How to clean aluminum pans from soot

Of course, nowadays dishes from aluminum are replaced by dishes with non-stick coating and from stainless materials, but in every second kitchen there is an old kind aluminum saucepan. In them, our grandmothers also made various preparations for the winter, and now we hardly use them. But if, nevertheless, you fished out a pot of aluminum from the bins of the kitchen cabinet and found that it is not in the best condition, you need to clean it before using it. How? Let's figure it out.

How aluminum pans are used

Aluminum by its nature has some very unpleasant properties that significantly narrow the usefulness of dishes in everyday life.

1. Firstly, this material interacts strongly with various organic acids, so in no case do not cook soups and porridges in aluminum pans. They will sour in just a few hours, showing you problems in the form of an unpleasant pungent smell and spoiled crockery.
2. Secondly, aluminum cookware is good for boiling jams, compotes and other blanks in it, which involve rolling into jars and further long-term storage. But again, it is not recommended to leave cooked in a saucepan: sour not as fast as in the first case, but it can still deteriorate.
3. Third, before using an aluminum pan (to avoid unpleasant consequences), boil water with salt in it. Proportions: 1 teaspoon salt to 5 teaspoons of water.
4. Fourth, do not forget that dishes from this material does not have a non-stick coating, so if you digress, the food will begin to burn, settle on the walls of the pan with black soot, which can be extremely problematic to wash. Also, the outer surface acquires a black color due to contact with a gas or electric burner.
5. And, fifthly, do not just try to “scrape off” the carbon. Read the tips below and you will keep your dishes safe and intact.

How to get rid of soot

Since this is what happened, and the soot did appear on the walls of the aluminum pan, do not put it off indelibly: you do not wash it at all. Get down to business right away!

Here are a few ways to help bring the shine back to the dish:

1. Soak in soapy water. The method is suitable for relatively light soot and in the case of your quick response to it. After soaking, it is usually enough minimum effort to rid the walls of the pan from black: it is enough to wipe them with a hard sponge. If it does not help, then go to the next method.
2. Washing with soda. The traditional easy way to get rid of black plaque on the walls of aluminum cookware. It is usually enough for some time to rub the pot with a hard sponge with soda so that the carbon starts to move away. If this does not happen, boil the dishes in a large container (basin or bucket) by adding a glass of soda into the water.
3. In the absence of soda, you can resort to using ordinary table salt. If the pollution is inside - boil a strong brine until the soot begins to “peel off” from the walls. If outside - boil the pan in a deep bowl with the addition of a large amount of salt.
4. Citric acid, used to preserve vegetables, will also help in cleaning the soot from dishes. To do this, boil such a quantity of water in a saucepan so that it covers the “blackness”, add 2 tablespoons of lemongrass to it and boil for 10-15 minutes.After that, wash the dishes under running water using a special tool.
5. 9% vinegar. They poured dishes with soot and incubated for 2-3 hours, after which they wash the pot with a stiff sponge under running water.

Laundry soap 72%. It is added in certain proportions to the above means to improve the effect:

• in soda - ½ piece;
• in vinegar - ½ piece;

It also combines with PVA glue in the following ratio: 1/3 of a piece of soap (rub into chips) and 1 tablespoon of glue per 4 liters of water. Boil the resulting solution.

Special chemical cleansers. For example:

• Shumanit is a rather aggressive solution, but very effective;
• Chister is also aggressive, but not so effective. The advantage is cheap;
• Amway is inferior to Schumannite in efficiency, but not as aggressive in cleaning properties.

Use these tools should be strictly according to the instructions in order to avoid unpleasant consequences!

In order not to deal with unpleasant soot, try not to be distracted while cooking in aluminum cookware. And, of course, do not cook something in it that will certainly leave its mark inside.But if the soot appeared - do not be discouraged and immediately start cleaning the pan, then the dishes will serve you for a very long time!

Video: how to clean a burnt aluminum pan