How to clean sticky film left by cooking spray?

[windyacres]

I rarely use cooking spray, but used it on a cookie sheet yesterday.  The pan now has a sticky film everywhere the food did not touch.  It will not come off with regular detergent and is sticky to the touch.  Does anyone know how to remove this from my cookie sheet?  Actually, this is the aluminum lid that used to slip on an old rectangular cake pan.  The cake pan is long gone, but use this lid as a cookie sheet occasionally.  So, it has NO non-stick surface.

 

I have attached a picture. 

[Yiannos]

That cooking spray has been overheated and has now become polymerized. When it has happened to my cast iron before, the remedy is to put it in a very hot oven to burn it all off and re-season. I'm not positive what you would do for aluminum, my sheet pans get it here and there and I just leave it, it should not affect your cooking. You can maybe try something agressive/abrasive on it (ala Bar Keepers friend or maybe some aluminum polish) but I've had bad luck with aluminum oxidizing occasionally on some of those deep cleanings, which is much worse to me (black residue that rubs off everywhere). I'm sure someone will chime in with some better suggestions but I'm not positive there is much to be done once the oil has reached the point of being polymerized.

[rotuts]

easy-off works but not on aluminum

 

Bar keepers works but requires a lot of elbow grease.

 

the effect you see is indeed over heating run of the mill cooking spray.  its nasty stuff if that happens

 

should you get this taken care off somehow   there is a High temp cooking spray   said to be useful for BBQ's

 

I can't vouch for it though.

[Anna N]

I would say "live with it".   Anytime I have tried to deal with it on aluminum I have made things worse. YMMV

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I say live with it too. I actually like my baking pans and sheets better after they get polymerized oil burned onto them. I encourage it by wiping with thin coats of seasoning oil on both sides and heating them in the oven as you would cast iron. It keeps steel pans from rusting and aluminum ones from oxidizing. Once you get a good dark, even coat built up, it's non-stick too. If it gets scratched or messed up, just season it again. Not shiny anymore, but they will last virtually forever if kept seasoned like this. I broiled pork

chops for dinner tonight on my steel WearEver rimmed sheet without even greasing it, and after cooking, the meat released easily and the pan cleaned right up after soaking in hot water a few minutes. It's as black and glassy as a good cast iron skillet, and I love it.

 

If you insist on shiny or putting the item in the dishwasher, then this method won't work. Oh, and putting aluminum in a dishwasher is the fastest way to oxidize it I know. 

 

[windyacres]

Thanks for the replies.  I'm glad this is just an old cake pan lid that doubles as a cookie sheet sometimes.  It comes in handy to set pies on and other items that are likely to boil over.  I have better, heavier cookie sheets that I normally use.  Guess I'll just leave it be.

[thock]

I use an older (read not-for-good-dishes) green scrubby with Dawn and baking soda for stuff like that. Takes a bit of elbow grease and patience, but it works.

 

I dampen the scrubby, put a bit of Dawn Ultra or Platinum on the scrubby, dump a little baking soda (1/8 - 1/4 c, depending on the job) in a small dish, dip the scrubby in the dish, and then start scrubbing on the polymerized grease. I do this with cooked-on grease on the cooktop, too. Works rather well.

Edited October 11, 2016 by thock
add more info (log)

[scubadoo97]

My  aluminum sheet pans have accumulated stuff baked on them from my pre parchment paper days of using foil to line them.  Now I never put food directly on them and always line with parchment so I really don't care how they look, but  they looked well used 

 

edited to add, if you can find it Dawn Power Dissolver really works well on baked on stuff

Edited October 12, 2016 by scubadoo97 (log)

[lindag]

KAF sells a cooking spray that doesn't leave that residue.  It is an excellent product and I use it every time.

Everbake

[Yiannos]

I've thought about picking up that King Arthur spray before, but was sort of put off by it being made up of partially hydrogenated oils which include trans fats and are terrible for you. I wonder if using oil processed this way is why it works so well? 

[scubadoo97]

It is but you're not using very much in a spray so the exposure is small.  But we all have different comfort levels 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 10/9/2016 at 0:21 PM, rotuts said:

there is a High temp cooking spray   said to be useful for BBQ's

 

I can't vouch for it though.

 

I just remembered that years ago, I got a can of Weber Grill 'N' Spray with a bag of other groceries that must have belonged to the customer in line before me. I didn't realize it until I got home. I tried it once, and I found that it tainted the taste of the food I cooked with it. I stuck it back in the pantry for some reason, and haven't thought of it again until now. The expiry date is 09/02/09, and into the trash bin it went.

[windyacres]

On ‎10‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 0:32 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

I just remembered that years ago, I got a can of Weber Grill 'N' Spray with a bag of other groceries that must have belonged to the customer in line before me. I didn't realize it until I got home. I tried it once, and I found that it tainted the taste of the food I cooked with it. I stuck it back in the pantry for some reason, and haven't thought of it again until now. The expiry date is 09/02/09, and into the trash bin it went.

LOL.  The can of cooking spray I used was several years old, too.  I rarely use the stuff because I don't like to expose myself and family to the chemicals that are used as propellants.  Mine has gone into the trash as well!