Cleaning a burnt pan

[Dave]

I recently burnt a preserving pan quite badly after leaving some knotweed jam to boil. I managed to save the jam by turning it into chutney but the pan was ruined. I tried coca-cola, didn't work, then I boiled some vinegar again it didn't work. I even tried some oven cleaner that was left in my house when I moved in, again to no avail.
Now all of these methods may have loosened it a little but the final one that worked was coating it in a layer of salt then boiling it in a little water. I had to then chip off the crust with a wooden spatula but this was the only method that loosened it enough to do it.

[Ellendra]

What works for me is making a paste of bicarb and letting it soak for a few hours, that loosens it so much I can just rinse the crud off.

[Urban Ayisha]

i use astonish oven and cookware cleaner with a damp scouring pad which is really cheap and i read somewhere fairly ecofriendly. does the trick... i am in posession of a pan that was given to my parents as a wedding gift which has been in use for 25 years (older than me! ) and i had no idea it was white enamelware on the inside until i tried this stuff on it!

it sounds a lot like ellendras paste of bicarbonate of soda but it has vegetable soaps and stuff in it too. cost me £1!

[gandt]

You could try some Sterident (false teeth cleaning tablets) a friend of mine recommeded it to me for my dishes with those "burnt on stains", i put a couple in with some hot water and left it over night to soak and it was pretty easy to remover the stains in the morning..

G and T

[mrsflibble]

I use a paste made of washing powder (biological) and water, spread it on then fill up the pan with boiling water. leave until it's hand-hot, then try removing it.

[Green Aura]

We pinch my mother denture cleaning tablets to clean our demijohns - works a treat

[happy place]

as a young scout i found by accident that if you burn stuff on to the bottom of your pans put some water in to the pan crumble a couple of oxo cubes into water and bring to the boil and boil hard pour oxo into mugs for nice warming drinks hey-presto the pan is clean (have always wondered since what does oxo do to your stomach?!?)