When we saw this stovetop disaster The Kitchn posted on Instagram, we figuratively clutched our pearls. The site's executive editor, Faith Durand, was making caramel sauce when things took a turn. So much hot sticky sugar ... all over everything! But since we've never spotted a cleaning challenge we wouldn't take a crack at, we began to ponder a smart course of action for dealing with this kitchen tragedy.
We asked Carolyn Forte, the director of the Cleaning Lab at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute how she'd tackle the mess. She's never dealt with a pot covered in boiling caramel firsthand, so she pulled from her years of testing cleaning strategies to find her best recommendation:
1. Deal with the pot.
"I would start by pouring as much of the caramel as I could out of the pot while it's still hot (using potholders, of course), " Forte says. "Then, I'd fill the sink with hot sudsy water, and immerse the pot in it and let it soak and cool a bit. Wearing rubber gloves, I'd try to remove as much of the caramel as I could as the water softens it. A scrub sponge should offer extra muscle, and I'd keep adding hot water as it cools down. Once all the caramel was gone, I'd clean the entire pot inside and out with a stainless steel cleanser, like Twinkle."
2. Face the stove.
"I'd try softening any hardened caramel with a little boiling water poured from a tea kettle, or by placing hot, wet towels on top of it," she says. "As the caramel softens, I'd peel or scrape it up with a nylon spatula or dull knife. Unfortuntately, it will likely be tedious and take some effort to totally come clean! If any part of the stovetop is removeable, I'd take that off, and let it soak in hot water to clean it."
TELL US: Have you ever dealt with a big kitchen mess like this one?
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