How can I remove baked on grease from aluminum pots?

Question

I have been given and purchased several pieces of Guardian Service Aluminum Cookware. Some of my pieces have pitting and utensil scratches inside of them. Others have years of baked/cooked on grease and goo on the outside. Still others are just dark from who knows what. I'm trying to find the best way to clean and possibly refinish (or remove the majority of the scratching and pitting)on the inside of my pots. I would also like to find the best way to clean the grease and goo from the outside and restore them to there former shiny finish. The outside of my pots are what some people call hammered aluminum finish. I'm not sure how to best describe the outside but it looks like indentions on the surface. I've tried scrubbing with a brass bristle brush and steel wool. It doesn't remove any of the pitting and scratching on the inside and very little of the goo and grease on the outside. The indentions seem to fill up with the grease and goo. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I could give advise on cleaning, but from the sounds of the pots and the pitting I think you should do a search on the dangers of cooking with aluminum!!! I use pots that are aluminum clad on the bottom. I think there have been health warnings about eating food cooked in it.
Please check before wasting you time and shortening your life.
ok, so I did a search and will post what I found, but there is a bunch and not much of it looks solid, I'm just going on what my mom said to me... ??

Answer 2

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RE:
How can I remove baked on grease from aluminum pots?
I have been given and purchased several pieces of Guardian Service Aluminum Cookware. Some of my pieces have pitting and utensil scratches inside of them. Others have years of baked/cooked on grease and goo on the outside. Still others are just dark from who knows what. I'm trying to find the...

Answer 3

I have used aluminum cooking utensils for over 40 years with no apparent connections to health problems. In fact, most of my pots and pans are more than 40 years old and I have never experienced an "aluminum taste" from the pots and pans.
Anyway, caustics, such as ammonia and oven cleaner will damage the finish of aluminum cookware. I would not recommend using these products if a goo appearance is wanted.

Answer 4

Baked on grease is hard to remove, but aluminum is actually quite soft so try to keep the scratching down to a minimum.

I've heard that if you put dishes with this kind of nastiness in water with a sheet of fabric softener and leave it for a day it'll soften / loosen it up.

You can try it... it'll only take time and maybe 2 cents worth of fabric softener sheets.

Answer 5

Throw away the Guardian pots. They are outdated, leftovers from the forties and fifties. Go buy stainless steel cookware. Aluminum pots contribute to Alziemer's Disease. They found high concentrations of aluminum in autopsies of Alziemer's patients. We had these pots when I was a kid. A complete set even specialty pots with the heavy glass covers, threw them all in the garbage. We used to clean them with fine wet/dry sandpaper 800 grit used with detergent and water. Outside in the sand cast exterior use a wire wheel in a drill or bench grinder with a wire wheel.

Answer 6

I worked at a pizza place a while back and we would spray the bottoms of pans with oven cleaner put them in a heavy duty garbage bag tie it shut and set it out in the sun leave them for about 4 hours and rinse them and wash them really well this took grease that was baked on off to health dept standards Good luck!

Answer 7

Aluminum Pots have been liked to Alzheimer's.

Answer 8

Answer for baked on grease. You might try a solution of hot water and automatic dish-washing liquid. Mix it well and strong, and set the pot in it and then use the steel wool to scrub. Let set for awhile. Please wear rubber gloves, as this is hard on the hands. I don't have an answer for the pitting, or darkness except for the outside ask the hardware store if they have something. Show them the pot!

Answer 9

It sounds like it may be time to invest in new pots. I don't think there is anything you can do for the pitting. But my husband swears by Bar Keeps Friend, but my pots are stainless, so I don't know if it would hurt the aluminum.

Answer 10

I use Oxi-Clean and hot water on dishes that are hard to clean, let them soak for a while in the mixture. Usually works very well and the baked on grease comes right off without much of any elbow grease. If none of our suggestions work, it might be worth your time to invest in a new set of cookware. Good luck.