If so, tell all!
My daughters and I enjoy baking cookies. So our cookie sheets get a real workout. I usually have to pitch them every few years. And now I'm ready to do so again. We prefer to bake with the lighter colored aluminum ones - the type you can pick up at a grocery store or Target/Kmart. Not fancy, dark colored no-stick ones or even the stoneware ones home parties sell. Just simple sheets for us, thank you very much!
This said, even if we promptly wash and dry them, they turn darker and darker over time. And if you continue baking cookies with them, the cookies can easily burn if you're not careful.
Ours are so dark now, even if I use parchment paper, the paper burns.
Soaking them overnight with powder dishwasher detergent doesn't do it. Any ideas on how to return them to their original light color?
Thanks!
Mary
PS - I'm running them all thru the DW right now, on pots/pans/hot pre-wash cycle. We'll see what that does. I run the stove's burner recepticles/chrome rims thru sometimes and they come out looking good. Hey, I wonder if oven cleaner soaked on overnight might clean up these cookie sheets (I had a non-cleaning stove/oven years ago and Easy Off worked great). I might have stumbled upon my own answer. But I'll wait to see if anyone knows of a cleaner that works great.
Know how to restore a cookie sheet's original surface?
Moderator: S2k Moderators
-
HurricaneGirl
- Category 5
- Posts: 5839
- Age: 60
- Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2003 9:45 am
- Location: Clare, Michigan
- Contact:
I'd strongly advise against that. The warning label on the can says NOT to use it on aluminum....
The chemical make-up of this product actually DISSOLVES aluminum. and you dont want aluminum in your food....ick!
Have you tried a brillo pad or steel wool?
If parchment is not working for you anymore, you may want to try those silicone baking liners.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AXJ9/102-0935560-1424123?v=glance
The chemical make-up of this product actually DISSOLVES aluminum. and you dont want aluminum in your food....ick!
Have you tried a brillo pad or steel wool?
If parchment is not working for you anymore, you may want to try those silicone baking liners.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AXJ9/102-0935560-1424123?v=glance
0 likes
-
Guest
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... A0UPM1.DTL
The late essayist Erma Bombeck is said to have told an uppity young person, "Why, I have cookie sheets older than you are!"
Erma had nothing on me. I have cookie sheets, pots, pans, bowls and muffin tins that would be at home in those historical houses that show how our ancestors cooked when they were bulking up to fight the American Revolution.
There is something about old cookware (I guess that's what it's called now) that resists the trash pile or the Salvation Army pickup. These utensils are, after all, downright archival. I have a muffin pan, for example, that still has hardened specks of the cupcakes I made for my daughter's first birthday party. She is now 35. I have a casserole dish that has so valiantly resisted coming clean that my first attempt at lasagna still lingers in a black patch that has survived assault by a hundred steel-wool pads. I have the pot that my mother used to make chicken soup. I hang onto it in hopes that there is enough memory in that pot to make my soup tastes like hers. (Sad to say, no.)
None of these cooking vessels is pretty, and some have caused painful embarrassment. When guests offer to help do the dishes, I have to explain that their idea of cleanliness and mine may differ. "Sparkle" is not in the vocabulary. Nor is "shine." I tell them that they can perhaps see their faces in my pots if they don't mind bits of last year's meat loaf just below their brow line. What everyone has to learn about other people's pots is where the archaeological dig stops. There are, after all, strata that must be respected. The remnant of the most recent meal can go; the rest stays on. Memento mori.
Actually, I might consider buying new pots and pans, but I am put off by the Greek-god names. Who were Circulon and Calphalon, anyway? I am also intimidated by the time involved in researching the pros and cons of these things. One buying guide states that the base should be so thick that the heat spreads evenly without burning. I am further advised to buy saucepans that have copper linings so that the food does not scorch. I am told to invest in roasting pans that are heavy enough to avoid ruining the gravy when you transfer the pan to the top of the stove. What do these people know that I don't? I always thought that to avoid burning, scorching and ruining, you watched the flame on the stove. I am suspicious when a pot or pan is said to have a higher IQ than I do.
The only thing that would lead me to dispose of my old kitchen stuff and plunk down $100 for a saucepan would be those health warnings. Does aluminum cause Alzheimer's? Do cast-iron pots increase the amount of iron in the diet to unhealthy levels? Probably not, but I briefly wonder if my attachment to my mother's old aluminum soup pot is causing me to lose brain cells in batches of 1 million. Then I remember that my mother died at 84 with every synapse in her brain intact.
I suppose it is hard to ignore the federal government's National Institutes of Health Web site, which warns: "When buying cookware, be aware of what it is made of and ask a health care professional to guide you in determining whether cooking with or in certain cookware is appropriate."
That does it for me. When I have to call my doctor to check out a new frying pan, some line has been crossed. I'll stick with my old pots, pans and cookie sheets. Erma, you would be proud.
The late essayist Erma Bombeck is said to have told an uppity young person, "Why, I have cookie sheets older than you are!"
Erma had nothing on me. I have cookie sheets, pots, pans, bowls and muffin tins that would be at home in those historical houses that show how our ancestors cooked when they were bulking up to fight the American Revolution.
There is something about old cookware (I guess that's what it's called now) that resists the trash pile or the Salvation Army pickup. These utensils are, after all, downright archival. I have a muffin pan, for example, that still has hardened specks of the cupcakes I made for my daughter's first birthday party. She is now 35. I have a casserole dish that has so valiantly resisted coming clean that my first attempt at lasagna still lingers in a black patch that has survived assault by a hundred steel-wool pads. I have the pot that my mother used to make chicken soup. I hang onto it in hopes that there is enough memory in that pot to make my soup tastes like hers. (Sad to say, no.)
None of these cooking vessels is pretty, and some have caused painful embarrassment. When guests offer to help do the dishes, I have to explain that their idea of cleanliness and mine may differ. "Sparkle" is not in the vocabulary. Nor is "shine." I tell them that they can perhaps see their faces in my pots if they don't mind bits of last year's meat loaf just below their brow line. What everyone has to learn about other people's pots is where the archaeological dig stops. There are, after all, strata that must be respected. The remnant of the most recent meal can go; the rest stays on. Memento mori.
Actually, I might consider buying new pots and pans, but I am put off by the Greek-god names. Who were Circulon and Calphalon, anyway? I am also intimidated by the time involved in researching the pros and cons of these things. One buying guide states that the base should be so thick that the heat spreads evenly without burning. I am further advised to buy saucepans that have copper linings so that the food does not scorch. I am told to invest in roasting pans that are heavy enough to avoid ruining the gravy when you transfer the pan to the top of the stove. What do these people know that I don't? I always thought that to avoid burning, scorching and ruining, you watched the flame on the stove. I am suspicious when a pot or pan is said to have a higher IQ than I do.
The only thing that would lead me to dispose of my old kitchen stuff and plunk down $100 for a saucepan would be those health warnings. Does aluminum cause Alzheimer's? Do cast-iron pots increase the amount of iron in the diet to unhealthy levels? Probably not, but I briefly wonder if my attachment to my mother's old aluminum soup pot is causing me to lose brain cells in batches of 1 million. Then I remember that my mother died at 84 with every synapse in her brain intact.
I suppose it is hard to ignore the federal government's National Institutes of Health Web site, which warns: "When buying cookware, be aware of what it is made of and ask a health care professional to guide you in determining whether cooking with or in certain cookware is appropriate."
That does it for me. When I have to call my doctor to check out a new frying pan, some line has been crossed. I'll stick with my old pots, pans and cookie sheets. Erma, you would be proud.
0 likes
-
Miss Mary
Oh I'm all for keeping what works, no matter how much the product has aged. I love my Farberware. And up until 2 years ago I was still using my Harvest Gold Mixer! From my first marriage in 1975. So it was quite old but finally died.
The reason I want to restore the finish on these cookie sheets is not to make them look pretty - I just don't want cookies to burn! And burn they do. My daughter just made a batch of Spritz cookies last night and they all burned. But then again my kids like burnt cookies. Me? No!
Recondit, maybe you misunderstood the reason for this topic? If so, that's okay. Just didn't want you to think I toss things out all the time. Quite the opposite. We heavily recycle in this house - 24/7. Just a way of life now. I don't use disposable cleaning cloths (for every product under the sun now). I clean the old fashioned way - with an old towel turned into a rag, and then tossed in the washer. Mop with a wring out mop, no toss away thingy either! Hey we could another topic entirely on how our way of life generates so much waste!
Mary
The reason I want to restore the finish on these cookie sheets is not to make them look pretty - I just don't want cookies to burn! And burn they do. My daughter just made a batch of Spritz cookies last night and they all burned. But then again my kids like burnt cookies. Me? No!
Recondit, maybe you misunderstood the reason for this topic? If so, that's okay. Just didn't want you to think I toss things out all the time. Quite the opposite. We heavily recycle in this house - 24/7. Just a way of life now. I don't use disposable cleaning cloths (for every product under the sun now). I clean the old fashioned way - with an old towel turned into a rag, and then tossed in the washer. Mop with a wring out mop, no toss away thingy either! Hey we could another topic entirely on how our way of life generates so much waste!
Mary
0 likes
-
JenBayles
- Category 5
- Posts: 3461
- Age: 62
- Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2003 3:27 pm
- Location: Houston, TX
- Contact:
Well, I've got those stupid, stacked ovens that are built into a brick wall in the kitchen. Useless things - a 15 lb turkey is as big as I can buy. However, as a result I can only use the small size cookie sheets. I'm with you Mary - I like the plain aluminum ones. Since they're small, I can pop them in the dishwasher and they never do get grungy. Dave had an old bachelor-era aluminum pizza pan that he literally used for everything. NAS-TYYYYY! Running it through the dishwasher a few times got it looking like new again.
0 likes
-
Guest
-
MSRobi911
- S2K Supporter
- Posts: 1259
- Age: 69
- Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2003 1:55 pm
- Location: Pascagoula, Misssissippi
Miss Mary
The Silpat brand and the World Cuisine brand are both very good silicone liners. It is really hard to burn cookies on those things and so easy to clean.....just wipe them off. I haven't found a cookie yet that sticks to them.
Mary
PS Yes, we could be the Merry Mary's.....Merry Christmas!
The Silpat brand and the World Cuisine brand are both very good silicone liners. It is really hard to burn cookies on those things and so easy to clean.....just wipe them off. I haven't found a cookie yet that sticks to them.
Mary
PS Yes, we could be the Merry Mary's.....Merry Christmas!
0 likes
Nice post Recondite!
For what it's worth, I don't buy steel wool (brillo, SOS, etc.). They don't last long at all. I got a stainless steel scouring pad for $1.00 at the dollar store. I keep on rubbin, and it just keeps on scrubbin.
I don't get attached to the pots & pans. We keep 'em around for a long time, though because there's always more urgent things to buy - like something to put in it!
For what it's worth, I don't buy steel wool (brillo, SOS, etc.). They don't last long at all. I got a stainless steel scouring pad for $1.00 at the dollar store. I keep on rubbin, and it just keeps on scrubbin.
I don't get attached to the pots & pans. We keep 'em around for a long time, though because there's always more urgent things to buy - like something to put in it!
0 likes
This space for rent.
Cleaning Aluminum Cookie Sheets
Well, my aluminum cookie sheets are older that most of the people on this board, I think.
And yes, I do clean them with Steel wool! (Brillo pad, SOS pad, etc.) If they are really nasty--like super-dooper nasty because your kids burned something awful on to them, you can ask your husband to borrow one of those steel wool pads you can put in an electric drill... But it is the elbow grease + steel wool (or electric drill + steel wool) that gets the crud off. And yes, if you don't get that burnt off gunk off, eventually stuff will stick and burn, etc. But it's the gunk--not the color.
While I agree that Brillo, SOS, etc are expensive and wasteful and scratch stuff when used routinely, you can't beat them for the heavy duty cleaning job of getting years worth of burnt on gunk off old kitchen pots and pans.
And, by the way, if you rescue old cast iron that has gotten really disgusting, take it to some place where they steam clean engines and have them clean the cast iron for you. You have to reseason it from scratch, etc. but if you are worried about germs or something, this will work.
And yes, I do clean them with Steel wool! (Brillo pad, SOS pad, etc.) If they are really nasty--like super-dooper nasty because your kids burned something awful on to them, you can ask your husband to borrow one of those steel wool pads you can put in an electric drill... But it is the elbow grease + steel wool (or electric drill + steel wool) that gets the crud off. And yes, if you don't get that burnt off gunk off, eventually stuff will stick and burn, etc. But it's the gunk--not the color.
While I agree that Brillo, SOS, etc are expensive and wasteful and scratch stuff when used routinely, you can't beat them for the heavy duty cleaning job of getting years worth of burnt on gunk off old kitchen pots and pans.
And, by the way, if you rescue old cast iron that has gotten really disgusting, take it to some place where they steam clean engines and have them clean the cast iron for you. You have to reseason it from scratch, etc. but if you are worried about germs or something, this will work.
0 likes
Dishwasher detergent Discolors Aluminum...
As an aside, it's generally not a good idea to put aluminum in your dishwasher because the dishwasher detergent discolors aluminum.
The greyish look that aluminum gets (dull rather than shiny) is actually the equivalent of "rust" on something made of iron or steel. The dishwasher detergent will "rust" your aluminum, so if you put it in the dishwasher to sterilize it or get really nasty stuff off it, then you still have to scrub it when you take it out to get the grey stuff off!
It's the elbow grease of scrubbing it (and then you need to dry it promptly) that gets it back to shiny...
The greyish look that aluminum gets (dull rather than shiny) is actually the equivalent of "rust" on something made of iron or steel. The dishwasher detergent will "rust" your aluminum, so if you put it in the dishwasher to sterilize it or get really nasty stuff off it, then you still have to scrub it when you take it out to get the grey stuff off!
It's the elbow grease of scrubbing it (and then you need to dry it promptly) that gets it back to shiny...
0 likes
-
Miss Mary
We haven't started the cookie baking yet (put off until after our 18th xmas party), so I'm going to buy a few new sheets. The old ones are truly shot and no amount scrubing will restore them to their original surface. We just don't want to go to all the trouble of cookies from scratch and then see them burn. That's frustrating, especially since my oldest's specialty is baking - she loves it. And enjoys giving the cookies away.
Thanks for the replies everyone!
Mary
Thanks for the replies everyone!
Mary
0 likes
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests