We had cheeseburgers last night.
With Pimiento Cheese. On pretzel rolls from Trader Joe’s (mine are good, but problematic), and served with Buttermilk Potato Salad and a truly fine cucumber salad (that recipe is to come).
Oh, and sautéed onions and jalapeños.
Nice.
The thing is, once I’ve made cheeseburgers,
my pan looks like this.
Yech!
Now, I could use one of those non-stick pans, but I have these wicked nizzah stainless steel Calphalon pans.
So, that leaves me with a bunch of tedious scrubbing and muttering not-too-nice things under my breath, right?
Nope.
After dinner, I simply reheat the pan, add a nice bit of water, and scrape while it simmers. Basically, I am de-glazing the pan, and all those browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan would probably make for a fine jus (especially with those bits o’ pimiento cheese, onion, and jalapeño), but I am really just about the clean at this point.
How’s it work?
See for yourself.
A bit of bubbling water and some light scraping have returned my pan (almost) to it’s silvery sheen, and can now be washed with ease.
By the way – if you already knew all of this, sorry, but this cleaning method was such a revelation to me last year when I realized that I needn’t be hacking away with scouring pads and fussing over my pans – that I figured mebbe it would be a handy little bit of news to some of you out there, too.
After a light washing, my one nod to pan vanity is a bit of polish, in the form of a light sprinkling of Bar Keepers Friend rubbed into and then rinsed off of the pan. It’s a maker recommended cleaner, and works a treat – in my mebbe not-so-humble opinion.
So, after these few steps, how’s my dirty, dirty pan look?
Check it out;
shiny-bright, indeed.
And ready to be hung in a place of pride on my pot rack.
Ermmm, one of these days when I get my pot rack.