How to Clean Burnt on Grease

*Warning* This post contains graphic images of a major mom fail….please try this at home if your pots look like this.

Ok…let me explain. ~giggle~  This is my Dutch oven…my very loved Dutch oven.  It is so great at frying things like french fries and chicken nuggets, I let it do the job.  However, there is a side effect of all of this cooking love.  The burnt on black grease on the bottom of the pot.

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Now I have asked you guys for tips on how to get it off before.  I have scrubbed, soaked, scrubbed, and practically given up on my beloved Dutch oven.  I just figured the outside was destined to look like this since I use it so often.

Then I read a tip the other day to clean burnt on grease off of stove burners.  It said to put 2 TBSP Ammonia in a gallon Ziploc with the burner.  Not enough to soak, but to seal the bag and the fumes would do the job.

Ok, so I got curious.  Could this work with my Dutch oven?  Could it be returned to its original glory?  I took a large garbage bag (Yes garbage bag, I didn’t know what else to use),  And put 1 cup of Ammonia, set my Dutch oven inside, tied it up tight and placed it on the back patio.  I didn’t want to smell the house up.

I let it sit for a day and then brought it in and took a regular non scratching scouring sponge and scrubbed at it.  A good bit came right off, but refer back to photo A…it was bad.  So, I let it sit another day and then scrubbed it again.  Seriously very little elbow grease went into this.

I get that it isn’t perfect, but OMG! It is much better than it was!  So, if you have a pot, pan, or otherwise perfect cooking utensil that has been well loved like my Dutch oven.  You may want to give this a try.  It can’t hurt!