Some house sitter burned we don’t know what in one of our Le Creuset pots and now there’s a layer of carbon on the bottom. Anyone know a trick for dissolving that stuff?
How about putting some water in, bring to a simmer for “a while” and see if it will come off as in when you’re deglazing?
dishwasher soap with water and boil. Bleach (not concentrated) can work.
Soft Soap, the stuff you use in the bath room, and a green scrubbing pad. it takes some real scrubbing, though. Especially if the sitter washed the pot, then left it as is. There aren’t any magical shortcuts. Believe me, if there were, I would have found them by now.
A paste of baking sofa and water has worked for me on stainless. Make a paste, let it stay on the burnt material for a couple of hours.
I checked google, there were references to using baking sofa on enameled cast iron.
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I’ve had good luck with the Mr. Clean magic erasers. A lot of elbow grease, and you may need to use baking soda along with it, but it has worked for me. If that doesn’t work, Bar Keeper’s Friend should work try the liquid before the powder. It’s less abrasive and less likely to damage the finish. Make sure to follow directions and not leave it on too long. Good luck.
Tried boiling water in it, no effect.
I suggested simmering and then using the ‘deglazing’ technique.
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Carbon? You mean burnt on stuff or just a film?
My first step would be to ask the offending party what they cooked in my Le Creuset. If it’s burnt on stuff then I would use the softest cleansers (baking soda w/a soft scrubby pad or boiling water with ivory liquid and a soft scrubby pad. No Brillo.) Be patient and don’t expect overnight results. Keep cooking in it and in time it will become seasoned again. But I’d be pissed. Le Creuset pots are definitely not non-stick, and that enamel will definitely wear down. If all else fails, Le Creuset has a lifetime warranty. Call them.
We’ve had some of our enameled pots for 40 years and I don’t see any wear on the enamel.
Yes… when reading that again I thought “wear” might not be the right word. But I do notice mine will occasionally get filmy and not be as smooth/slick. They are definitely not non-stick, even on a good day. And I would never use anything super abrasive to clean it.
I wasn’t being facetious - well not completely - when asking the question about carbon. Is it stuck-on, burnt stuff?
Burnt and stuck. That’s what I meant by carbonized. I looked at the pot today and it turns out it has been dissolving gradually as we use it, so problem solved.
Mine are always the same smooth ceramic. I don’t put them in the dishwasher or use anything more abrasive than nylon.
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Yay!!!
I’m posting this late for the question and I hope you got your pot clean. I keep Easy Off oven cleaner on hand for just that reason. Spray it on the crud and let it sit then rinse clean. Sometimes it takes more than one application but there is no scrubbing so you won’t scratch the enamel. The cleaner chemically reacts with the fats in the crud and turns it to a soap. Get some to have on hand when you need it. It should not be used on anything aluminum but is fine on stainless steel as well as enamels. I clean heavily crudded cast iron, just old or picked up in a flea market etc by running through the self cleaning cycle in my oven. It comes out clean, some times wit a haze of rust that just gets rinsed off and then I reseason with shortening or lard. Do not use oil. It will make a sticky surface.
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Also great for grease stains on clothes!
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I hadn’t thought about grease stains on clothes. Good idea. I would be leery about some of the blended fabrics but certainly on cottons I think I’d want to do a test on nylon, polyester etc. to see what kind of chemical reaction might occur.
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I’ve done it on cotton & poly blend works great. For what would otherwise
be ruined or relegated to around the house wear
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Good to know. Thanks.
[quote=“Candy, post:14, topic:4512”]
I clean heavily crudded cast iron, just old or picked up in a flea market etc by running through the self cleaning cycle in my oven. It comes out clean, some times wit a haze of rust that just gets rinsed off and then I reseason with shortening or lard. Do not use oil. It will make a sticky surface.
[/quote]Oh wow. Self-cleaning oven. That is a good one. I agree about the oil - especially olive - making CI sticky. But I’m not much of a lard user anymore. Plus my vegetarians can taste it. To reseason them I use an infinitesimal amount of grape seed oil.
Crisco is better than grapeseed oil. It is all vegetable so no vegetarian issues.