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Last week, I shared some tips on refrigeration, gleaned over the years. This week, let’s talk about cleaning.
I used to be the kind of person who attacked my utensils with abrasive powders, liquid soaps, hot water and metal-wire scrubbers. I wanted everything shiny, as we all do. But it struck me, at some point, that there had to be a simpler way. And so I turned to science.
Why does our cookware gather so much residue in the first place? During cooking, molecules in foods bond with cooking surfaces, particularly in uncoated metal pans. As very hot food particles cool in situ, as it were, they adhere more strongly.
This adhesion is aided by the pitted surfaces of most utensils used in Indian cooking. A new stainless-steel pan may seem perfectly smooth, for instance, but it is covered in microscopic textures and imperfections.
Over time, wear and tear degrades these surfaces further, creating more and larger pits.
The mechanical action of scrubbing can help break the bonds between food particles and the surfaces they have adhered to. Finely powdered acidic or abrasive substances such as salt, limestone and talc can help dislodge some particles. But they cannot reach the particles stuck in tiny rough crevices or pockmarks, and so these remain, in what we call stains.
What does one do in such cases? Overall, I have found, it is best to replace brute force with seduction. Most food particles can be lured away from a metal surface rather easily, if offered the right alternative.
Soap, for instance, is one’s best bet against oils and oily foods. A soap molecule is adept at blending oil and water, because of its amphiphilic nature (each molecule has a polar end that is attracted to water and a nonpolar end that is repelled by it). As the polar head of the soap molecule attracts water, the tail, being hydrophobic, draws oil to it. The result is tiny clusters of soapy oil that serve to lift the otherwise-stubborn grease off the surface of the metal, allowing it to be washed away, leaving the pan shining clean.
Deposits on a hot-water flask or water heater are more challenging. These are essentially mineral deposits called limescale. When hard water evaporates or is heated, the minerals in it (typically calcium and magnesium) solidify and adhere to glass, metal and other surfaces. Soap cannot help here. It combines with these minerals to form different but also insoluble compounds.
It is acids one must turn to instead. A little vinegar or tamarind powder will react with the minerals to produce a soluble salt that can be washed away.
Acids can also help break down and remove stains caused by beverages that contain tannins, such as coffee, tea and wine. Once again, the acids react with the tannins to form soluble compounds that are easier to wash away.
Silverware used in a puja corner can be made to shine using acid-based cleaners too. Acids have the ability to break down and dissolve rust and oxidisation, making them easier to remove from a surface.
Now for my favourite science-based hack: What does one do with a vessel that has recently held burnt milk or charred daal? This one used to drive me crazy, until I broke it down.
The reason these vessels are so hard to clean is because protein, under high heat, bonds especially strongly with most of the metals used in cookware. Soap, water and even acid cannot break these bonds. Physical pressure combined with materials such as steel wool are effective, but this is a tedious, time-consuming method — and it leaves the utensil full of scratches.
A far better answer is baking soda (essentially, sodium bicarbonate), an alkaline compound that bonds with the acidic components in proteins, and helps turn the stuck mess into a soluble mixture. In a reaction called denaturation, it alters the molecular structure of the protein, leading it to break down to a degree. Add gentle pressure from a soft scrubber, and some hot water to increase the rate of the reaction, and you can see the charred remains float off the metal.
Move further up the alkaline scale, to ammonia solutions, and the cleaning becomes even easier. But do remember that the higher one goes on this scale, the harsher the effects of the substance on one’s skin and lungs. Which is why I keep to baking soda, and try desperately not to burn the milk.
Isn’t it cool, though, how the kitchen is just an in-house laboratory, sitting there fully equipped?
(To reach Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email upgrademyfood@gmail.com)
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