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How to clean All-Clad Pans - All Types


NoEggs

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How does the fat polymerize, Sam?

High heat cooking.

Have you ever cooked something at high heat in a stainless pan and when you're done there is a light brown residue (usually around the inner sides of the pan) that is tough to scour away? That is polymerized fat. Polymerized fat is also the "seasoning" that builds up on cast iron cookware.

The moral of this story is that PTFE coated pans shouldn't be used for high heat cooking unless they are "throwaway" nonstick pans you expect to burn through and replace in a year or less.

That's the stuff! With stainless, it's easy enough to remove with steel wool, but obviously I would not resort to that on the non-stick coating.

It's interesting, because I don't really use "high-heat" per se, but I do pre-heat my saute and fry pans before cooking in them - but only over moderate heat. I guess I just haven't been as diligent as is needed after every use.

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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I think one of the best ways to keep a PTFE coated surface clean is to immediately spray it down with hot water as soon as you take the food out of it -- while it's still warm and none of the oil has had a chance to bond to the surface. If you let an oily residue sit on a PTFE surface, my experience is that it does like to stick around.

--

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slkinsey has it right. You may need to rethink how you cook certain items.

In a commercial kitchen we use non-stick pans made by Carlise, Vollrath, etc. for omlets and quick vegetable saute. A nonstick coated pan shoulod never be used over high heat - over 375 F. We replace the non-sticks pans every four months. For high heat saute we always use well seasoned steel French-style fry pans or stainless steel pans.

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I have the same problem in a nonstick pan that, to be honest, is only used for eggs or grilled cheese. So it's really not high heat cooking (except when I'm not paying attention). But I do have a tendency to let it sit around without cleaning it right away. I'll try to be more diligent about washing it immediatly and see what happens. Every once in awhile, the "oil slick" doesn't seem to span as much surface as it used to. I'm really not sure what I'm doing to make it go away though.

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  • 1 year later...
Oxalic acid crystallizes in tiny, thin spikes that puncture the skin and are almost impossible to remove.  Be careful to keep it away from your mouth or eyes, and always wear gloves.  It will make your tongue swell up so badly that some people have suffocated.

It's the principal irritant in Dieffenbachia, a/k/a Dumb Cane, which is a lovely decorative plant with large striped leaves, but which should never be in a house with children (or plant-chewing dogs).

So, does this mean that one shouldn't use Bar Keepers Friend to clean the inside, especially with those difficult-to-clean fond residue? And, instead use it only for the outside of the pan?

If its that hazardous, it seems dangerous to clean the inside of an All-Clad pan with it and then use that same pan to cook something.

From All-Clad's instructions for cleaning the stainless steel interior:

Use a fine powder cleanser with water to form a paste. Aplly paste using a soft cloth. Rub in a circular motion from the center outword. DO NOT USE oven cleaners or cleaners with chlorine bleach

But, they never say what this fine powder cleanser is supposed to be.

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So, does this mean that one shouldn't use Bar Keepers Friend to clean the inside, especially with those difficult-to-clean fond residue? And, instead use it only for the outside of the pan?

If its that hazardous, it seems dangerous to clean the inside of an All-Clad pan with it and then use that same pan to cook something.

From All-Clad's instructions for cleaning the stainless steel interior:

Use a fine powder cleanser with water to form a paste. Aplly paste using a soft cloth. Rub in a circular motion from the center outword. DO NOT USE oven cleaners or celaners with chlorine bleach/

But, they never say what this fine powder cleanser is supposed to be.

They do recommend Barkeeper's Friend.

Edited by Tony Boulton (log)
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BKF works great on the inside. What do folks recommend for the outside that won't dull or scratch the polish? I especially have a problem with water spotting on the lids primarily - not white hardwater spots but what looks like slight discoloration.

(Someone a couple of years back in this thread recommended Brillo. That's a no-no on stainless. The iron in the pad can migrate into the stainless and then it will start to rust.)

Mark

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BKF works great on the inside.  What do folks recommend for the outside that won't dull or scratch the polish?  I especially have a problem with water spotting on the lids primarily - not white hardwater spots but what looks like slight discoloration.

I recommend letting the outside get brown and nasty, so people know you actually cook!

If that's not welcome advice, you can use BKF with impunity. It will not scratch stainless steel; the abrasives are too soft. If you've scratched pans while using it, the culprit is probably the scrub sponge. "heavy duty" scrub sponges will scratch anything. "All surface" versions are gentler, but I've still seen scratches after digging in hard. Either use the soft side of the sponge (which will require more elbow grease) or get something like a Dobie pad (my favorite for pans). I've never had the dobie/bkf combination scratch a stainless pan, but it scours effectively.

Bon Ami is another cleaner that works well. It's dirt cheap and easier to find than BKF. It doesn't have oxalic acid, so it won't remove oxidative "heat taint." But for scouring off food and polymerized oil, it seems to work just as well. No worries about scratches.

Edited by paulraphael (log)
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Notes from the underbelly

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I have been pleasantly surprised by a very different type of cleaner. The tarnish removing metal cleaners like Noxon and Brasso, and others, that all seem to have ammonia as part of their makeup, do an a very good job bringing stainless back to an almost factory new look. I have to confess that I have been using Noxon and Brasso on MAuviel Stainless cookwares, not All-Clad, but I would be rather surprised to find that All-Clad responds differently. People have been surprised by how pristine stainless pans can be if kept clean. There is some sort of very fine abrasive in these cleansers, so they will actually improve the finish of smooth but not mirror finished stainless, if used aggressively.

They would probably be utter death for non-stick surfaces, so I am not recommending their use on non-stick.

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I clean the inside with BKF every now and then but mostly find soapy water and a towel as soon as it comes off the fire works.

On the outside on the other hand of my stainless; I never read the All-Clad or Demeyere instructions for cleaning and so I take them out on the back porch and soak them down with Easy Off. The next day I carry them into the kitchen and wash it off. Occasionally, I'll have to repeat parts to get the really bad places shining.

Since I have been doing it this way for at least 15 years and the pans still look and perform as they did when new, maybe it is OK.

I did, however, goof and do an All-Clad Masterchef {it was the one that is aluminum colored so maybe it was LTD} saucepan once. Aluminum really doesn't like Lye.

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Robert

Seattle

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I clean the inside with BKF every now and then but mostly find soapy water and a towel as soon as it comes off the fire works.

On the outside on the other hand of my stainless; I never read the All-Clad or Demeyere instructions for cleaning and so I take them out on the back porch and soak them down with Easy Off.  The next day I carry them into the kitchen and wash it off.  Occasionally, I'll have to repeat parts to get the really bad places shining.

Since I have been doing it this way for at least 15 years and the pans still look and perform as they did when new, maybe it is OK.

I did, however, goof and do an All-Clad Masterchef {it was the one that is aluminum colored so maybe it was LTD} saucepan once.  Aluminum really doesn't like Lye.

I agree on the easy off/lye,,,I wonder if it would affect the nonstick material or just dissolve the baked on stuff???

Bud

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"I agree on the easy off/lye,,,I wonder if it would affect the nonstick material or just dissolve the baked on stuff???"

I do not use it on non-stick. I have no idea what to use for thier cleaning beyond soap and water. The one or two non-stick skillets are Calliphon one and cheap enough that when they seem questionable, they're replaced. My wife uses a cast iron [Lodge] for what we do like eggs instead of non-stick. It works pretty darn good.

Robert

Seattle

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I clean the inside with BKF every now and then but mostly find soapy water and a towel as soon as it comes off the fire works.

Now that we've established BKF is okay to use for the inside, is it still safe to use it all the time given what the previous poster said about how dangerous it can be?

Everytime I'm using my All-Clad, I'm getting charred stuff in the pan that can't be removed with simply soapy water and elbow grease. Does anybody else get this problem? I know I've been using high heat, but this is getting ridiculous...

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BKF works great on the inside.  What do folks recommend for the outside that won't dull or scratch the polish?  I especially have a problem with water spotting on the lids primarily - not white hardwater spots but what looks like slight discoloration.

(Someone a couple of years back in this thread recommended Brillo.  That's a no-no on stainless.  The iron in the pad can migrate into the stainless and then it will start to rust.)

I use BKF on the outside of my All Clad and have for years.

I recommend letting the outside get brown and nasty, so people know you actually cook!

People know I cook. I don't need to have grungy looking pots to prove it. :raz:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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  • 1 month later...

BKF is good, but I've found that a much easier solution to getting rid of the polymerized fat on hte inside is to fill the pan with water, dump in a bunch of baking soda, and let boil for 10-20 minutes.... Comes out factory clean with virtually no elbow grease... plus, the baking soda residue gets all over the stovetop, which when you wipe it away cleans that too... hehe... I don't know if this is ok with non-stick though...

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  • 11 years later...

I have an original All Clad Master Chef pan and a newer Master Chef 2 pan. Both have aluminum exteriors.

 

The older one never takes a stain on the outside, looks pristine and unused.  The MC2 pan stains like a mother and its almost impossible to scrub off with BKF and Brillo combined. 

 

So what's up with the original MC pan?

 

Any suggestions for the MC2?

 

 

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7 hours ago, gfweb said:

I have an original All Clad Master Chef pan and a newer Master Chef 2 pan. Both have aluminum exteriors.

 

The older one never takes a stain on the outside, looks pristine and unused.  The MC2 pan stains like a mother and its almost impossible to scrub off with BKF and Brillo combined. 

So what's up with the original MC pan?

Any suggestions for the MC2?

 

My first good variety of cherished pots and pans is the old All-Clad Master Chef, made in Mechanicsville Canonsburg, PA.  I even had some of that in non-stick; after 20 or so years, when they became less than perfect, I sent them in to All-Clad on the lifetime warranty, and they replaced them - but with MC2 or whatever was around at that time. Nowhere close to those originals. 

 

I have at least 7 or 8 of the classics - 8", 10", 12" fry, 1 qt., 2 qt., 3 qt., 6 qt. sauce.

IMG_2904.jpeg.15a8490c9696a93ed02e2621894f4dfd.jpeg

 

They're a bit beat up (after 25+ years) on the outside...

 

IMG_2905.jpeg.93558a0ea62d97a38402e10c2f72b3ab.jpeg

 

But inside, they're still bright and shiny...

 

IMG_2906.jpeg.718530ac61467169c1f451205a0349d8.jpeg

 

I'm a fan of either Dawn or BonAmi and if there's stuck stuff (which is rare), I use the bank of a scrub sponge, or a slightly more abrasive (but not steel wool) scrubbie.

 

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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I have 2 MC2 saucier pans.  purchased when they first came out.

 

the inside gets BTF on rare occasions , and the outside 

 

dish liquid and a non-scratch pac of what ever is in use at the time ;

 

MC2.thumb.jpg.ff821d9b0cfc2ebc6b3b76fffd0a26cb.jpg

 

the lighting makes the bottoms look a little brown.  they are more or less like this segment :

 

seg.jpg.1c5ba15d02accc042d6972186d12eea4.jpg

 

if yours don't look like this on the exterior maybe they came from a ' bad batch '

 

no special effort was made to make the exteriors " like new "

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you've got a lot of burnt on stuff there 

 

its not just the pan

 

soot from your gas over time ?

 

but as long as the innards work.

 

Ive seen and like that one in restaurants that don't bother to clean the bottoms at all

 

 

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