# Getting Burnt-On Food Off Non-Stick Pans



## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

There does not seem to be a forum for cleaning and maintenance of equipment, just reviews. But I see some cleaning-related posts here so...

I wish I had a solution to this widespread problem, but I don't. I just want to know how.

I have tried various combinations of baking soda, vinegar, and water, and nothing works...at all.

One basic method is to boil water and vinegar in the affected non-stick pan for 10 minutes, then let it cool. When it is cool enough you are supposed to be able to practically just wipe off any burnt on food. This does not work.

There are variations on that theme involving different ratios of vinegar to water. Usually 1/2 to 3/4 the amount of vinegar as water used.

An upgrade to this is using baking soda. A few methods have just baking soda and water, but most have vinegar with it which causes the mixture to foam up when the acid hits the base. That reaction us supposed to have a cleansing effect on the burnt-on food. It does not.

Mainly, just a small amount of baking soda in the boiled water is supposed to have a dramatic effect on cleaning it. The dramatic effect I have found is that absolutely nothing happens.

I have tried everything from the basic mix of 1/2 amount of vinegar to the water amount and only a couple of TBSP of baking soda, which is supposed to be enough to do the trick. That has no effect. I have gone so far as to load my 12" Calphalon non-stick skillet with four boxes of baking soda and pouring from my gallon of white vinegar just loading it up until the foaming mass reached its peak. That alone does nothing. I've tried various different ratios of everything in between without success, and have used heavily salted water as well.

Boiling all of that for 10 minutes without water and another try with water (both fresh and salted) still does nothing.

Then while the apparently unaffected burnt on food might possibly have been weakened by these processes, I have added a little baking soda to the rinsed out pan and with a non scratch scrubbing sheet have scrubbed that for 10 minutes.

I can't say that absolutely nothing happens, since after 10 minutes of scrubbing the baking soda soapy water mixture does turn a little brown, but looking at the "cleaned" pan afterwards there seems to be no difference; no apparent reduction of the burnt on area.

*Does anyone have a tried and true method of removing burnt-on food from non-stick pans?*

It would be great of there was a product that disintegrated all of the burnt-on food but did not damage the non-stick coating. I do not know of one, so I got a gallon of white vinegar and numerous boxes of baking soda thinking that I would be able to, at least, make some gradual progress. It does not appear that I have made any progress at all.

I have one 12" pan that has a larger burnt on patch and a 10" pan that has an even larger burnt on patch. There is a good chance that I will "retire" these pans and replace them with stainless steel. But I would like to have, at least, a couple of backup pans that are non-stick. If I cannot restore these, then I doubt that I will get two more non-stick replacement, and just go with stainless steel all the way.

Regardless of what I end up doing there, it would be very useful to still know how to get burnt-on food off a non-stick pan.

Does someone have the trick they can share?


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

It sounds like you’ve tried all of the old tricks. I can’t offer any other option but it seems that introspection on how the pans got in such poor condition is in order. There might be some technique changes that will avoid future recurrences.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Not sure, looks like you tried a lot.
My go to method is boiling with dishwasher. Give it a try.
I would think you need to replace your pans 
But we need to help you preventing this from happening with your new ones!
As far as I know (maybe some are old wives tales, hoping for input from people that use non-stick on a regular base)
Non stick pans cannot handle the same heat as something like cast iron
You shouldn't heat an empty pan
Use only wooden or soft utensils, not metal
????


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

Gnomon said:


> Does anyone have a tried and true method of removing burnt-on food from non-stick pans?


Throw it away and get a new one. Once they get in that condition they are done. I would also look at how you are using them. Burning food that badly is not something you want to do in the first place.

-Hal


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I've always had good success with boiling water with baking soda for a few minutes on burned on food on stainless. If you're talking the carbonized oil splatters, that's somewhat different and harder to remove. But burned on food on the non-stick surface itself will wipe out unless the non-stick itself is damaged. And in that case you just as well acknowledge that non-stick is a disposable purchase (though ideally recyclable) and buy another non-stick pan.


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

phatch said:


> If you're talking the carbonized oil splatters, that's somewhat different and harder to remove.


Oven cleaner.

-Hal


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## Transglutaminase (Jan 9, 2019)

A pic is worth 1,000 words. 

Try not to bring any coated non-stick pan over 400/425F. If it's blackened, it's probably going to have a short life. When one gets blackened "spots", it's usually because the teflon/coating has disappeared on that spot, which in turn, begets more black spots. Careful with NaOH based oven cleaner on any exposed aluminum, it can be used, but watch it like a hawk or it'll corrode like nobody's business.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

Thanks for the advice. It is all what I was hoping not to hear, yet was expecting. One of the first, and most important, practices for me to change is allowing my pans to be used by others.

For many years I have lived in shared housing, which has its pros and cons. A major con is when people use your things and don't treat them as well as you do. Their idea of good treatment is typically not good enough.

Before I lived here one of my housemates was a professional chef (the one who categorized me as a Hobby Chef). Even he was abusive to his equipment, including his knives which surprised me. HIs father was also a pro chef. He had all top grade stainless steel pans. He never really touched my non-stick pans, and actually, neither did I. We always used his pans. mainly his 10" and 12" sauté pans.

But here, where I live now, people use my stuff, then they go watch TV and forget about what they're doing in the kitchen. Over the 3 years I've been here my pans and other equipment has suffered. I don't let anyone else use my 6 qt KitchenAid lift mixer or other "special" equipment. I thought it would be too much to not let people use my pots and pans, but that has bitten me in the butt.

I mainly got my nonstick pans for omelets and quick things. But with all of the burned on crud that has appeared and I have not been able to get off, makes it useless for even simple things. I was hoping I could restore them, but it looks like I will be going back to steel again next. 

Consulting with you all was a last shot before turning to questionable cleaning methods such as Bar Keeper's Friend liquid, which is supposed to have great results as long as you don't let it actually contact the nonstick surface. I would think that oven cleaner has the same type of issues.

That caveat has held me back from trying it. Evidently you have to pour it into the center of the burnt patch and carefully spread it out to the edge of the patch without touching the nonstick surface. Wait 30 seconds or so then rinse it off and scrub away normally with soapy water. 

That seemed a bit risky. I have to think that is will not be good for the pan, especially, if I fail to keep the BKF off the nonstick surface, especially now, where the burnt patch is splotchy and not a solid mass edge to edge. 

But if nothing else cleans it off, the pan is of little use. So it looks like it might be time to try that. I've been putting off the purchase of any replacement pans as I am trying to negotiate for a custom set of stainless steel cookware which isn't materializing overnight.

Calphalon is not the best cookware; but also not the cheapest. Now, saving the pans is a matter of principle at this point; and is an opportunity to experiment on what actually works to accomplish this feat. I'll let you know how well it survives the BKF chemicals. At this point I'm not that hopeful.


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## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Good luck!
As you said, in your situation, stainless might be best. Then get yourself a nice non-stick and hide it!!!!


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

Gnomon said:


> But here, where I live now, people use my stuff, then they go watch TV and forget about what they're doing in the kitchen.


So just get the cheapest junk and as was said, hide the good stuff!

-Hal


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## panzrwagn (Nov 25, 2021)

For whatever reason, the site won't let me post on the other pot cleaning thread. My 2 cents: I have use BKF, Bon Ami, which are fine for normal clean up, but Easy-Off 'Blue' (no NaOH - lye) sprayed on and left to work for a couple hours cleans up everything without trashing non-stick, stainless, or anodized aluminum. It will even get varnish off the outside of pans - with a little BKF assist. I have All-Clad stainless and non-stick, original Calphalon anodized, Calphalon non-stick. I tried a couple ceramic pans and got rid of them. I also have some enameled Le Creuset, and a couple carbon steel and cast iron pans. The carbon steel and cast iron I don't let anybody else touch, and would never use anything harsher than Bon Ami on them.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Hope this is where you wanted it to appear. I think your problem was not in replying to the thread so much as it was being your first few posts that require moderator approval.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

If you mean Easy Off Fume Free, I have a can of that right now. I was really close to trying BKF, but decided to get in touch with Easy Off first to get their take.

So, I have just been in communication back and forth a few times with Easy Off. They have a couple of products that suggest the possibility of being usable on non-stick, but they say definitely not to use it on any nonstick coating. I'm thinking they just don't want to risk getting sued if they give a green light and something goes wrong.

They say only to use it as stated on the label and they don't recommend it for use on anything they have not tested. How can they NOT have tested it on non-stick cookware, but OK. I would have liked it better of they had said they had tested it and it destroys the surface.

So you think I would have some success with Easy Off Fume Free? Well, I have it handy, and now I am especially tempted to give it a try. A couple of hours sounds like too much exposure, but considering how long it takes to work in the oven, that makes sense.

The fact that you have actually used it and had good results make my trying it a likelihood. Thanks.


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

I didn't read through all the good advice in this thread. So, if I repeat someone's suggestion, please forgive me. 

If I have burnt stuff sticking to my pan, which is rare, and I can't scrub it because of a non-stick coating, I'll fill the pan with equal parts water and distilled vinegar, bring it a rolling boil and let it go until the liquid reduces to about 1/4 of the original volume. This usually softens the burnt crud to the point where it can be scrubbed off with the scrubber side of a sponge. For really tough stickers, I use a plastic scraper.

For stainless steel, cast iron and enameled cast iron, I use barkeeper's friend. This stuff is pure magic. I also use it to clean the carbon build up around the burners on my gas stove. 

Here's some tips to help prevent blackened build up on your pans. 

1. Turn down the heat. If you're using gas burners, reduce the setting you would normally use by half to start. For example, if you typically use med-high, reduce it to medium low. If you use medium, reduce to low. Work from there. Burnt food in your pans is a tell tale sign that the heat you're using is too high. 

2. Cold food out of the fridge will stick to any pan, even non-stick pans. Whenever possible, bring those foods up to room temperature before putting them in the pan. For eggs, just put them in a warm water bath for a few minutes if you don't have time or don't want to wait to let them come up to room temp on their own. You can do this for just about any protein...beef, pork, chicken, fish etc. Just place them in a plastic bag, remove as much air as you can before placing them in a warm water bath. If the water turns cold before the protein comes up to room temperature, just add more warm water. With this said, you may want to look into the sous vide technique. 

3. Use fat/oil that has a high smoke point, especially if you're searing. Low smoke point fats and oils like EVOO and butter have a low smoke point and can result in burnt gunk in your pan. While EVOO and butter are great fats to use and provide excellent flavor, they're best used with gentle temperatures. 

4. When purchasing pans, be it non-stick or otherwise, make sure that the pan material is a good, heavy gauge metal. Thinner, cheaper pots and pans typically don't have enough material to distribute heat properly and scorching is often the result, especially if you're using a gas stove. There are times when a thinner pot/pan is desirable however, for general purposes, thicker material is better. 

5. When choosing your pans, look for products that have an aluminum or copper core and are at least 3 ply. Aluminum and copper cores improve heat distribution and eliminates "hot spots" that can result in scorching. These types of pans are typically more expensive. But, in the long run, they're worth the extra money and will last quite awhile if taken care of properly. 

6. Use the right pan for the job. If the pan is too big or too crowded, this could result in scorching or poor results regardless of the quality of the pan. For example, if you're making eggs-over-easy in a large fry pan, the fat that's not in contact with the eggs around the edges of the pan will often burn, especially if the heat is too high. A Using a small pan helps to concentrate the heat energy on your food. Remember, the pan is always going to be hotter in the places where the food isn't. So, using a pan that's just big enough to fit what you're cooking is important. On the other hand, if the pan is too small or too crowded, the food is likely to stick and/or not brown/cook properly or evenly. This is something that happens regardless if you're using a $45 dollar set of pans from WalMart or $4,000 set of Mauviel copper. If the pan is too crowded, the pan isn't going to work efficiently. 

7. Lastly, take your time. Be patient. Lower cooking temps will take more time but, the end result is typically far superior. Remember, if the heat is too low, you can always increase it. But, if its too hot, you can't always cool down the pan and that's when the majority of problems happen. 

I hope this helps. Good luck.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

Calophons, like most, do not hold up well, but their hard ceramic probably takes heat damage better than the softer coatings. The most durable NS pan I ever came across is the Kitchenaide. I don't know what kind of magical coating they use, but have an 8" I've been using daily for 4 years, got it from my mother actually and no idea how many years she used (and abused) it, and it's still like new. Heavy (like 1/4") formed aluminum pan with riveted stainless handle.

Never saw damage like you're describing, but small spots, when they finally started forming, I would scape with a plastic spatula. I have walked away from my stainless ware and had them heat up pretty hard and carburize, but neve let myself do that with NS.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

OK. I had to wait to do this because they had to be used, but I got at them this past evening. It does not look like the Easy Off Fume Free (Blue) had any effect on it.

I did a 2 hour soak. Took the During pics after they had soaked for about 20 minutes in. Wiped out the cleaner and saw that nothing had changed, so I immediately sprayed on a second round and let that soak for 2 hours.

Then I wiped out the cleaner and washed both with Dawn Blue, dried them with paper towels, then took the After pics. I didn't dry the 8" as completely as I should have, but you'll see that there essentially is no change.

The Easy Off after 2 hours had turned a little brown when I wiped out the pans, but had it been effective they would have turned a lot brown. As it is, after two back-to-back 2-hour cleaner soaks, the pans still look the same as before the cleaning started.

Here are pics of the ...

*12" Before*










*8" Before*










*12" During*










*8" During*










*12" After*










*8" After*










Something MUST get that off. I might have to try BKF even though the company on their website says specifically not to use any of their varieties on non-stick cookware.


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

BKF will damage the non-stick surface. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, its time for some new pans.


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

Looks to me like there is nothing to remove. The non-stick coating is GONE and what you are seeing is the bare metal. Wish you would have posted pictures sooner.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

Well, no, it is not the bare metal. If you look at it in person, and having seen it accumulate over time, the non-stick coating is all there. It has never been scrubbed off at all, only food burned on. Only non-scratch scrubbers have ever been used on them and no metal utensils have been allowed near them. The dark patches all have a thickness that is clearly on top of the pan surface. It just doesn't come off.

But it does seem, at this point, after apparently all commonly known remedies to the problem have been tried, that it is time to get new pans. It has long been time to get new pans. I have been working on negotiating for a custom set of tri-clad SS cookware. But for now I was hoping to be able to satisfactorily restore my Calphalon non-stick pans in the interim.

Since the Easy Off Blue does turn a little brown after soaking for 2 hours on each of two sessions, it makes me wonder if this method is not, at least, somewhat on the right track. Inasmuch as I have enough oven cleaner, I will try really loading it up and letting it soak all day and see if that is an improvement. I'm thinking it will not be, but worth a try.

Meanwhile, I will still be looking into alternative carbon-disintegrating products that won't be damaging got the non-stick coating. Especially now, I am not expecting to ever be able to make any significant progress in such a restoration. It is more academic than anything. Can the toughest burned on food be removed from non-stick pans, and how? And in so doing, does that restore the non-stick coating at all?

The answer to the second question is dependent upon a successful answer to the first question, which I have yet to accomplish. Even after I get replacement pans, I will still be interested in trying to restore these if I don't destroy them in the process.

Thanks to everyone for your input.


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Have you contacted Calohalon and explored warranty? Their warranties tend to be rather long, between 10 years and lifetime. Might be limited warranty but might not hurt to ask.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

I have sent them an inquiry about cleaning. Waiting to hear back. I have no idea when I bought these, but at different times years ago from Bed Bath & Beyond. I have no receipts or any documentation that I would expect to be required in any warranty discussion.

The Calphalon site says that Easy-Off can be used on their non-stick cookware, although they do not specify which type, so that would suggest that any type is OK. EASY-OFF® BBQ Grill Cleaner is what I will try if my next cleaner, D-Limonene, has no effect. Their BBQ cleaner is supposed to take care of burned on food and grease from outdoor grills. You have to avoid contact with the grill exterior. That is both a good sign and worrisome where the non-stick coating is concerned. But they say Easy-Off is OK.

Tomorrow my HP Food Grade D-Limonene will arrive from Amazon. That is supposed to be a "natural" cleaner (concentrated from orange peel) and is supposed to cut through baked on grease. But how well is unknown. It is EXPENSIVE. About $20 per quart.

Unlike other tough cleaners they specifically recommend using gloves and have warnings of what to do if you get any on your skin. Viton gloves are recommended as best, which makes it sound extremely caustic. But they say you can use nitrile (medical examination) gloves if need be, which I will be using since I have those and a pair of viton gloves costs over $100 per pair.

I'm very curious to see what the D-Limonene does on the "patients."


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## Transglutaminase (Jan 9, 2019)

To me, it looks like the coating has been utterly seared off, and bare metal burned like nobody's business.
I certainly would not want to be the recipient of that last dish on the "teflon-removal" sear. 
If you're still _reeeally_ unsure, I might suggest using a magnifying loupe to verify.
I concur with sgsvirgil and halb.
ie: it looks REALLY bad. 
"flogging a dead horse"?


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## STEPHEN WOODARD (Aug 13, 2019)

Once you torch a teflon pan its done. Also teflon is not the greatest thing for your health. I've always hated it when my egg pans were used for scallops in the PM.


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

I agree with @brianshaw that you should discuss it with the Calphalon people -- not only the warranty issue but also whether they have any clever ideas about getting stuff off.

As to the source of the problem: I had a friend in grad school whose pans and knives were constantly getting abused. Finally there was a "house meeting" and he insisted that everyone promise that, if they did permanent damage to a pan or knife, they'd pay to replace it. They all agreed. He then got a friend to hide some kind of pinhole spy-cam thing (this was some time ago; I imagine this would be trivially easy now) and filmed a roommate doing terrible things to a knife. He ran the film and insisted that she replace the knife, which was something like $150. She yelled and screamed and refused, and he insisted, and everyone else said he was making a big dumb fuss about nothing and should get over it. So all his work was for nothing. He finally just moved out. Moral of the story: hide your pans and knives and KitchenAid in your room. Allow no one to use them, ever, no matter what, no exceptions. Be a dick about it. OR you can just plan to replace your stuff regularly when people abuse stuff and aren't willing to take responsibility. That seems to be how all too many people are, and it's those people who are going to burn stuff onto someone else's pans and then walk away and pretend it didn't happen.


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## Chef Navy (Aug 19, 2019)

Gnomon said:


> There does not seem to be a forum for cleaning and maintenance of equipment, just reviews. But I see some cleaning-related posts here so...
> 
> I wish I had a solution to this widespread problem, but I don't. I just want to know how.
> 
> ...


I let pan soak. Come back to it later, drain and scrape off as much as possible. Then I dip damp rag in salt and use it as abrasive to clean the rest.


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

OK. This is what I have so far.

This is is what my* 8" Calphalon* looks like now.










This is what my *12" Calphalon *looks like now.










Notice anything different?

A) Of course, they both look like new; and...
B) They both _*are *_new.

Brian Shaw (brianshaw) suggested contacting Calphalon to see what their warranty scenario was. I did contact them, but to ask them what kind of cleaning agents they would recommend that could remove the burnt on food from their pans.

Instead of answering my questions, they asked me where and when I got my pans. I told them and then they asked me to answer a number of questions and to send them photos of various things including the engraved model info from the bottom of the pans.

I never asked them about any warranty matters but they just told me that my two pans were no longer made and suggested two specific replacements. It took what seemed like forever, but I never asked them for new pans. They just sent them. The 8" arrived first all by itself. I asked them about the 12" pan and the lids, and today those arrived.

Bottom line, as Brian Shaw suggested would be a possibility, I have two brand new Calphalon pans, one 8" and one 12", with matching lids. The 12" is clearly better than what it replaced as it has a helper handle which my old pan did not have. They both seem like better models.

Woo hoo!!!

Now I can still work on the task at hand, finding a way to clean off the baked on food, but now the old pans are essentially expendable and I can try more aggressive cleaning agents. I think the next one I will try will be Easy Off BBQ grill cleaner. That is supposed to be good for really burned-on stuff from a hot charcoal or gas grill. So I will be looking forward to seeing what effect, if any, that has on the non-stick pans.

Hopefully, it will be able to remove seriously burned-on food without damaging the non-stick surface. But if the nonstick surface gets destroyed during the experiment(s), I have the replacement pans which I will be using instead anyway. Perhaps, I will succeed in the cleaning and that, is the main question here. Is there a way to do it?

If I do not succeed, whether or not the pan surfaces get destroyed, I have been looking into affordable services that remove and reapply non-stick surfaces to pans. The operative word in this situation is "affordable". If anyone knows of a good service where the pans can be sent, please, let me know.

But thanks to Brian's suggestion, the pans have been replaced at no charge to me, including shipping. Thanks, Brian.

Next stop (probably): the Easy Off BBQ experiment.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Your pan surfaces were already destroyed. Its nice you got warranty service for them.


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## kihlman (11 mo ago)

Nice that you got new pans! I personally prefer cast iron or carbon steel pans over none-stick because with non-stick eventually this will happen. I have had old (very old!) cast iron pans that looked really disgusting with thick layers of burnt food all around them. All I had to do was carefully burn all the layers (easy to do with a butane torch) until there was just the cast iron left. Then wash thoroughly and season it. They will last handreds of years!


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

That is true and I do have my eye on a set of tri-clads, but the whole things was to learn how to restore pans that were close to being gone. I might have waited too long, but I do have some Easy Off BBQ on the way and will try that. It is good to have some non-stick pans around, but they are very limited in their overall usefulness. I was planning to restore my baked-on pans to have spares for simple tasks. Now I have two brand new non-sticks AND the ones I am trying to restore.


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## kihlman (11 mo ago)

Always nice to get such perfect opportunities to experimenting without having to worry about the cost of a failure. I'm looking forward to updates!


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

It might be better to have the old messed-up coating sandblasted off. Restoring a hopelessly damaged coating is likely a complete waste of time. But if you have spare time… enjoy the experiment!


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

I was under the impression that when you sent your pans out for resurfacing part of the process was that they remove any remnants of previous coating; IOW they do the sandblasting or whatever is necessary to have a "clean canvass". 

Maybe I'm wrong. I still haven't found a reasonable service. I have found so far was one that has a minimum charge of $250-300 (I forget exactly; only way too much) per pan. A brand new pan doesn't cost that much, so...

The Easy Off BBQ came in and I treated the 8" for an hour and the 12" for what ended up being about 3 hours. No effect on the burnt on food.

Whatever I have used in this process does something even though it is unnoticeable. When I wipe the Easy Off out of the pan with paper towels there is always a light brown color transferred to the paper towel. Something is coming off, but the pans look the same after the treatment and cleaning as they do before the application. 

I have a lot of BKF on hand, but I want to try other things before going that route. I have a feeling that the BKF will damage the existing good surface so I want to try other things that have better chances of doing less or, hopefully, no damage first.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

Okay, I've read all the threads here on the Calphalon. I have 5 of their pans. I've had them for more than 15 years now. None of them look like the ones in the pictures. I don't use metal utensils nor high heat. I use my pans pretty much all the time. I can only guess you may have gotten an inferior pan. I also got mine and Bed, Bath, and Beyond


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Good grief, they were replaced under warranty… throw out the old and cook with the new! I’ve never heard of anyone refinishing a non-stick pan. They have a finite lifespan. Yours have expired. Be happy!


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

I am happy. The new pans are great. 

With the exception of the burned on food and old weary coating, the old pans are also great. But now they are expendable, so can be used more vigorously as experiments. But so far, none of the experiments are producing desired effects. 

If I am to find out if anything can remove burnt on food this is the time. And assuming I cannot remove it without damaging the remaining coating, I'm hoping to find a service to resurface these for a reasonable price. This is all academic at this point. I'm only using the new pans right now.

I'm wary of the DIY recoating sprays. Those seem like I might as well count on that coating to become part of all the food prepared in pans treated with it. I gather that it improves the non-stick effects, but it seems like it does not fully bond with the pan so I have to expect that a significant amount will continually come off into the food.

Plus, to do it right (or as right as can be done) you have to get the existing coating off to have pristine surface to coat. Sandblasting? Not a good prospect. Sending them out to be resurfaced seems to be the only worthwhile option and that is not looking like it will be worthwhile either. Well, not worth the money, given that a brand new pan is less expensive.

As it stands right now, the toughest Easy Off and lesser cleaners will not do it. I'm trying to work my way up to and beyond BKF to see if anything works. I'm not too hopeful for BKF either. I should be at that point soon since I'm running out of other tough cleaners to try.

Metal utensils have never been used on my pans as far as I know. When I started allowing my pans to be used by housemates I gave explicit use and cleaning instructions (or they would be responsible for replacing them). They only thing I can see so far is that they were probably used at a higher temperature than they should have been on the gas range.

Clearly, the best course of action is to not let the pans get into this condition in the first place. But when they do, it will be good to know if they can be effectively cleaned and, if so, what is needed to do it.


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## STEPHEN WOODARD (Aug 13, 2019)

Who remembers the acid baths in kitchens?


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## Transglutaminase (Jan 9, 2019)

Who remembers the term "flogging a dead horse"?


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

If it were me, I'd pick up a cheap flap grinder pad, screw it on to a rod, chuck that into a hand drill, put on a mask and goggles, and blitz the surface. Result: a totally bare aluminum pan. Then polish with very fine wet sandpaper (1000+ grit) glued to an old mousepad on the same rod system. Result: near mirror finish. Cost about $15. Then see if you can season it with fat the old-fashioned way. But I'll be interested to see what you come up with!


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## Gnomon (Nov 9, 2020)

That is interesting. Completely convert the pan to an aluminum cooking surface with no non-stick coating at all. I do have a set of circular brushes that connect to a 6" extender to power clean the insides of my pots with my cordless drill. That would work to hold a grinder pad and sandpaper. I'll have to give that some more thought. Especially, since the chemical cleaners are having no effect.


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