Caring for your pots and pans, or applied chemistry

All right, we've all had that moment when we're gaming or reading and we've forgotten that we're also cooking. Now there's a burned pot, and elbow grease doesn't seem like a great option. What do we do?

1) Hot water and baking soda, simmered gently. Remove any loose stuff. Do not scrape or scrub. Fill the pot with hot tap water, covering the burnt food, and give it a good shake of baking soda (I don't measure, 1/4-1/2 cup?) and set it on the stove. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 20-30 minutes. (Set a timer, you don't want to let it boil dry, that's why you're here!) You can either turn it off, and let cool, or pour the water off and wipe it out immediately. This should take care of most stuff, and can be repeated. There's no reason to scrub hard. If stuff isn't loosening up, go to 2.

2) If the baking soda doesn't work, go to the opposite pH. Hot water and vinegar, simmered gently. About a half cup of vinegar to a pot of water. Simmer as above.

I really can't say this enough. Let the boiling, pH altered water do the work. You can do several repeats one after another. You can do them several days in a row. You can simmer for longer, if you keep an eye on it. Just knock off the loose stuff in between.

3) Now that the burnt stuff is gone, you may have weird shadow stains on your pots and pans. Metal polish will fix it. I like Barkeeper's Friend. Wet your pot, sprinkle on some Barkeeper's Friend, rub gently with a wet cloth or sponge. Again, you shouldn't have to scrub. Rinse. Rinse really well. When dry, you shouldn't see any stains. Repeat if you need to.

Now your pots should all be clean and shiny!

BTW, these all work on old burnt on stuff. If you're setting up a new place, and you're doing it on the thrifty side, you can rescue that pot that's solid, but ugly. If it's ugly on the outside too, fill a stockpot with water, put in about a cup of baking soda, set the ugly pot in the stockpot, and simmer.