Cleaning the Oven and Broiler

My oven is nasty again, which makes sense. It's been 2.5 years since I last cleaned it. Now it looks like a wasteland. There's a shattered plate from when I reheated some pizza and pumpkin juice charcoal from when I roasted a pumpkin.


And who knows what kinda goo that is on the door.


After wiping the big chunks out of the oven, I found that can of Easy-Off and sprayed the oven interior and door.


Twenty-five minutes later, I wiped the oven out with a damp sponge and it was a million times better. There's still some goop on the oven window, but I didn't sweat it.


When wiping the plate and pumpkin charcoal pieces out of the oven, I could hear it falling down through the openings in the oven floor. No surprise, it landed in the broiler pan. Anticipating this, I had removed the broiler rack from the pan.


Removing the broiler pan, I saw this hot mess. It's been like this for a long time and I always ignored it. I wiped it out with a damp sponge and saw essentially no difference.


I don't use my broiler regularly and it wouldn't break my heart if it was out of commission for a while. This would be a perfect time to try a greener cleaner, a Dawn and vinegar solution. The original site (found through Yonetta's "cleaners" pins) says to do a 1:1 mix but I found that to be a little crazy. That's just way too much Dawn and it results in an out-of-control sudsy mess requiring gallons of water to rinse away. I scaled the Dawn down (maybe 1:4 vinegar) and then diluted the whole thing in water until I achieved something I now use regularly in my shower (sink, toilet, kitchen counters, stove-top), which works amazingly well and causes me to scoff at any other bathroom cleaner and pity anyone who still uses them. Anyway, I squirted that mix on the broiler.


After letting it soak a few minutes and scrubbing the living shit out of it with a scratchy sponge, I wiped the broiler out and was disappointed in the results. This Dawn:vinegar solution works very well on my tub (and hardly any effort is required to get the crud off) but definitely not on the broiler.


Remembering the rust-stain-removal-from-granite-and-stainless trick, I turned to my friend, exceptionally mild abrasive, baking soda. A good sprinkling of that, a splash of water, and 30 tubes of elbow grease later, I decided to call it a night. Maybe there will be some sort of overnight lifting action, sort of like a facial mud mask sucking toxins from pores over time. Maybe.


In the morning, I broke up the soda crust.


Originally intending to brush the chunks out to reveal a shiny, clean broiler, I poured a few glugs of vinegar insurance on it. For a guarantee, after it was done bubbling and foaming, I squirted some elbow grease on it.


At this point, I would've rubbed a rabbit's foot for luck if I had one. Being more practical, I had a cat work the sponge a while with his feet. I went and did something else for two days.


Coming back to it, I realized I was sick of this crap.


A few big glugs of vinegar was added after which scrubbing and rinsing ensued to yield the final product.


Much better than what I started with but probably not as good as what Easy-Off could do in a fraction of the time. When I take this task on next, there will be no dickin' around.

Clean Rust Stain from Granite Countertop

I was worried this rust stain was going to be the very reason I wouldn't get my security deposit back when I eventually move out of this apartment. Like a boob, I left a couple of cast iron skillets on the countertop for weeks with the idea that I'd do something with them "soon". Since this is where I stack my dirty dishes after rinsing, it's not difficult to imagine that the cast iron got wet and started rusting, leaving their marks.

Rather than panic, this was an opportunity to practice something I might have to do as a homeowner later. And if I botched it, well, I was already looking at losing the deposit for jackin' up the granite anyway so no further loss, right? Right.

Baking soda is a mild-to-non-abrasive cleaner. I poured a good dose on the stain.


In order to make a nice paste, I sprinkled on some water. Not a lot, just enough to wet some of the baking soda.


With an older sponge, I applied slight pressure to work the soda paste against the stain on the granite as well as the stainless sink to yield a dirty paste.


Rinsing the sponge and wiping the granite and stainless, I liked the progress I was seeing. The sink looked brand new but the granite needed a little bit more work.


Working so well on that stain, I figured I may as well do that entire portion of the countertop. More baking soda was sprinkled on and wetted.


The final results are very pleasing. The rust stain is gone from the stainless and granite!

The granite I could have probably taken better care of over the past few years - the original color is that of the right-hand edge of the countertop. I didn't know when I moved in here that granite was sensitive to repeated exposure to water and/or soap. Oops. I never cared for stone before.

There you have it, a baking soda paste will handle rust stains on granite and stainless in just a matter of minutes. You can leave your neglected cast iron on your countertops without worry.

How to Clean a Broiler Pan and Rack

This is what my broiler pan looked like when I used it to hold the water necessary for baking that Crusty Boule.

This is what it looked like after scraped away the loosened big chunks.

Look at the broiler rack! It's hideous!


When I was at Target, I considered buying a new broiler rack and pan for about $20. Then I remembered the Easy-Off. It worked on my oven so I gave it a try, squirting it on the pan and rack.

After about 6 minutes, the whiteness of the Easy-Off turned a goopy brown and I was done looking at the mess. Imagine my surprise when I stuck the pan and rack in the sink to rinse and the goop simply washed away.

For the most part anyway.
While an improvement, the pan needed another go-round with the Easy-Off. I squirted it, inverted the broiler rack over the pan and squirted it with Easy-Off as well.

After 20 minutes, I rinsed the rack, bottom and top, as well as the broiler pan.

I saved myself $20 on a new broiler rack and pan, plus I "revitalized" my old one -- no waste! I really love sodium hydroxide!

Cleaning My Oven for the First Time in Three Years

My shiny clean oven!

It all started when I took a close look at my stove-top. Remembering that I had purchased some Easy-Off Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner years ago, I squirted some on the stove and wiped it down a few minutes later to find myself shocked at the difference. Here's a clean stove-top:

So I figured the least I could do is clean the oven door interior. I opened it and was stunned by the filth I had ignored over the past three years. Look at the glass! Gross! So I sprayed the oven door generously with the oven cleaner.

After waiting 5 minutes and wiping it down with a damp sponge (with multiple rinses), I found that the glass in the door still had some goo on it. I covered it in cleaner, waited a few minutes, and wiped it down again. Wow, what a difference!

So then I figured I may as well do the oven interior. Look at the charcoal that had accrued.

I wiped the chunks out.


And then sprayed the oven with the cleaner, covering the bottom, the ceiling and the walls.

After about 45 minutes (I was doing homework and was on a roll), I wiped the oven out with my grody sponge. And just look at it!

I'm ashamed that it took me so long to clean my oven considering how little elbow grease went into it. Gotta love sodium hydroxide!