burned-up pan of cooking Prunes; bad!; smoke & smell from it

[David Combs]

Hi there!

(1) Faberware (30 yr old one, ie a GOOD one) pot, had prunes in boiling water -- fell asleep, woke up to pan with nothing in bottom 2 inches, all else very-light charcoal.

How to CLEAN the damn thing?

(tried vinegar; does nothing)

(2) the SMELL in the DR, LR, etc (carpets, etc).

ANY ideas of reducing the smell?

(Have people coming over tomorrow night!

(wife will be freaked out when guests come -- "what will they think of me, with a house like this!?").

Suggestions?

(No, "burn down the whole house" is not what I'm looking for.)

Thanks!

David

[sonofabitchsky]

1) Get off the Heroin.

2) Get as much air flow through the house as possible. Open window, fans, etc.

3) Wipe as much as you can down with a windex type cleaner. I like the scented windex versions. Get some carpet deodorizer, sprinkle, vacuum, etc. Wipe the walls with some clean rags rinsed out in a watered down dish soapy mix. Candles, etc. Pray!!

[Doug Miller]

First, scrape out as much as you can, with a spoon (so you don't gouge the pot).

Then clean it with washing soda. NOT baking soda. You can get washing soda in the laundry detergent section of many grocery stores. Arm & Hammer brand, box looks just like the Arm & Hammer baking soda box, only bigger. They usually keep it near the borax.

Dump 1/4 to 1/2 cup of it in your pot, then fill the pot with hot water, and stir until it dissolves. Let it soak overnight, then scrub in the morning. You might need to do this a couple of times before you get it all.

[Joseph Meehan]

You may need the specialized help of a fire recovery service. They have tools, and experience that we don't have.

[mm]

I have a popcorn poppper -- ordered from JiffyPop, maybe -- that my mother bought 50 years ago. It's not electic. It just stands on the stove. I wash it in the dishwasher every 10 or 20 pots worth but that doesn't do much.

But when my furnace wasn't working I used the pot to humidify the house. IIRC, it takes about an hour to boil 2 inches of water (but I could be way off). Anyhow, I forgot the water was boiling until it was boiled empty and upstairs I smelled the popcorn and oil residue burning off. When I got downstairs, the pot was clean! I don't know how hot it got.

The pot is sheet metal, not cast, and waves going from the center to the circumference (making concentric circles) aren't perfect anymore, I guess becaue I let the pot get too hot.

Open the windows. Air out the place. Tell people you like prunes. There is nothign shameful in that and everyoen burns the food sometimes.

[aspasia]

Does heating vinegar in microwave help?

Baking soda - but don't know how to apply it - just know that it's a great odor absorber. Maybe scatter into rug; let sit as long as feasible; vacuum up?

[Bob F]

My mother siays her mother used to build a big bonfire, and throw the cast iron pans in it to clean them. I suppose a self cleaning oven would do the same job.

Bob

[mm]

Yeah. I should say that the bottom of the pot was probably red hot, and it only cleaned the lower 3 or 4 inches of the pot. It clearly got progressively less hot as it got farther from the heat.

Plastic handle so I can't put it in the oven. My mother wouldnt like it but I've given up keeping it really clean. STill, I've made about

2000 pots of popcorn in it, and it should last another 40 years or more. It has a lid with a crank-shaped metal rod that sweeps along the bottom of the pot, to keep the corn from burning.

I wonder if heating it that hot makes the metal thinner, or causes metal fatigue. I'll stop using that pot to boil water.