How to Clean Metal Cookware
For all metal cookware except nonstick and cast iron, Chris Sommer, a consumer service representative for All-Clad Metalcrafters, recommends Bar Keepers Friend ($2.50 at supermarkets)—a bleach-free, nonabrasive powder—and a soft cloth. “Add enough water to make the solution soupy, as opposed to pasty, so that it doesn’t scratch,” he says. Even if you go the soap-and-water route with your pans, try Bar Keepers on tough grease, starch, and mineral stains.
More effective on copper, says chef Anita Olivarez Eisenhauer, a lecturing instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, New York, is a mix of equal parts flour and salt, with enough vinegar to make a paste. Every time you wash your copper, she says, apply the paste to the outside and the interior of the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes. Rinse with hot water, then dry with a cloth. “It will make the copper shine and help release any bacteria or grease that seeped into the metal when it was hot.”
