Grimy oven and oven grills? Make them shine again with these cleaning methods!
Preparing dishes using the oven is the best way to enjoy delicious meals that have lower caloric values (due to the cooking method itself). Baking, for example, does not use anywhere near as much oil as frying. That said, over time, even grease/oil-free baking will cause an oven to get dirty.
At some point, you will need to clean your oven and this includes the grills. So, what's the best way to proceed?
Cleaning the oven
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Cleaning the oven regularly is best way to avoid grime getting "baked on" and causing unpleasant odors to develop. If you do this consistently, cleaning the oven will be much easier.
Firstly, remove the baking trays and grills and wipe away any food residue, crumbs and similar that you can with an old rag. Once this is done, mix some dishwashing liquid in water and wipe down the oven with a soft cloth moistened in this solution. Make sure the cloth is not soaked as ovens are electrical appliances that can be damaged by excessive humidity.
If the dishwashing liquid is not doing the job, you can make a paste with baking soda and vinegar. Put this paste on the surfaces to be cleaned and leave for a few minutes to act before removing it. Once this is done, remove the paste with a damp cloth and allow the oven to dry out.
How to clean the grills?
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Once the general cleaning of the oven has been completed, you can move on to cleaning the grills. They may look clean, but if you inspect them carefully, you will see small dots of grime covering them. So, what's the best way to clean the grills? Well, there are two methods:
- Water and dishwashing liquid: Moisten a sponge, use a few drops of dishwashing liquid and start rubbing the over the grill until the grime disappears. For stubborn grime, you can fill a basin or tub with water, add half a cup of dishwashing liquid and immerse the grill in this. Leave for a couple of hours so that the grime softens up.
- Vinegar and baking soda: As an alternative to the above method, you can coat the grill with a paste made from vinegar and baking soda. Leave this paste on the grill for at least half a day and then remove it, revealing (hopefully), a spotless grill.
What if neither of these methods worked?
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If the first two methods did work well, you can try a third. This method involves using clothes dryer sheets. Why? Well, these sheets are soaked in fabric softener and, when in contact with water, they release the softener (which will soften the grime too). To use dry sheets for this purpose, "sandwich" the grill between two layers of wet dry sheets and leave for several hours until the grime can be removed easily.
So, how often should the oven and the grills be cleaned? There is no exact rule and it depends a lot on how you use your oven and how often.
The best advice is to check the overall condition of your regularly (and especially after prolonged, elaborate cooking sessions).
