Burnt Pans & Smoke Smell

Oops, I did it again.

Put a pot of chopped cabbage, carrots and kale on the stove to simmer. And a pan of cranberries, to make juice. I put less water in that pan, so the juice would be concentrated. Then went outside to do a chore, which took longer than I anticipated.

Coming back in I realized my mistake. The house was full of smoke from the now char-burned cranberries, unrecognizable in the scorched blackened pan. The soup ingredients were fine, there had been plenty of water in that, and the pot was much larger.

I brought the burnt pan outside, filled it with soapy water and left it and the lid to soak overnight. Then proceeded to set up window fans to draw the smelly smoke out.

The damage was done, because when I returned home from work the following day the first thing I noticed was the burnt smell. Oy!

Smoke is one of the worst things to permeate your home, because it clings to unsealed ceilings and walls and is nearly impossible to get rid of without sealing and painting over it. It may go away with time, you have to wait and see. But I didn't want to smell that every time I come home. I am highly smell-sensitive and I knew I wouldn't be able to tolerate it.

I told a friend about the pan and she said she throws out pans she burns food in. I may end up having to do that, but I am going to try and save it. Here's what I am trying for both pan and residual smoke smell.

PAN: Soaked it in soapy water overnight.  The next day I tossed out the water and rubbed vegetable glycerin all over the interior of the pan, which was burnt all the way up the top, all sides, and especially the bottom. I rubbed it on the inside of the pan lid, which was also black-burned. My thought was that would soften the charred debris to make cleaning possible.

SMOKE SMELL:  I filled a large kettle part way with herbal basil vinegar I had made last summer. I added a quarter cup of borax/washing soda (be careful doing this, the washing soda is sodium carbonate, which reacts with vinegar like sodium bicarbonate- baking soda- does. The pan was large and only partly filled with vinegar, so when I added the dry ingredients they bubbled and fizzed, but not to overflowing). I then set that to simmer. After it boiled down a bit, I added the rest of a cleaning solution I had made to wipe down the walls and surfaces of the kitchen and living room and hall. As I stated already, I hate stinky smells and do everything I can to try and eliminate them.  The cleaning solution had borax and soap nuts and essential oils in it.

If you try this you might want to go outside while it simmers, or leave a few windows part open,  because vinegar is strong. Just don't forget to check on it often. You don't want that simmering off and burning the bottom of the pan again!