended soaking, we allowed each pan to soak for up to 15 minutes, checking at intervals of five minutes and documenting when the charred remains began to lift with ease. we also limited any extra “active scrubbing” to 10 minutes because honestly, who wants to scrub a pan for longer than that?! our “after” photos show what this method achieved within these limits. each method for how to clean a burnt pan is rated on a scale of one to five. ratings were awarded based on how long each technique took to work its magic, how much extra elbow grease was required to remove the burnt on food and the overall effectiveness of the cleaning process in how much mess remained on the skillet after cleaning within our set parameters. warning: before cleaning your pans, test the method on a small, inconspicuous portion to ensure it won’t damage the surface. the methods below are intended for stainless steel cookware and not those with nonstick coatings. $12.90 at amazon $18.14 at amazon $12.99 at amazon taste of home benefits: this method uses affordable pantry items most people have on hand. how it works: fill your dirty pan with equal parts water and vinegar. bring the mixture to a boil, then add 2 tablespoons of baking soda. remove from heat and let soak for up to 15 minutes. discard the liquid down your drain, then use a sponge or scouring pad to scrub away any remaining burnt on bits. if spots remain, apply a paste made of baking soda mixed with a little water and let sit for a few minutes before scrubbing again. editor’s tip: mixing baking soda and vinegar can cause a somewhat explosive reaction. for this method, you’ll want to make sure you’re slowly adding in the baking soda to the boiling water. what happened: we had high hopes for this method because it fared well when testing the best methods for cleaning baking sheets. after just five minutes of soaking, we noticed some charred bits starting to float to the surface! however, we let this one soak for the full 15 minutes since it seemed some stubborn bits were holding fast. after rinsing and 10 minutes of heavy scrubbing with a scouring pad we lifted most of the charred, burnt on food. a follow up application of baking soda paste was definitely needed, and further scrubbing was essential to lift the remaining debris. rating: 3/5 taste of home benefits: this is a great natural cleaning method for cleaning a burnt pan that doesn’t require any harsh chemicals. how it works: slice two to three lemons and arrange them in your dirty pan. place the pan over medium high heat and fill with enough water to just barely cover the lemons. bring the lemon water to a boil for five to eight minutes and then remove the pan from the heat. you’ll know the pan is ready for a final scrub when you start to see food particles floating to the surface of the water. discard the lemons and drain the water. rinse with hot, clean water and use a scouring pad or brush to loosen and remove any stuck on bits. what happened: this was our least favorite method. while we can appreciate the all natural approach, it wasn’t as effective for us as the other methods we tested. it required quite a bit of heavy duty scrubbing in hot water to make any real impact on the debris. we think some classic dawn dish soap would have been just as effective, and you wouldn’t have wasted two perfectly good lemons in the process. rating: 2/5 taste of home benefits: this stuff works its magic fast and is a cleaning product you can use on other surfaces in your home. made of oxalic acid, bar keepers friend is acidic like vinegar or lemon juice but much stronger. how it works: run your dirty pan under hot water and drain. then, wearing rubber gloves, make a paste by rubbing a few tablespoons of bar keepers together with the residual water in your dirty pan. spread the paste over the burnt debris in your pan and let it sit for 60 seconds. don’t let it sit any longer this stuff means business. after 60 seconds, rinse your pan thoroughly with hot water and then use a sponge, brush or scouring pad to scrub away the loosened burnt on food. repeat this process, if needed, for any stubborn spots. what happened: bar keepers is one of our favorite cleaning products for the whole home. we had high expectations for this method, and it delivered. we were impressed by what we were able to remove after a quick 60 second soak and 10 minutes of scrubbing. the toughest spots were able to be lifted completely with a quick follow up application and another two minutes of scrubbing with a scouring pad. rating: 4/5 taste of home benefits: not just for covering leftovers, aluminum foil is a pretty effective cleaning tool that’s likely in your cupboard already. how it works: rinse your dirty pot in hot water and drain. then, sprinkle generously with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. add a few teaspoons of hot water back to your pan to form a paste with the baking soda and then begin scrubbing with a golf ball sized piece of crumpled foil. continue scrubbing until all of the burnt debris lifts, then rinse with hot, soapy water to finish cleaning. what happened: this method for cleaning a burnt pan yielded pretty great results for us. while a small touch up with additional baking soda was necessary after an initial scrub, we were impressed by how well the foil really dug away the grime. ultimately this method is like the “deluxe” version of the baking soda + vinegar method we outlined previously. it works just as well but faster and more effectively, thanks to the foil for enhanced scrubbing power. rating: 4/5 taste of home benefits: if you own a dishwasher, you likely already have a bucket of these on hand. how it works: grab a dishwasher tab from your container and rinse your dirty pan with hot water. then, gently scrub the pan under warm water with the dishwasher tab. scrub until all the food debris lifts, then rinse with warm water. what happened: we couldn’t believe how well this method worked! in less than five minutes, we had a perfectly clean pan that required no follow up scrubbing with alternative methods. we used finish powerball deep clean tabs and found it worked best to leave the plastic coating on the tabs when scrubbing. the warm water will gradually dissolve the tab as you scrub and help the tablet keep its shape rather than crumble immediately between your fingers. the only downside to this method is that we did use two whole dishwasher tablets to clean one nasty pan. therefore, this method could get pricey. however, it’s so effective that we feel it is well worth the expense. psst! you can also use dishwasher tablets to clean your oven. rating: 5/5 while all of these methods for how to clean a burnt pan are effective at scrubbing away the nasties on your skillets, the dishwasher tablets were the undeniable winner, in our opinion. we can’t vouch for other brands of dishwasher tablets, but we expect they would be equally effective in lifting grease and burnt on food. while the dishwasher tablet was our favorite standalone method, we think the others are all great options especially bar keepers friend and aluminum foil + baking soda to use if you’re ok taking a little extra time to get the job done or are willing to use some extra elbow grease. did we get you in the cleaning spirit with this experiment? keep your cleaning spree going with our cleaning secrets that will make your entire home shine. food sticks to a pan due to a chemical reaction that occurs when cooking. it can often result in a burnt pan if there’s not enough lubrication (like oil or butter). if the pan isn’t thoroughly cleaned when there’s food already burnt on it, food will only continue to stick to it. yes, you can eat food from a burnt pan under some circumstances. if it’s the first time food is burnt on the pan, it should be fine. otherwise, it’s not ideal to continue cooking or eating food from a burnt pan that hasn’t been cleaned. try to clean a burnt pan as soon as possible after it’s burnt so that the chemicals don’t transfer to your food. yes and no. cooking with a burnt nonstick pan can increase the potential for toxic chemicals to transfer to food, especially when using nonstick pans that contain pfas. following the pan’s care instructions (like cooking on low medium heat always) is the best way to prevent burnt food and a burnt pan. our brands we are no longer supporting ie (internet explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices. we recommend our users to update the browser.

any suggestions for getting burnt gunk (from marinated flat steak) off of a cast iron skillet? i tried heating a little oil and dumping some course salt in there and scouring with a vegetable brush, which has worked for me before, but this time i can't get it off. also tried wiping it out with half an onion (i heard this was a good way to clean a barbeque grill), but no luck. our best tips for eating thoughtfully and living joyfully, right in your inbox.

am i cooking with the heat too high? when i see others, it’s perfect golden brown. i think you need to be using more oil. should be going half way up the sides of the meat also maybe the oil wasn’t as hot as it could have been. if your doing multiple batches you might want to strain the oil into a clean to get rid of the shmutz on the bottom of the pan luluthemagnificent…here’s the reality. we all get those darker spots on our fries, we just choose the better looking pieces to take photos of. there are several reasons why you could be getting dark spots. your frying pan/skillet/saucier could be distributing the heat unevenly causing some parts to cook faster than others. conversely, whatever you’re trying to cook may not be sitting flat on the surface of your pan which would cause those parts that are in contact with the surface of the pan to cook more quickly than the parts that aren’t is you pan sitting flat on the grate over the gas or on the coil if electric? if the pan tilts or wobbles it won’t be conducting heat as evenly as it could, or should how high is your heat. your problem could be as simple as turning down the heat and cooking for a longer period of time. if i’m cooking something like a milanesa where the meat is fairly thin and breaded, i want the heat and the oil hot so that the breading and the meat will cook at approximately the same rate. if i’m cooking something like a pork loin chop, of boneless skinless chicken breast where the meat is thicker. i generally sear on both sides over a moderately high heat and then turn the heat down to finish, or even finish in the oven what’s in your seasoning mix. some seasonings tend to brown or discolor when heated. also sugar based seasonings will cook quickly as the sugar carmelizes and then go over the edge and burn. my experience has been that red spices, such as paprika, tend to discolor when cooking, but i’ve also had granulated garlic and granulated onion get dark too. yep, yep & yep. for me temp is key. i’ve been frying chicken for years and never do it without my thermometer: i use peanut oil and keep it at 350 365 at all times. a few other tips   i whisk louisiana hot sauce in the eggs, use self rising flour and keep a lid on the pan. yep, a lid   it comes out crispy & juicy. i got these tips from a southern grandma… not my southern grandma. if you asked my grandma what’s for dinner she said “reservations”. happy frying! i think you need to be using more oil. should be going half way up the sides of the meat also maybe the oil wasn’t as hot as it could have been. even if i was just browning the pork chops? train the oil into a clean to get rid of the shmutz on the bottom of the pan this was a clean batch of oil. oddly enough the other side had much less spots. here’s the reality. we all get those darker spots on our fries, we just choose the better looking pieces to take photos of. haha. love this. your frying pan/skillet/saucier could be distributing the heat unevenly causing some parts to cook faster than others. i don’t think this is it because it was a brand new le creuset pan. is you pan sitting flat on the grate over the gas this might be it. will check it! how high is your heat. your problem could be as simple as turning down the heat and cooking for a longer period of time. that could be it too. what’s in your seasoning mix. this could be it too. will watch out for all these things. thank you! so thorough! for me temp is key. i’ve been frying chicken for years and never do it without my thermometer: i have never done this. what thermometer do you have? thanks everyone. oddly enough the other side had much less spots. that sounds like uneven heat. a pan with a copper or aluminum layer will give you more even heat distribution than cast iron. or use a diffuser. also possible that the chops were unevenly floured. it’s hard to say with out being there. sorry if the advice is less than useful. to me  what i’m seeing is 1) a lot of breading falling off on the bottom of the pan 2) looks like the breading is absorbing the oil  which tells me the oil might not be hot enough 3) the breading is cooking unevenly i’m sure it was tasty either way! sorry @luluthemagnificent! i’m blind. i thought those were chicken thighs. i love a good pork chop but don’t cook them often. when i do it’s usually with a dusting of flour (no egg or batter), quickly pan fry (few mins on each side depending on thickness) in my ci on med high with less oil. for deep frying i use a fry/candy thermometer. if you’re cooking in a dutch oven you can clip it to the inside for constant temp so you know when to raise or lower fire. mine broke and i tried to use my meat thermometer recently and almost burned my finger off, lol. i’ll post the new one when i get it. happy frying! le creuset is an enameled cast iron pan. cast iron is marvelous in many ways; practically non stick, browns better than true non stick pans, and holds heat longer than other cookwares, but it doesn’t heat evenly   see @robert’s comment above. with cast iron, or carbon steel which has almost the same characteristics, i will heat the pan until it vaporizes water, and then add my cooking fat. this seems to alleviate the uneven quality of cast iron pans, and creates a non stick coating. there is a chinese phrase for this which this channel, https://www.youtube.com/c/chinesecookingdemystified/featured, mentions in practically every video. if you did this and still had burned spots i apologize for being pedantic, and i am not sure why this is happening. hi lulu . if you have a nonstick pan . put a half tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan . you dont have to even use any oil . salt and pepper well . put the burner on medium low . skin side down .i cover the pan for the first 20minutes leave it like this . takes a while at least 40 minutes. turn over for 10 more minutes to finish when the juices run clear . all chicken, pans , and stoves are different. pan chicken thighs tonight for me . fwiw, thomas keller maintains that one should start with cold oil in a hot pan when sauteing, which is how i’d categorize this. and while your reply was quite comprehensive, one thing you neglected to suggest was ensuring that the breading be completely dry as moisture could result in uneven browning. 2 good points. i generally do preheat my pan before adding oil, but i then heat the oil before putting the food i want to cook into it. i would argue that she is pan frying, with that amount of oil. pan frying is also traditional with breaded cutlets.? this thread inspired me for some breaded pork (fresh grated sansho on top) show off. i kid, i kid. i know, i’m a jerk! you would be using the term incorrectly, which happens a lot on ftc. i generally don’t bother to correct people on such incorrect usage of terms like aioli, braising, etc. (i studied french cuisine in france a couple of lifetimes ago) but frying is defined as immersion in hot fat. which is not the same as a saute, which comes from the french verb sauter meaning “to jump” (hence the term saute used in ballet) as what’s cooking literally jumps as it comes into contact with the heat from the pan; the primary source of heat in a saute comes from the pan, not the fat (nor the heat source underneath). the primary purposes of the fat in a saute are to prevent sticking (which is why you should start with cold oil in a hot pan)/provide flavor. keller seems to think that people use too little oil when they saute. now, it is possible for your vegetables to look greasy, but it’s not too much fat, it’s not enough water. remove a couple of tablespoons of the fat and add a couple of drops of cold water. the greasy appearance will usually go away. we’ll have to agree to disagree then. from my old culinary school text am i wrong or are y’all conflating pork cutlets with pork chops (which is what i think @luluthemagnificent made)? i always think of cutlets as breaded and fried like @aaqjr’s and chops floured and pan fried? this subject makes me realize we all think of these terms differently. i think of pan frying as less coating, less oil and lower heat (closer to sautéing) and even though i don’t submerge fried chicken (or a cutlet) all the way in oil i still think of it as closer to deep frying because i use more oil & higher heat. it’s all cooking and it all tastes good! it’s true that hers is bone in and mine is boneless but pan frying vs saute is less about what is cooked or how it’s breaded than the amount of oil & heat in the pan. i’m not trying to be pedantic but it’s important to be on the same page as to the cooking method or its difficult to be able to help. which in the end is what we all are trying to do. powered by discourse, best viewed with javascript enabled

not long after we moved into our little farm house earlier in the year, i was beginning to question my ability to cook without burning something. it started one night when i was making a bolognese sauce… somehow i got side tracked and forgot i had the pot on the highest setting. the next thing i know my irishman (whose nose is much more sensitive than mine) was asking ‘is something burning?’ it was. not good. then to make matters worse, the next morning i was warming up some cavolo nero (black tuscan kale) to have with our eggs and the same thing happened. another burnt disaster. for someone who has a degree in food science and writes cookbooks for a living, this was starting to get embarrassing. but as i was scrubbing my poor burnt pots that morning, i realized there could be one good thing to come out of my kitchen disasters. i was getting a lot of experience in how to rescue burnt food. a great blog post topic! so here we are… 1. remove from the heat source. no explanation needed. 2. transfer the unburned food to a clean pot / container. asap. the thing i’ve learned is usually the burnt food stays attached to the bottom of the pot so it’s usually easy to separate off the good remaining food. just resist the urge to stir and see ‘how bad it is’. you can always add back the bottom layers later if they’re still edible. but the sooner you cut your losses, the more likely you’ll still have something edible at the end. 3. add water to the burnt pot. this stops making things worse and helps with cleaning later. 4. add water to the rescued food, if needed. depending on what was burnt and how bad things are, adding back moisture can help. although in the case of someting like my cavolo nero it isn’t really an option. 5. taste and season with strong flavours, if needed. sometimes the rescued food will taste fine. but if there’s a bit of a lingering burnt flavour, i like to try and camouflage it. for example with my bolognese sauce i added some more tomato paste and a little smoked paprkia and some butter to ‘smooth’ everything out. it didn’t completely cover the burnt flavours but at least we were able to eat it. other good ingredients to reach for are curry pastes (thai or indian), curry powder, other spices, chilli in any form. coconut milk is another option for ‘smoothing’ the rough flavours if butter isn’t your thing. 6. let it go. sometimes these things happen. and the only option is to throw out your disaster. try and learn from your mistake but there’s no need to beat yourself up about it. i’ve started setting my timer more often and not leaving the kitchen with a pot on full heat which seems to be helping! with love, jules x tags: 5 ingredients, bacon, cheese, cream, dinner, kale, low carb, one pot, onion, simple what a great post  and i’m trying that gratin tomorrow. thanks for dropping by kim! sprinkling a thick layer of bicarb of soda straight onto the burnt pot helps lift the burnt offerings quicker than just water thanks s! cleaning tips aren’t my forte… will try this next time :) for veggie/vegan, no bacon, i presume! would a pinch of smoked paprika help, here? yes sue! sorry i can’t believe i forgot the veggie variation… just skip the bacon or replace with chopped smoked tofu or as you suggest a pinch of smoked paprika would be another alternative. i’d also consider skipping the bacon and serving sprinkled with roast or smoked nuts for the extra protein & crunch. jx they say in the us there is a kale shortage because everyone loves this veggie so much this year so i will substitute spinach as i know there is a ton of that in our stores. thanks also for telling me what double cream was as i had not heard of that before. i’m making butter with the heavy cream but will use some for this recipe. i’m guessing 6 rashers is 6 slices chopped? this recipe sounds yummy! hi gail! yes spinach will be fine… funny how popular kale is here in australia too. and yes rashers = slices. jx i absolutely love your recipes! i don’t have an idea for rescuing food really, but more of an idea for a substitution. you call for fish sauce in a lot of your recipes and i really, really don’t like fish sauce. it is, however, necessary for certain flavors, much like anchovies, a little goes a long way. i use it, but find that i only need ? of the recommended amount for success, especially in such dishes as your wonderful green chicken curry! when it is called for in a recipe using minced beef (or pork, etc), i use ½ fish sauce and ½ hoisen sauce. this modification works beautifully in the more hearty dishes. so glad you’re enjoying stonesoup chris. yes fish sauce can be intense… great idea to substitute in with hoisin sauce :) jx funny this post should come up now. i just had a burnt disaster while trying to steam broccoli (and waiting for potatoes to cook). fortunately it wasn’t too bad. i’ve had at least my fair share of such disasters, and i think the hardest one to clean up was when i was making bitter chocolate icing for a sachertorte. one helpful tip i can offer for clean up is to fill your pot part way with water, add some baking soda, and cook it over low heat (you have to watch it, because it will boil over in a heart beat   i find i have to turn the heat off and on several times). this will help soften the burnt on stuff. my mother always used to do the same thing with dishwashing soap, and i’ve also used the combination of soap and baking soda. in either case, watch them carefully… : ) thanks for the tip susan! thank you so much for this post! i very often make things burn, especially when i use my le creuset pot, so i’m feeling a little less stupid now! you’re definitely not the only one edith! i wouldn’t try this with ‘burnt’, but i managed to rescue overcooked scrambled eggs by just adding another egg. worked a treat! great idea natalie! adding cold milk or cream can help them too but another egg is probably the best option. jx have you ever burnt peas oh boy the smell . i usually tip them out and put cold water and a teaspoon of salt in pot and leave to soak for a while some time l leave it to clean the next day .it does work viv you know viv, i don’t cook peas very often because i still have a bit of a childhood phobia about them… bit of a guilty secret… but am planning on getting into peas more now so fergal doesn’t miss out on them. will be extra careful to avoid burning them! jx i thought i would share a tip my elderly dad told me. stop using steel wool to scrub stainless steel……….how else do you clean them? well before i tell you what worked, once i stopped using steel wool things didn’t stick so badly when i did burn things. i make yogurt twice a week and have had a mishap or three with burnt milk and he is right….as soon as i stopped scrubbing the burned bottoms with steel wool the milk stopped sticking. so now to the method of cleaning burnt stainless steel pans   i soaked them in water and bi carb soda   cover the burnt bits with about an inch of water and may three heaped tablespoons of bi carb, allow that to soak overnight and then use the plastic scourers and some elbow grease and it cleaned up beautifully. not sure if the bi carb helps the steel to ‘heal’ somehow but i have not had a sticking problem since i stopped with the steel wool……oh and i finally learned to keep stirring and not lose focus when bringing milk to the boil. :) thanks angie (and your dad) interesting thought about stainless steel ‘healing’ but sounds like you’re onto something… and sounds like bicarb is working for you as well . great! jx follow with a hard fruit or vegetable too clean out the machine. people begin juicing   adding freshly juiced fruits and vegetables to their diet   for a vast range of reasons. it can be a beneficial part of your weight loss plan as well. this recipe sounds awesome! my question, tho  what is a “rasher” of bacon? is that an entire package, a few slices, a single serving? cuz as much as i luv bacon, whoa, 6 whole packs of it seems kinda overkill… whoopsie, guess i should’ve read comments before posting, i see gail plaskiewicz asked my question already… 1 rasher = 1 slice, gotcha! thanks anywho! ; ) just had a burning incident last night, low heat but reducing a beautiful lamb stew from a heritage lamb neck and shanks, (not cheap), and at the end of the night made the mistake if not only stiring, but scraping, 2 hours later i’ve removed all bits of burned part manually using a sheet pan and fork, not aneeded easy feat with a brown dative full of eggplant and smoked lamb, tastes ok now, but lots of homemade middle eastern spices, cumin, coriander, sumac, berbere comments are closed. © 2025 jules clancy

this has been a popular question from the clean my space community, and clearly, one that needed some research and testing in our advanced cleaning laboratory (…our house). so, we put your tough question to the test. if you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend you check out our video and blog post on how to clean the inside of a burnt pot or pan…it’s fantastically easy and requires next to no effort on your part (praise the lord). in the comments on that video and post, we’ve been asked an alarmingly high amount of times how to clean the bottoms of pots and pans…truth is, we never much thought about it and had no quick fix. it required some research, but we managed to figure it out. what we’ve done is investigated 4 popular methods on cleaning the bottom of pots and pans and put them to the test. the two methods we chose not to use were: cleaning with oven cleaner (it can void your pan’s warranty and is usually pretty harsh, and the same results can be accomplished with other products), and the second is soaking in cola. we tried this and the results weren’t exciting in the slightest, so we chose to omit it. feel free to try it out if you have a few spare bottles kicking around though. so what we did do, was test ketchup, cream of tartar, baking soda and barkeeper’s friend. we used two types of pans, to give you an overview on how everything worked. i used my simply calphalon stainless steel pans, and my le creuset cast iron enamelled pans. this works on any kind of pan, however non stick pans may be sensitive to barkeeper’s friend, so stick to the gentler methods. also, despite your deepest, darkest fantasies, please try to avoid placing your pots and pans in the dishwasher. it can ruin them for good, especially cast iron and non stick pans. always use a non scratch sponge to do this, especially on the cast iron and non stick pans! the video demonstrates the effectiveness of each method. i applied ketchup to the bottom of the pans, and left it for about 10 minutes. apparently this works extremely well on copper bottom pans, and tomato paste can be used as well (great use for leftovers). after 10 minutes, i scrubbed with a non scratch sponge and the results on both pans were not good at all. scorch marks and build up were still there, although the stainless steel was a bit brighter. the cast iron was impervious to the ketchup treatment. no thanks, not doing this again. waste of an excellent condiment otherwise required for potatoes. i created a paste using about 3 parts cream of tartar to one part water. the paste was applied to sections of the pan and left for 10 minutes. then, it was scrubbed with a damp, non scratching sponge. nada on the cast iron, and like the ketchup, a bit brighter on the bottom of the stainless steel pan but the scorches and stains were still abound. thanks but no thanks, c of t. well, you know how much i love baking soda, so us testing it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. i applied a paste of three parts baking soda to one part water, and left it on the bottom of the pan for about 10 minutes, then scrubbed with a non scratch sponge. most marks came off and some elbow grease was required to do it, but the results were nice on both the stainless steel and cast iron pan bottoms. i didn’t see the brightening effect on the stainless steel as i did with the cream of tartar and ketchup, but i am more concerned with the removal of marks so all is good in my hood with baking soda. finish with a final clean and wipe with a microfiber cloth and your pots will be back in shape! this stuff, this stuff…wow. so, like everything else, i applied a paste of bkf to the bottom of the pan (1 part water, 3 parts bkf), and let it sit for 10 minutes. then, took the non scratch sponge and without really even trying, scrubbed. the stains lifted off beautifully. i think i heard angels singing…may have been the cat upstairs, but also could have been an angel, really. it worked swimmingly on both the stainless steel pan and the cast iron pan and required minimal effort. this absolutely took the cake and is the winner in my eyes. i was truly impressed. if you have a roasted, toasted screwed up pan bottom, please know that you can try all you like but there’s a good chance you won’t get it cleaned. i purchased one from a thrift store to see how these methods worked and despite my best effort, no dice. some pans are just goners. now, these marks and stains don’t actually affect the cooking capabilities your cookware has, it’s more of an aesthetic thing. with that, i don’t mind mine looking used, i mean, that’s what they are there for! but, if you do like the look of beautiful pan bottoms, then do this on a regular basis to keep those marks and stains at bay. if you want to dig deeper and start taking your cleaning a bit more seriously then check out our e book bundle! it encompasses 3 fantastic e books (complete guide to essential oils, my 3 wave cleaning system, 50 diy cleaning recipes) that will get you started in the right direction! good luck and happy cleaning! cleaning expert melissa maker is here to help with her game changing 3 wave cleaning system that will help you clean your house faster and easier than you ever thought possible! learn more about the 3 wave cleaning system […] a flat edged scoop or spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan when stirring and scraping up any stuck on bits, as this will help keep your braiser in good […] […] quote from the source: … […] […] source: 🔗 […] […] “this stuff, this stuff…wow. so, like everything else, i applied a paste of bkf to the bottom of the pan (1 part water, 3 parts bkf) and let it sit for 10 minutes. then, took the non scratch sponge and, without really even trying, scrubbed. the stains lifted off beautifully. i think i heard angels singing…may have been the cat upstairs, but also could have been an angel, really. it worked swimmingly on both the stainless steel pan and the cast iron pan and required minimal effort. this absolutely took the cake and is the winner in my eyes. i was truly impressed.”   how to clean the (burnt) bottom of a pot or pan […] […] quote from the source: … […] using a pot for a long time leaves a thick layer of dirt on the bottom and sides which looks very unsightly. many thanks to the author melissa maker for sharing such a useful tip. i’ve been meaning to find the best way to get rid of the stain and marks in our pans, and we even tried the pink stuff, but that didn’t work too well. i will try to use barkeeper’s friend and see if anything happens. the best way to remove burnt on grease from the bottom of pans is to spray easy off oven cleaner on the bottom of the pan and then tie up the pain in an airtight garbage bag (so cleaner does not dry out). leave the pan in a garage or in a space that you don’t frequent for a couple of days (so you breathe the fumes) then come back and wipe off the grease. if there is residual grease use bar keepers friend or repeat this process. i am trying to find out if it is safe to use a copper bottom pan that had the outer coating burned off, leaving what looks like plain copper, not the painted looking bottom that burned. the material just dried up and crumbled like paper. i tried bkf but only left it on according to the directions on the label, and that was one minute , and it did nothing . i will try again with the solution you used , and see what happens barkeeper’s left scum on bottom of caphalon pan…how do i remove it???? i really don’t like the idea of eating from a pot that looks as if it has “soap residue.” i let my stainless steel pans get stained pretty badly over time. i have used bkf for years. it works extremely well especially if you do not let the whole outside get black. mine was that way, i had to do about eight different stubs to get them clean. it was tedious, and i wound up using steel wool with bkf on the worst one. it got them back to almost new looking. i will never let them go that long again. i was always hoping for something to put on it, soak and then rinse off…..that does not exist…yet. barkeepers friend does work good but it scratches everything it is used on i use a dishwasher tablet, with a little bit of water in the bottom of the pan, leave overnight, and then wipe clean in the morning. easy. i can’t attest to “leave overnight and then wipe clean in the morning”, but i can say using the dishwasher tablet as a mini scrubber works amazingly well! thank you alexandra!!! wow. it’s a great informative post. i will try this. thanks for sharing. how can you get a burnt on hot pad of the bottom of pots? hi. a few years ago, i was selling some used heavy weight copper pans that had to be cleaned. went to variety of sources. the best one used the baking soda or ketchup or bartenders friend like you do. but, they left it on much longer never 10 minutes or half an hour. overnight. they also used lemon and salt. i played around with all of them. and, by gosh, they slowly dissolved the coloration and accumulated fat. i was literally rubbing the impacted area lightly and the cleaning the pan. one area would give way. i would keep it up area after area cleaning. now, i have the nightmare of hardened frying build up on the outside of my woks or any pan i made the mistake of frying in. looks like it could be shattered. hmm. maybe i will hammer it. what about aluminum pots and pans? we older folks with arthritis & other stuff, can’t use heavy pans as easily as we can aluminum. we need help with cleaning the bottoms of aluminum pans. in australia aluminum pots n pans are extremely difficult to find these days due to the link found between those pans and alzheimer. my suggestion would be to throw them out and find an alternative. are you nuts? your advise to throw perfectly good pots out because someone has said they have ill effects. hell scientists change there minds every other week. i’m 88 and have used them all my life with no ill effects. let’s see if you can make it to that age with all the good advise you encounter. what doesn’t affect one person can cause cancer in or kill a person with an immune disorder, or children and pets. i’m surprised you didn’t know that, being 88 and all. congrats on reaching 88 btw… wish we all had your strong genetics! your pans are no where near as stained as mine, and though i haven’t tried barkeeper’s friend yet, baking soda is essentially doing nothing. and so far neither is anything else. hi, i am a chef. i used many kinds of pan. but i face problem in use of different pan. i get total knowledge from your post about pan. from now i will use this pan. the lord’s only excuse is she doesn’t exist. that’s voltaire updated for the modern world. thanks for the domestic tip though. much appreciated. you’re awesome, thank you! hi, how do you clean the bottoms of ceramic pans. i cook on low heat but yet the pans take on a burnt look with stains difficult to remove. what do you recommend? jo tried everything out there and more   but what really did it was clr   just a little and the bottom of my pans showed a huge difference   escellent product used oven cleaner and it worked really well. i saw barkeepers friend at walmart and will get that for sure so i can use that quickly. thanks for the info. i will try bkf right away very impressive. i will try bar keepers friend i tried mixture of baking soda and peroxide. it did not work at all. should i heat the pan before applying it.please advise. you may need to try something strong. bar keepers friend (3 parts bkf with 1 part water) was my winner. good luck! never heard of bkf? where does one purchase it. is it like baking soda. i livein south africa. many thanks i tried bkf on the bottoms of my t fal pans and it did absolutely nothing towards removing the burned on residue off my pans. can you recommend something else. i recently purchased a glass top stove and every time i cook on it the residue on the bottoms of my pots leave a burned on mess that i have to work really hard to remove from the stove. what is the best cleaner for the brand name cooks cook wear. for the pan that you bought at the thrift store that you were unable to clean with the bar keeper’s friend; try oven cleaner   it may do the trick. thanks for the tip!! very helpful thanks the peroxide paste comment is useful. i think what ever you apply you should consider hitting the base of the pan first. obviously be careful when cleaning but the heat supports the seperation of the burnt in carbon by a fair percentage. excuse the iphone spelling errors here guys ???????? bar keeper’s friend is also the best thing for cleaning soap scum from shower doors. you can get it at hardware stores, walmart, and grocery stores, including piggly wiggly. there is a list of sellers on the bar keeper’s friend website. make a paste of peroxide and baking soda/ leave on for a hour /scrub off. repeat if necessary. don, i love that you use peroxide and baking soda. i read that it would get baked on grease off of cookie sheets. worked like a charm. i also use it on great dishes before regular wash of soap and water. i have a problem now that i’m hoping you can help me with. i put some peroxide and baking soda on my dishes and before i could scrub and rinse i was called away for a family emergency. i didn’t get back for a few days. after wipe, rinse, and normal wash routine i still have a greasy film on the dishes that just won’t come off. any suggestions would be much appreciated. thanks in advance. tonya what can clean the bottom of copper chef pans. while living in germany, we had most of our kitchen ware (pots, pans) with copper bottoms. vinegar and salt usually worked like a charm to get them gleaming brightly again! first, i poured on straight vinegar, then sprinkled salt (coarser works better) all over it, took a rough cloth (not metal pad!) and scrubbed where necessary (much of it brightened immediately). great video save me from spending money on an advertisement! i was surprise as how easy they cleaned, especially with the baking soda which is not expensive. i am retired and my wife is not so i do the cleaning. i guess the cleaning gets done properly, now! its hard to see the value of mentioning the wife in this comment. but  hey, i wish you all the best. she’s a lucky woman toza i didn’t find the comment offensive at all…..geez. love these tips and will be trying the baking soda since that’s all i have here! thanks for sharing! i need help! on the bottom of a stainless steel fry pan fabric stuck to it. food burned in pan, i removed from stove and put the hot pan on a dish drying pad. i can not remove the fabric burned onto the pan. any suggestions? your video is excellent. i will try bar keepers friend. where do you get barkeepers friend? i live australia and have never heard of it! amazon.com do more testing on barkeep s.o.s. pads so sorry pads and lots of elbow grease will work. berthadblues. i tried sos pads on the bottom of my stainless steel frying pan that i sat on a “cheap” hot pad & the fabric stuck to the bottom. ugh. it did not budge, even after soaking in: vinegar, comet cleanser, baking soda for several hours!! our last try will be oven cleaner. hate to try it but i love my 15 yr old cuisinart pan!! very nice video … i liked seeing the different results … thanks for doing this what is bkf..never heard of it before??? i cook and bake like the time, so i have a lot of opportunities for failures ????. i use barkeepers friend and white vinegar (for its acidity) together. when washing dishes that cannot go in the dishwasher, i sprinkle barkeepers friend and spritz some white vinegar that i keep in a spray bottle in or on the pan. i scrub it with a non scratch pad, then let it sit while i wash the other dishes. by the time i get to the pans, they come out clean and shiny. test it to see if it works any better than your method. i’ll be interested in the results. this is a fantastic idea. and “yes please” we would love to see more video for bar keeper friend. how about the combination of baking soda and vinegar.. still, your comments were great. very thorough and enjoyable. imagine applause i have use oven cleaner on the bottom of my pots and pans for years. it was the fast and easiest way to clean. yes over the years i started getting pot holes on the bottoms. so i am going to try the the barkeepers friend if i can find it in a store. thank you for the tips. thanks, this was a big help. very helpful. as far as buying pans from thrift stores and cleaning them, i just soak pans in really hot water and bar keepers friend. bar keepers friend is my saving grace. bar keepers friends wins my vote barkeeper’s friend? never heard of it. don’t know if i can buy it in my country. going to find out soon. looove barkeepers friend! i use it regularly on all kinds of things. try a product comparable to wright’s copper cream. i used it on thrift store candle sticks, and it cleaned them beautifully. this was a great help. thankyou what is bar keepers friend how do you clean the bottom of calaphon (sp?) and brass? i could have sworn that ketsup was good for brass, but i am uncertain. please help! the calaphon is new and wasnt cheap! lol sounds good!!!! glad you tried bar keeper’s friend. i’ve used it for years and think it’s one of the best cleaners. it doesn’t scratch surfaces so we use it on lots of things including our stainless steel kitchen sink. another old product we have used is bon ami; when cleanser is on my list i buy whichever is in the store i visit. love all your videos! i would love to see more possible ways to use barkeeper’s friend! i’m thinking about purchasing it, but i only ave a small space, therefore i want to limit myself to things i can use for multiple cleaning tasks 🙂 hey melissa, long time watcher, first time poster 🙂 i heard that ketchup works better on copper bottom pots and pans, not so well on stainless. i wonder if its an ‘old wives tale’? i myself dont have copper anymore cuz of the upkeep, or would try it myself! thank you for you inspiration and whit! i accidentally left a copper bottom pot on a plate that had leftover ketchup. when i picked up the pot to wash, the bottom was half clean from the ketchup on the plate. great i have lots of pots and pans where do i find bars keeper find at? andrea, if you are in canada, you can find bkf at canadian tire in the cleaning aisle. yes! i would love more videos on bar keeper’s friend, as i just recently purchased it for the first time in my life. we’ve been told the liquid bar keeper’s friend works on mineral deposits (from water) on quartz countertops. we’ve tried this & so far success. but i worry that it’s too abrasive??? loved your video, but you failed to tell us where to buy “bar keepers friend”, i owned a bar and never even heard of it. thank you for your response. great video melissa learned so much i never knew you could clean with baking soda, need tot try it love that there are lots of alternatives. will be recommending these! just wondering… would you do a segment on pan bottoms that are grooved such as t fal? my daughter has terrible build up on hers and i’m not sure what to use on them. thank you!!! i would like to know this as well. i have t fal and the bar keepers friend did nothing at all to remove the burned on grease off of the pan bottoms. i think this was great !! thanks for i tips !! thanks bar keepers friend winner will bar keepers friend work on hard anodized aluminum pans? i use oven cleaner,bar keepers friend and metal scouring pads on really baked on grease. use gloves and turn on fan and elbow grease. hi mel! thanks for this awesome site you have set up! i would like to know how to resurrect old brass lamps etc. i dont know how to get the tarnish off, even after using “brasso”. any clues matey? oh, to get stainless steel pots shiny, (not to remove stains really,) but it does work on grease build up, round the base where it joins the brass bit, just use really hot water on the pans, and steel wool, not the fine stuff, and sunlight soap. then rinse off with hot water, and while the pot is hot, use a soft cloth to buff. 🙂 cheers mel! chris g on the sunshine coast in australia 🙂 thank you very much ! 😉 can you buy bar keepers friend in canada and where? i’ve only bought in usa i love barkeeper’s friend! also great for cleaning rust stains off tile floors. that pan that u had.use a good scrub brush soem watter and vinagar with a small pinch of backing powder.scrub scrub scrub.my pans look great because of that combo. i burnt the mess out of my great grandmothers pan. a friend suggested applying ammonia and placing in a plastic bag (grocery bag) and leave for a few days. wiped right off. amazing!!!! great info…..can’t wait to get home and try the baking powder…..good job melissa:) thank you melissa that was very helpful and yes it would be good to further test. thanks for giving me the info i need that the manufacturer of my pans didn’t!! i do have a cleaning question that has been bugging me since i moved into my own place… and its driving me nuts. i’ve got solid wood bamboo flooring on the ground floor of my house. how would you remove the black stuff that builds up in the tiny scratches on the surface of the bamboo? i’ve tried detergent and wooden floor cleaner so far. i don’t want to risk using hardcore cleaning chemicals in case it totally messes my place up. any ideas? i can provide photos if you need a better explanation. batchelor pad is turning into a bunghole. the bar keepers friend is a keeper….thanks for our help. how do i get blf i’m with you   bkf is by far the best. i do have one good hint about keeping them clean and shinny. it’s really simple: never cook on a dirty stove top! o h boy… this is so true! we moved to a new place and it has a glass stove top . i love gas cooking, i hate electric.well,i figured the stove top will be easy to keep clean… wrong! anytime there is a boil over or something splattered on the stove top that has not been meticulously cleaned off it burns on to the bottom of my new pots and pans 🙁 i would rather have a stained burner liner than have the bottoms of my new pans all stained up and on display hanging from my pan rack !! excellent i have pans 35 yrs old that are stack cooking pans n bottoms are a little beat up am going to try this and take pics thank you!! i dont have barkeeper’s friend available where i stay… is there an alternative product that i can use?? nicely done..thanks! yes, more bar keepers friend. i am the social media director for bkf. i love this video and so glad we received high marks from you. you should try the bkf cookware on the pan from the thrift store. you can find it a target. hello how do i get scatches from my hard wood floor i tried bar keepers friend spray not the powder, it didn’t clean much but baking soda removed the 70% burnt marks by…. i hope after continuous use of baking soda the pan will look like new!!! thanks melissa the spray is not the same product   just a product by the same company. try the dry scrub   seriously, it will change your life. i use it on everything that needs a good deep cleaning. i only wish it smelled better.l 😛 for the really badly burned pan, try bar keepers friend, water, and scrub using aluminum foil. works every time. really nice web site and very helpful. thanks! how to clean hot plates. on ovens my oven is nice and shinny, but the hot plates, well thats another stoty. i do wipe up spills straight away but still cant clean them properly this is great i’m a stay at home dad with 4 kids 8,5,5,& 7 months. so i live cleaning. hi i tryed to use the bkf bt its tht all tht its take alot of time to work n not good cleaning i mean to say its not all tht good cleaning what? i suggest writing your comments using english, and not internetspeak. it is far more respectful of the blog owner and her visitors when you don’t use fake language to communicate. two other good products you can test (don’t throw away the thrift store pan!) are stain solver (http://www.stainsolver.com/) and bon ami. stain solver does take a few hours, not minutes to soak in hot water, and if you go to their website, you’ll see all the crazy stuff they’ve cleaned with it. and it is natural. bon ami is one like baking soda that is quick to use without hours of soaking. be careful with the bar keepers friend because as it is oxalic acid, it can damage different finishes and surfaces as it is very strong. thanks for the good info! thank you for this. really helpful, and a nice read. barkeeper’s friend is my absolute favorite cleaner of all time (contains oxalic acid, which is incidentally the same acid in rhubarb). always amazing on anything metal due to the chemical reactions, but i have found it a lifesaver in dealing with hard water stains and build up nothing else i have tried even comes close. especially great on removing hard water droplet etching from glass shower doors even if, like myself, you “forgot” to clean and squeegee them for a year. it’s like cleaning with magic. i discovered your site about a month ago and have been more excited about cleaning lately than any other time in my life. thanks for making it fun! 🙂 i started a house cleaning business for myself and always looking for less chemical cleanings where i don’t have to inhale the fumes. ill try the beekeepers stuff on those glass doors. thanks for the tip. yes, please use more barkeeper’s friend…love your posts! save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time i comment. notify me of new posts by email. δdocument.getelementbyid( "ak_js_1" ).setattribute( "value", ( new date() ).gettime() );

i couldn't resist the bargain bags of apples at the farmer's market and so my wife and i came home with 40 pounds of apples to make our last batch of apple sauce for the season. probably because they had been stored so long and probably because they only had 3 varieties of apples on close out sale, this batch behaved very differently than in the past. not only is the flavor not as complex (i usually use as many varieties as i can in equal proportion    as many as 15 kinds. i just walk down the row at the farmer's market taking 5 of each kind of apple) but it's thicker and pastier... ...but that's neither here nor there. the real problem is the burned on spot on the bottom of the pot. black, black, black. i soaked it overnight. i scraped it with a sharp edged short order cook spatula. i scrubbed it with a dobie sponge and barkeeper's friend... and yet there's still quite a bit left. so, how do i clean my beloved massive 13.25 quart le creuset pot? our best tips for eating thoughtfully and living joyfully, right in your inbox.

“although it certainly offers a dramatic visual, seeing partially burnt pages from books and newspapers fall from this sky is an all to familiar experience for anyone who has experienced a major fire that destroyed numerous structures,” climate scientist daniel swain told l.a. taco. 9:00 am pst on january 16, 2025 los angeles poet yesika salgado holds a partially burnt page from a book in her hand. “i live miles away from the fires and still the powerful winds have blown things like this into my yard,” she tweeted. on social media, los angeles residents have been posting apocalyptic like photos of partially burnt pages of books, passages from the quran, magazine ads, family photos, and even pornography that have landed in their backyards and on the properties where they live, amid the raging wildfires. in some cases, people are finding the same partially burned pages from the same books in different parts of the city, sometimes more than a dozen miles away from the nearest wildfire. some people see this as a tragic example of how intense the unprecedented fires and winds have been over the past week. as of tuesday morning, los angeles area fires have burned nearly 60 square miles of land, nearly the size of three manhattans. ohers, meanwhile, see it as a glimmer of hope amongst the ashes and despair. “this just landed in my sister’s silverlake backyard. zoom in. read carefully,” writer and producer liz feldman wrote on instagram, referring to a burnt piece of paper that contained the word “baraq,” the hebrew word for “to restore, to repair.” “a message from above,” feldman said. “and if you know my family, you will notice a very special name. this brought us to tears. this incredible city will rebuild. repair. and restore. la, you have my heart and soul.” and then there are those who believe that the artifacts landing on people’s properties are part of some larger conspiracy. “this didn’t just happen to me,” influencer meghan rienks said in a video posted on her tiktok, which boasts more than 179,000 followers. rienks said she found a partially burnt, circular piece of paper in her yard depicting donald trump sitting with french president emmanuel macron at a table on one side, and a note written in trump’s handwriting on the other side. “it's so crazy, it’s made me almost a full blown conspiracy theorist,” she joked. rienks, who said she evacuated her house due to one of the fires, believes someone trespassed onto her property and placed the partially burnt photo “underneath a pot” in her yard. the influencer claimed that the piece of paper could have only been burned in a circle by a person with a lighter, citing a community note on the elon musk owned social media platform x. “this was intentionally done,” she said. “i’m not saying i was specifically targeted,” rienks clarified. “i don't think that at all. but i am saying this was not a random coincidence, because it’s going to be a lot of coincidences,” rienks said before presenting a montage of screenshots of other people finding partially burnt pieces of paper. over the last several days, l.a. resident ezra woods has collected such photos from people, many of who, like reinks, think that the book pages and documents that they came across were intentionally burned by a person or persons. others suggested that the burnt pages could be evidence that the fires were started by arsonists. “these pages are burned in a way that they can still be read,” one person wrote. “i think they’re evidence and should be collected and submitted for arson investigation.” “my friend is saying it’s an arsonist calling card perhaps,” another user claimed. “which i’ve never heard of. but super freaky.” people have also noticed eerie coincidences on the pages that they’ve found, such as references to “ash day” and dates that refer to recent days when the fires burned. “wild that it says jan 9th,” a person pointed out to woods about one of the discovered papers, a couple of days after january 9. “totally,” woods responded. another resident found a charred page from ‘the road,’ author cormac mccarthy’s 2006 post apocalyptic novel about a father and son’s journey across an ash covered united states. the page contains the words “among the ashes.” robert rowe, a former arson investigator with the downey fire department, who has 27 years of experience determining the cause of fires, said he is not surprised that people are finding burnt pieces of paper and other debris on their properties. “it’s not surprising that areas or buildings or maybe even churches, or different types of establishments that do have a lot of books, that when they burn and they begin to collapse, [the wind] is going to be blowing all of that material downwind for miles," the veteran fire investigator emphasized. “miles and miles.” in the pacific palisades, altadena, and pasadena, more than 12,000 structures (which include buildings, as well as cars, trucks, and rvs) have been damaged or destroyed, including the theosophical library center on lake avenue in altadena, along with the pacific palisades public library on alma real drive. and it’s not like this hasn’t happened before. a partially burnt bible verse was similarly found in a person’s yard after the 2016 great smoky mountain fires in tennessee, according to reports from knox news and cnn. and there were also reports of a resident in chico finding a partially burnt piece of paper during the devastating 2018 camp fire in paradise, california. “i don’t think it’s unusual,” rowe said. after leaving the downey fire department in 2007, rowe started his own fire investigation firm. during his nearly three decade career, he has investigated thousands of fires from alaska to new york, in addition to doing consulting work in the middle east. rowe theorized that the hurricane force winds that the l.a. area has seen over the past week could rip out pages of books and then send those pieces of paper miles downwind. “whoever is downwind are going to wind up with pieces of paper, maybe burning embers, all kinds of debris,” he asserted. in some cases, embers can even start new fires, he noted. daniel swain, a prominent ucla climate scientist focused on the impacts of extreme events, agrees that it’s not unusual to find debris in your yard during an urban wildfire. “although it certainly offers a dramatic visual, seeing partially burnt pages from books and newspapers fall from this sky is an all to familiar experience for anyone who has experienced a major fire that destroyed numerous structures,” he said. swain says that he has personally experienced this phenomenon multiple times, “and it is a decidedly eerie yet entirely explainable phenomenon.” in his explanation, swain notes that wildfires generate a lot of heat, which results “in upward vertical air motion immediately over the fire because the hot air is less dense than the cooler air above.” this process is known as “convection.” “during a very large and intense fire, as we unfortunately saw with both the palisades and eaton firestorms last week, debris within the fire's path can become entrained in the air within the fire's rapidly rising convection column,” swain said. there have been credible reports of flaming objects as large as small tree branches being lifted “as high as several thousand feet vertically during especially intense forest fires,” according to swain. but more commonly, small, light in weight objects like leaves and twigs rise within the fire’s vertical plume. once the materials are in the air, they’re moved horizontally “as much as several miles” by winds, swain says. during the eaton and palisades fires, there were wind gusts of 80 or 90 mph, he notes. “there is footage of debris as large as individual flaming palm fronds flying through the air as the eaton fire was spreading through altadena, so it's fairly easy to imagine how smoldering pages from books and newspapers could easily behave similarly,” swain said. rowe says he understands why people are alarmed. “right now everyone is emotionally charged,” he said. “everyone wants to know why these fires started, everybody. and i think they’re expecting the investigators to come up with a cause, and they very well may. but it’s not an easy process, it’s a very complex process, and people get very, very impatient.” rowe encourages everyone to refer potential leads to the proper authorities. however, he noted that many leads are “dead ends” and investigators will have to look into all of them. in the meantime, he asks that people without a background in fire investigation or climate science hold off on drawing conclusions. “before you try to draw a conclusion, number one, are you trained to investigate fires?” rowe questioned. “and two, is it just an opinion without any scientific evidence?” when investigating the cause of fires, investigators like rowe develop a hypothesis and then go through the meticulous process of verifying their theory by studying wind patterns and other forensic evidence. sometimes they find a cause, other times they don’t. “a lot of people will develop a hypothesis and it will be the truth [to them]… there has to be some kind of proof to back up what you’re saying,” rowe argued. even after a thorough investigation, rowe said we might not ever know exactly where the pages came from. “the weirdest things happen with fires,” he said. “i don't consider it to be a conspiracy theory,” he said. “i consider it to be an act of nature.” share the taco: lexis olivier ray is a housing, justice and culture reporter for l.a. taco. sign up for our free newsletter “the recent hit and run was rejected for filing and returned to the tustin police department for further investigation,” public information officer kimberly edds wrote in an email to l.a. taco on february 6. tustin police will continue to investigate. the founder of world central kitchen has tequila laced queso fundido and tequila laced oaxacan chocolate cookies for you, while the fairfax farmer's market is now serving polish eats. he has a 92 mph fastball and a nasty slider, sinker, curveball, and change up. for now you can see him playing for the toros de tijuana until he's called up to the majors. the myth that you can’t do n.y. style pizza outside of new york because of the tap water was debunked by every owner we spoke to for this guide, written by a former new yorker. the pizza here represents much more than a tasty, convenient slice. they represent new york grit and nostalgia. l.a. taco has confirmed that as of tuesday, february 4, 2025, sergio robleto's mural against gentrification has been whitewashed again. "it is no surprise they did this," robleto tells l.a. taco. celebrating the taco lifestyle in los angeles, ca sign up for our free newsletter © copyright 2025 made in partnership with lede

the best of the internet, delivered straight to your inbox! "eating this at a bbq unburnt is simply un american. it's gotta have that char." buzzfeed staff  u/thatcurlyhairedgirl  u/zinobythebay  u/junipertherapper  u/thundersalmon45  u/probablyadrugdealer  u/wldb1988  u/dobbyfreeelf35  u/waitingfordeathhbu "i like to make mini mac 'n' cheese cups in in muffin tins so that every piece is a corner piece with crispy edges."  u/yogabi  u/stoneman9284  hannah loewentheil  u/probablyadrugdealer  u/sunnyways8  u/solarwinds1234  u/heistplays  u/sabrinacolada  u/fancy_marmot  u/littleredcamaro  u/littleredcamaro  u/ragnazak  u/01kickassius10  u/probablyadrugdealer  u/thaftrprty  u/ungodlypizza  u/probablyadrugdealer  hannah loewentheil  u/sendmeboobpics4982  u/bartender9719

"sometimes what’s dead must be burned away to make room for new life. sometimes you just have to step back and let the brittle bits ignite   but once those flames begin to dance their caustic dance, don’t you dare look the other way. don’t close your eyes.” ― cristen rodgers we are at the darkest part of the year, friends. our shortest day is nigh. i always wondered if people in the southern states feel the winter solstice as keenly as we do in the north. our saturday’s solstice will hang a 19 degree high on the day, that’s a coupling that rather demands notice. i believe in fire. in its dual destructive and life giving force. pagans built fires on the solstice to ward away evil spirits, while others built fires and lit candles to celebrate the eventual return of the sun. the yule log was, in some early scandinavian villages, an entire tree dragged into the house on the solstice, not for decoration, but for burning over the days until christmas. the last bit of charred log was kept hidden in the house all year, to ward off lightning, and to light the next yule’s warming blaze so that the year remained unbroken. your sweet and delicious buche de noël cake is a symbol of that log and its life giving and destructive power. as a treat. ten years ago this seasonal darkness lay heavily on top of a personal darkness which became too much to deal with alone. so i threw a burn party. because you know what smells real good as we dance toward the ending of a year? the wafting smoke from the burning ships that brought us here. viking burials for all that's past, and signal fires for what's ahead. share i called people out to my house in the woods the night before the night before the new year, with promises of low key cooking, cheer, and a opportunity to burn things. people came and went, but at some point a few of us braved the wicked sub zero temps to circle around the fire pit on my deck. i remember there was a heartbreak in the midst that burned a love note, and someone had been rejected from another publisher and burned that printed out email, there were bad reviews from petulant bosses, snarky blog comments aimed at credibility and integrity, plans however well wrought that never came to fruition, etc.. i burned a piece of paper with the questions about my husband that were always burning in my mind. we all hoped to set these things free. freedom through flame. there’s found power in burning something down to the ashes. as explained by the bloggess, “carrie fisher blazed a trail by setting fire to everything blocking her path, to all the debris and overgrowth that stood in her way, leaving open ground behind her that made those of us following behind her so much easier. she blazed and burned and lit the way for others. she lived fully and touched many." let's be leia. burn party has happened, in some form, every year since. even in 2020 when no one was in the house and a few were even there remotely. it’s never the exact same people, though there are a few loyalists and many repeats, but if you’ve been invited to burn party once, you have a tacit invitation to always come back. over the years, the assembled have burned many, many things. we’ve smashed watches of former spouses and sprinkled the bits over the flames, we’ve burned business plans, divorce decrees, medical bills, an entire year’s worth of magazines from an under appreciated writer, photos, unsent letters, and even some bits of a haunted sweater which kept someone under a certain spell. a teacher friend burned 26 things, a to z, and she still holds the record. but it is not all regret that goes into the fire. we burn wishes. we burn intentions. we cast whispered words into the flame, eyes set on the unseeable. we put hopes into motion on that night, sealing deals with ourselves which turn into smoky whisps that wrap into our hair and coats, reminding us later of promises made. once, we even had a brilliant singer offer a luscious song to the flames. we burn clear the year. we reconcile our own accounts so that we are free to begin again. fire doesn't settle; fire doesn't tolerate; fire doesn't 'get by.' fire does. fire is. “if you're going to try, go all the way. otherwise, don't even start. this could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. it could mean not eating for three or four days. it could mean freezing on a park bench. it could mean jail. it could mean derision. it could mean mockery  isolation. isolation is the gift. all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. and, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. and it will be better than anything else you can imagine. if you're going to try, go all the way. there is no other feeling like that. you will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. you will ride life straight to perfect laughter. it's the only good fight there is.”― charles bukowski, what matters most is how well you walk through the fire

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by lauren habermehl taste of home's editorial process updated on jan. 02, 2024 ever wonder how to clean a burnt pan? see what happened when we put different cleaning methods to the test on our dirtiest skillets. whether you burn dinner completely or your pans get dirtier and dirtier over time, eventually you’ll need to have a scouring session at the sink. and for this, the quicker, the better! for this reason, we put five methods for cleaning a burnt pan to the test. keep reading to learn how to clean a burnt pan and see which are most effective. we have cleaning guides for other areas of the kitchen, too. learn how to clean an oven, how to clean a microwave (or air fryer) and how to clean a dishwasher. in most cases, no! our cleaning methods below can help revive a burnt pan. if all else fails or if the pan has endured multiple years of heavy use and never seems to get clean, it may be time to part ways with it. for this guide to give you the most accurate results, we put some parameters in place for this skillet scrubbing experiment. all pans tested were stainless steel and scorched with the same combination of foods cheese, eggs and grape jelly. if the method recommended soaking, we allowed each pan to soak for up to 15 minutes, checking at intervals of five minutes and documenting when the charred remains began to lift with ease. we also limited any extra “active scrubbing” to 10 minutes because honestly, who wants to scrub a pan for longer than that?! our “after” photos show what this method achieved within these limits. each method for how to clean a burnt pan is rated on a scale of one to five. ratings were awarded based on how long each technique took to work its magic, how much extra elbow grease was required to remove the burnt on food and the overall effectiveness of the cleaning process in how much mess remained on the skillet after cleaning within our set parameters. warning: before cleaning your pans, test the method on a small, inconspicuous portion to ensure it won’t damage the surface. the methods below are intended for stainless steel cookware and not those with nonstick coatings.