How to remove burnt on sugar?

pigpen

I usually try wash powder first and boil it up... but a can of coke might work.. full sugar toxic stuff.. it works as drain cleaner so may work

JerryW

Bio washing powder, add to water from hot tap then bring to the boil and leave overnight.
*DO NOT* use oven cleaners or other caustic solvents on aluminium pans! They react.

Greyflannels

Try bleach, but not on aluminium

I ruined my shiny new stainless steel maslin pan by having the gas too high on my second batch of marmalade. I tried all the suggested remedies (except burying it in the garden) and even caustic oven cleaner wouldn't touch it. I don't know what this stuff is. It can't be sugar or it would dissolve but it clearly contains a lot of carbon. My first thought was to burn it off, but it seemed a bit drastic to take a blow torch to my nice new pan. Then I thought.. burning just oxidises, so why not try a strong chemical oxidising agent. So I covered the charred patch with neat Sainsbury's toilet bleach which contains sodium hypochlorite. And this worked. It took a while but it slowly dissolved overnight leaving the clean shiny metal untouched. Warning - use this method only on stainless steel pans as aluminium will be attacked by the bleach!