... but the wages o' procrastination (and stoopidity!) are only slightly less. Fifty-plus Yankee Dollars, to be specific, which is near enough to death for a poor ol' geezer livin' on Social Security and such. We wound up taking Lou's advice on this post about dedicating a pot to the express purpose o' humidification, albeit inadvertently. Shorter: we ruined our eight-quart stock pot by not cleaning it on a daily basis. It wasn't because of clove residue in the pot (we managed to find whole cloves, which cut that brand o' residue down to a manageable level), it was due to the incredibly hard water which is our fate because we live in P-Ville. I spent 45 minutes and two... count 'em: TWO... Brillo pads attempting to remove a week's worth of calcium and other stuff from the pot, all to no avail. It would take some industrial-strength bead-blasting at the very least to remove all the krep that accumulated in that pot after a week's worth of simmerin' hard water.
The upshot was the Brown Truck O' Happiness put the pot on the right in my hot lil hands today. Like this:
I notice Farberware changed the design of their eight quart stock pot in the 30+ years or so since I last purchased cookware, what with the new pot bein' slightly taller and narrower in circumference. One assumes it will still perform the required functions, one of which will NOT be simmering cloves on the stove.
Invest another $2 and buy a gallon of white vinegar. Pour the entire gallon into the pot and fill it the rest of the way with water (filtered water, if possible). Bring it to a boil, slap the lid on it, if it has one. Let it set for 24 hours, then try cleaning it again. The vinegar will dissolve and break up the calcification; it should come clean with a little scrubbing. Also, Cameo Aluminum polish, in a white shaker can. Look for it in the kitchen cleaning products. It's good to keep on hand.
ReplyDeleteWell, a gallon of vinegar will certainly cover up the odor of anything you might not want your landlord to notice.
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly a sparkling new pot; it will be fun to break it in with something deliciously fragrant, like chili, or beef stew, or chicken soup. After 30+ years, you deserve a new stock pot. I'm impressed with how sparkling clean that stovetop looks too.
Vinegar.
ReplyDeleteWhy clean when you can continue to use the pot as your simmer-er? They don't call this place the Lazy B for nuthin".
ReplyDeleteRed: I'm thinkin' a big batch o' Navy bean soup, since the WX has turned cold.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestions, ladies. Especially yours, Lou. ;-)
Would something like a Brita filter help on the front end of the hard water thing? I don't know - just suggesting that the right approach might be prevention rather than cure?
ReplyDeleteGive the Oxy Clean a shot at it, if you're looking at throwing out expensive cookware because of any kind of crud...or if you're at the point of breaking out brillo pads...or if both/either.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't for everything, but it's certainly for most things. I like the way it leaves things alone when you need it to. Of course that isn't true all of the time where the really expensive stuff is concerned, so I don't know if it would be right for your newest. But it's worth a look.
You did the right thing in buying a new pot. It's like the calcium welds itself to the metal. I'm still banned from using the wife's pots with out prior approval!
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love that innertube shopping and those Big Brown Trucks of Happiness? I sure do.
ReplyDeleteMan, that navy bean soup idea sounds good to me. We might do some of that tonight ourselves.
I have some water issues, too... maybe not quite as serious as yours. Suldog's solution works here. So does CLR
ReplyDeleteJim: I don't like the flow rate on those filter thingies.
ReplyDeleteMorgan: I ain't gonna throw the pot out; I've re-purposed it.
It's like the calcium welds itself to the metal.
That's the TRUTH, Ed.
Dan: Shopping on the inter-tubes is just made for a guy like me. I rarely shop, coz I know what I want and I don't wanna spend hours and hours wanderin' around lookin' for it in our stores... where I prolly wouldn't find it anyway. But On the 'tubes? Bingo! And delivered to my door, too!
Ivan: I tried soaking the pot in half a bottle of LimeAway (same as CLR, different name) for a few hours and... nothing. Keeping thangs clean... toilets, sinks, tubs, yadda yadda... is hard in a hard-water environment.
Did you get an air purifier for the landlords odor problem? ;)
ReplyDeleteOdor problem? Whut odor problem? ;-)
ReplyDelete