How to clean off years of dried baked stuff from oven dish?

anotheruser

Bought an oven today.
The bottom tray/dish has years of dried on gunk.

Scraped some with a knife but I don't want to do too much as I don't want to scratch it.

Tried putting it in the dishwasher on a super hot wash but that didn't work. I don't think vinegar and bicarb of soda will work. Was thinking the oven pride liquid but not sure that'll shift it either.

Never gonna use it but just want to get it back to the metal if I can.

Any ideas?

Linda32

I'd try oven pride to be honest, if that doesn't shift it, nothing will.

Nargleblast

Try putting water in the tray and add dishwasher powder or a crumbled dishwasher tablet. Put the tray on the hob, bring to the boil then simmer 5 minutes or so. Turn off the heat and leave it for a few hours then have a go at scrubbing the gunk off.

ampersand

Bringing rhubarb leaves to the boil in a burnt pot and leaving them works, too. Worth a try? Then clean, as nargleblast writes.

Oxalic acid is at work, not in a bad way.
Good luck.

luxor4t

I take my oven racks outside, place in a bin liner, spray with oven cleaner* and tie the top, leaving it to work for the suggested time.

Maybe this would work for the tray?



*The oven cleaner has all sorts of warnings about safe use, so this was recommended.

bsuije

I've previously seen (maybe in the MSE OS book?) a recommendation to soak an oven rack in water with washing powder. I tried it and it did make it easier to get all the gunk off, though still a bit of scrubbing required.

JennyJukes

I wonder if sterilizing tablets could help any?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Give the tray to the local charity shop and buy a new one. Job done and no elbow grease!

PipneyJane

Any idea what the metal is? My first thought was similar to luxor4t's, put the tray into a black plastic bag, tip in a couple of tablespoons of ammonia, seal and leave in the sun all afternoon. If the pan is stainless steel, this trick will work well. However, I wouldn't use ammonia on aluminium - they react rather badly together.

My second thought was to put the pan on the stove, add half a cup of bicarbonate of soda and a kettle-full of boiling water, turn the burner on and simmer for 5-20 minutes (depending on how bad). I do this with burnt pots and it lifts off everything. It's particularly good with enamel lined pots that you don't want to scratch.

If the pan isn't flame proof, e.g. if it's glass or pottery, scatter the burnt bits with biological washing powder and apply enough warm water to make a paste. WEAR GLOVES when doing this. Leave overnight and wash off. (This is my least favoured method because I find it taints metal pans, leaving a taste behind, which is why it comes in at number 3.)

HTH

- Pip

Slinky

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

Give the tray to the local charity shop and buy a new one. Job done and no elbow grease!

Who on earth is going to buy a crusty oven tray? All you've done is suggest giving the charity shop rubbish they will have to pay somebody to take away. That is not an acceptable donation to a charity shop.

joedenise

I'd second Oven Pride. Find it works really well.