Those Stubborn Stain In My Oven

Click photos to enlarge*



LEFT: bottom part of the oven after an overnight spray of Easy-Off: hard grease melted away like caramelized syrup; MIDDLE: the remnant of grease on paper towel. Oven interior must be rinsed with wet sponge and dried out with paper towel- use plastic gloves. I did- except for this pictorial.; RIGHT: The contrast of the door and the interior of the oven. The magic of EASY-OFF paid off! See photos below!


This morning I am going to talk about STAIN. Stain in the oven, that is. Do you bake? What- chicken? Cake? Bread? Cookies? Do you broil salmon?Well, whatever it is, after a while it leaves an ugly stain in the oven. If you bake as much as I do, it just gets compounded each time you bake. And even if you clean the oven with soap and water most of the time, the heavy rock-hard grease can't be removed easily. You need to use a special heavy duty oven cleaner.

Coming to America had made me come to enjoy baking once more, after many years of taking it for granted due to my hectic schedule as a career oriented person. Back then I had barely a time left to bake. Now, I have all the time todo it! As such, after sometime, the sparks of fat in the oven has left an ugly mark in all angles of my baking buddy; the black greasy and unsightly stain on top, side and the bottom of my oven has given it a lot of "character" and "life lines" so to speak. So after many months of postponement to make a spring cleaning of this wonder toy, I finally decided to do it today with an overture done last night.

Blue-eyed husband bought me the Easy Off (heavy duty cleanser for oven). Honestly, I didn't know there is such a thing until he said so. Surprise, surprise, surprise! He got me one (purchased when he went to the postal office yesterday) and surely-it worked like magic!

I sprayed it all over (I made sure the heating element was covered with newspaper) and voila, this morning- after several minutes of wiping, rinsing and drying time- my oven is sparkling clean! Well, I really don't know how it was before I came to live with Blue-Eyed Little Boy. As far as I know, this oven was not at any rate in its perfect stainless condition. Seemed like it had already been into several stages of of terrorist attack (ha-ha)! But with the help of EASY-OFF, it had been ressurected to live yet another decade of service to the next user!

It turned out well but not "too perfect" yet to my liking so I did a second round of spraying the chemicals this morning at 8 AM today. Finally, it was perfect. The ones left are actually the permanent abrasion on the oven.

Using the EASY-OFF, one has to wear long plastic gloves, as the chemicals are very strong and hazardous to one’s health. Be sure not to inhale it. I did last night, again-accidentally. Gosh, I had to ran away from the kitchen in speed seconds and take a deep breath at the sitting room to feel alive. Mamamia! It has a strong aroma and could be dangerous to one’s eyes and skin! Listen to this~ I had the initial mistake of wiping off the melted chunks of oily grease this morning with the paper towel without my gloves. This is bad!!! A little bit of the melted grease accidentally dropped in my hand and boy it hurt...ouch! I had to rush to the sink (thank God it was that close to the oven!) and turned on the tap to let the water to pass through the affected area. It got a bit red in such a short time. So be careful if you use this spray. Don’t be careless like me, ok? Actually, I was just excited to see the oven the morning after- to see if the grease really melted and it did!

NOTE: To my sisterettes, if you want me to bring home this Easy Off in December, let me know okay? (I just hope it doesn’t get confiscated in the check-in counter at the airport as anything in aerosol form is not allowed to be boarded for reasons that it could explode on high altitude).

Well, for someone like me who does a lot of baking on a daily basis, having used this Easy Off paid off. And surely it is manna from heaven, to see my oven like a young virgin once more- so immaculate and bellissima (very beautiful in Italian). Good day!