How to get a smell out of a cooking pot?

UnknownSaint

So I unknowingly left a small bit of stir fry in a covered pot for a couple of weeks. I'm cleaning my kitchen and lift the top off to find a black wretched mass of just the most hideous shit I've ever seen or smelt. I had to go outside to scrape it all out and the pot is entirely clean.

Thing is, the smell will not go away. It's like...now one with the molecules of the pot.

I tried boiling water in it for a considerable amount of time - still faintly smells of that shit no matter how many times I scrub or boil.

Anything I can do to salvage this?

Aldo

Maybe try something more vile than boiling water. Alcohol?

shugarae

boiling water with baking soda?

supabeast

Just leave it in the sun for a few days. (with the inside facing the sun, not upside-down!)

archonwarp

Vinegar would most likely work pretty well. Get some white vinegar and dilute it in water 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Leave that in there overnight. Make sure you coat as much of the pot as you can.

Sunstrand

Vinegar would work and so does lemon juice, I use lemon juice when I buy new cookware. I usally just use some super hot water and mix in some lemon juice (1/4 lemon juice to 3/4 water, unless it's a huge pot then you can use less) and let it sit for a couple of hours. I'd turn the lid upside down and let that soak too. You might have to do it a couple of times.

UnknownSaint

Lemon juice didn't work.

Boiled 1 part vinegar 3 parts water for about 4 hours. Worked beautifully. Thanks guys! Appreciate it.

GameHat

The solution to this isn't necessarily chemical (vinegar, baking soda, alcohol)

Get a good scouring pad (steel wool or copper) and scrub the fuck out of it. Hot water, dish soap, something nicely abrasive.

This won't work if the pot has a coating (teflon or some other anti-stick) because you'll damage the coating and ruin the pot.

UnknownSaint

GameHat wrote: »

The solution to this isn't necessarily chemical (vinegar, baking soda, alcohol)

Get a good scouring pad (steel wool or copper) and scrub the fuck out of it. Hot water, dish soap, something nicely abrasive.

This won't work if the pot has a coating (teflon or some other anti-stick) because you'll damage the coating and ruin the pot.

That was my first solution, didn't do much.

pinenut_canary

I know this has been solved already, but mixing in salt with the vinegar/water mixture helps also, and just keeping the solution in there as long as possible.