After all the delicious food has been eaten and the dishwasher is packed to the brim with plates and bowls, there is only one thing that is still keeping the dinner party host or hostess in the kitchen. Sadly, those greasy pots and pans are not going to wash themselves. But luckily, there are a few things that a resourceful party thrower can do to quickly get rid of that stuck-on grease and get back to the festivities.
When your usual dishwashing liquid fails to remove the grease, Reader's Digest suggests that you make the cleanser a little more potent by adding baking soda. In the greasy pot or pan, add a big squirt of your favorite dishwashing liquid and then mix in 2 heaping tbsp. of baking soda. Fill the pot with warm water and scrub as you normally would.
This remedy is extremely efficient, but it comes with one catch: you must put the mixture into the pot or pan while it is still warm from the meal. Before the pot or pan cools, put in 1 cup of apple cider vinegar and 2 tbsp. of sugar. Let the vinegar and sugar sit for one hour and then scrub the pot or pan as you normally would.
Rachel Hardage of Real Simple Magazine advises using a fabric softener sheet to loosen that bothersome baked-on grease. Put a clean fabric softener sheet in the pot or pan, then fill the container with tepid water. Let the fabric softener sheet and water sit overnight, and then scrub the pot clean in the morning.
There a number of products on the market that claim to effective at removing baked-on grease. One example is Dawn Power Dissolver, which received a positive review from Joe Terrell of KLTV in East Texas. Other products being used in kitchens across the country include Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner/Degreaser.