Have you have ever tried to clean a pot or pan, where the oil was seemingly laminated on it? Did you get to the point where you’re quietly asking yourself: will it take less time to go to the store and buy a new pan? Then ask yourself, even more quietly: could I live with myself if I did just go and buy a new pan? We value our time and dislike scrubbing things for long periods of time. Very normal.
About a decade ago my hubby and I had received a wedding present of new pots and pans. They were super nice, adult cookware one could be proud of, and I had just whipped up a batch of charcoal on the bottom of the beautiful, new pot. The pot was a gift from his side of the aisle, and I was in a slight panic about the charcoal which lay at the bottom. I had accepted my fate. That evening as my husband would sleep soundly, I would stay up all night scrubbing the crap out of the pot with heavy duty steel wool. Wool which would also scratch the crap out of the new pretty pot’s surface. I’d then have to own the guilty feeling for having marred this special wedding present until some glorious day when my hubby would create his own special batch of charcoal on the other pot.
I was about to run to the hardware store to buy some of the scratchiest wool I could find, when I remembered the pots came with a sample of some specialty cleaner. It was a long shot, but I figured I might as well try. The white powder cleaner worked almost like magic dust.
Now, a decade later, Bar keepers Friend still hangs out under my kitchen sink. Which is double convenient, as I also use it to clean said sink. I adore multipurpose things, especially in the kitchen! Bar keepers Friend is now BF’s with all my pots and pans, and especially, the tea kettle.
My tea kettle’s home is the stove-top, and most days, it looks like it lives on the stove-top.
It has recently seen a lot of heavy cooking and hasn’t spent any time with its BF so there’s a lot of cooked oil on the poor thing. It’s surface is so dull, you could say it needs a facial! Skip right past the light peel facial and straight to the sandblasting treatment. I don’t have a sandblaster in my kitchen, but the next best thing is Bar keepers Friend. This stuff is worthy of the MLE (Makes Life Easier) stamp of approval.
See for yourself in the timelapse above. I revived my poor tea kettle in no time, no sweating required.
Here’s what I did to achieve the beautiful “After” picture. First, I ran the tea kettle and a sponge under water. Then I sprinkled some of the Bar keepers Friend right onto the prime-time grime and started lightly scrubbing. The powder and the water combine and do all of the heavy lifting, so there’s no need to put much muscle into it. All I had to do was continue to lightly scrub and add more water or powder as needed. Sometimes I’ll let the powder and water mixture mingle for a couple minutes before I take the sponge to it, but most of the time it’s not needed.
Once my kettle started glowing again, I rinsed the product off and used soap to wash it inside and out.
This product has saved my kettle on many many occasions. Here’s the “After” picture, it’s bright and shiny again. Hope it saves you as much time as it has saved me over the years. -MLE
Post your before and after pot and pan pictures and tag me #MLE or @mleinsights I’d love to see them!
** Before all the Tide Pod nonsense, I would never think to give a disclaimer about not eating cleaning supplies. But here it is: DON’T EAT CLEANING SUPPLIES!! Similarly important, thoroughly wash things that have had cleaning products on them before using them for serving food or beverages. Also, be more careful that I am and wear rubber gloves when using the stuff.