Quick Tip for Burnt On Food

I hate it when I really boil something dry that I’m cooking and it not only burns the food, it burns the pan!  Soaking the pan overnight in dish soap just will not do the trick.  Every time I burn a pan, I remember a story about one of my grandmas.  She boiled some green beans dry that she’d been cooking, and burned the pan really badly.  This made her so mad, she threw the pan down a hill on her property ~ (lol!)  Years later after she had moved elsewhere, the new Mrs of the property found the pan and returned it to my grandma – it brought back a lot of memories for her!  This is such a funny story to me because I definitely feel like throwing my burned pans down the hill, or maybe in the pond….
I also remember the time I burned some beans I was fixing.  (Perhaps I inherited this pan-burning thing from my grandma. :))  It’s easy to get distracted with kids running around and whatnot, and a lot of damage can be done in a short time!  By the time I realized the beans and pan were burning, smoke was billowing all over the kitchen/living area.
Someone in the other room said: “Jill, are you cooking something?”
Me (with smoke billowing all around me – seriously!): “Uh, yeah.  Fixing some beans.”
The other person: “I thought I smelled something.”
I quickly closed the door before smoke made it’s way into the other room and my cooking disaster was discovered!  I was too embarrassed to admit just how much I had “cooked” these beans.  We all want to appear like the perfect cook and housekeeper! 🙂 I remember and laugh at these two stories every time I burn something – which isn’t too often! 🙂
An easy remedy for burned food is to simply pour water and lemon juice (or straight lemon juice) in the pan and let it soak over night.  See how easy this is coming off?

Maybe you’re having a bad day and burning a pan isn’t the worst thing that’s happened – go ahead and throw the pan down a hill if it makes you feel better.  This quick tip will help you have it shiny again when someone retrieves it and returns it to you. 🙂
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