How to wash dirty stainless steel pans clean?

I own some very nice stainless steel pans.  As with cooking, if you really want to enjoy cooking to it's fullest, having nice cookware is essential.

Stainless steel pan before washing

When I first started acquiring my stainless steel pans more then five years ago, I was experiencing difficulty trying to keep my shiny new stainless steel pans clean.  Over the past couple of years, I scoured the Internet for information for proper methods of cleaning stainless steel cookware.  Everything I found was either "Don't use scouring pads" or "Use XYZ cleaner".

View more about the way to cleaning the stainless steel grate

Stainless Steel pan after washing

Then, I got yelled at by my girlfriend concerning dirtiness one of my stainless steel sautéing pans.  (I used it only on camping trips for sautéing fresh caught trout over campfires.  I considered at the time, the carbon buildup on the outside and inside, unclean able.  I also considered carbon excellent for dietary needs if I cooked and ate anything bad. ;-)  Well, she grabbed a green scouring pad and made most of the black carbon disappear.  Now, after time of learning how to care for my cookware, the black residue is entirely gone.  Depending on good of a cook a person is, this can be either a good or bad thing!

How to washing stainless steel pans ?

And below is something that Works for Me ?

This works best and only on the inside of the pans surface.  Hey, if you're really going to cook, you're going to have some wear on the inside of the pan's surface anyways!  Get over the bad feelings of scratching up the inside of the surface of your shiny new All-Clad stainless steel.  Try using the green scouring pad only in circular directions, or go with the grain and reserving going only against the grain when you absolutely need to.  I try never using a green pad on the outside as this will show on the mirrored polished surface.  Using the green pad on the bottom of the pan is also usually OK.  Since my stove has all electric burners, I'm glad my cookware remains quite clean on the outside.  Adding 4+ tablespoons of baking soda and a couple drops of water greatly increases the scouring action of the green pad.

Vinegar is great for keeping the any stainless steel cookware shiny.  Vinegar is also a great rinse agent.


I've finally succumbed to using the powdered Bar Keeper's Friend.  If you rinse the item well, you should be able to avoid any chemical residue tastes.

I'm  usually reluctant using anything corrosive for cleaning my stainless steel cookware.  The reasoning, these chemicals will seem to require several heavy vinegar rinse cycles, and then if I'm lucky, my cooking won't taste of any unusual cleaners.  On a side note, the heavy cleaners seem to strip down the surface and will sometimes leave my cooked food with a metallic taste.  Whether the metallic taste is due to residue of the cleaners, the stripped surface, or just me, who knows.  If you must, I prefer the powdered version of Bar Keeper's Friend as it's a citric acid based cleaner with minimal chemical odor.  My advice here, avoid them if you can.

Reference source: http://rogerx.freeshell.org 
Images from Google images