Monday, August 10, 2020

How to Clean Dirty Copper Pots & Pans




Got this french vintage copper pan along with a couple of pots + lollipop-style lids about a month ago. Started cleaning the two pots and lids immediately using Bar Keeper's Friend paste + powder & scourer pad - I prefer powder to the paste, seems more effective to me.

This pan however, was just not getting clean. The burn marks seem embedded onto the surface, three rounds of scrubbing was just not working. Our go-to degreaser solution for cleaning stainless steel stoves didn't work either, all I ended up with was a pair of peeling palm that were 'catching' on to my fleece blankets & a pan still covered in burn marks all over! I was almost ready to part with it, someone already offered to buy the pan from me 'as-is', for the price I paid for the set.

Lucky Zz saw a video of someone cleaning a very stained stainless steel pot using just baking soda and water. As we are big fans of baking soda in this household - we always have at least a couple of kilo on standby, I knew I must try this!

I placed an 18" aluminum 'kuih' tray on the stove, then filled it with some water, place the copper pan into it, then turned on the heat and topped with more water so the the pan is completely submerged. 

Added a generous amount of baking soda into the water. Let the water come to boil, be aware that the baking soda will bubble up & may boil over, just prepare a thick towel to soak up any liquid spilled.

Let it boil for about 5 minutes, then lower the heat & continue to simmer for another 15 minutes. You will notice at this point that some of the burnt bits would start to come off & be seen floating in the water. The rest will come off easily with just a gentle rub with the scourer.

Once the pan cools down, the remaining stains and tarnish can be effortlessly be cleaned with a bit of BKF powder applied to the pan with a moist scourer pad.

It's amazing seeing how effortlessly the gunky pan transforms into the thing of beauty in these photos! 


I have a huge cauldron ready to boil the two pots & lids plus all the other abused cookware in the kitchen next weekend!

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Nasi Kandar - Lauk Bawah Meja

13/6/2020
1:02pm

Kedai nasi kandar yang legend kadang kadang ada lauk 'secret' specialty yang tak ramai yang tau, contohnya Nasi Kandar Tamil Street dulu ada limpa and Nasi Kandar Sirajudeen (depan Caltex Transfer Road - kedai asal bapa Deen Maju) ada gulai sembilang - yang ni kena pi awal, kalau tak tinggal kuah saja.

Yang penting, lauk special tu kena memang exceptional sedap baru boleh diambil kira, macam gulai sembilang, limpa dan perut kambing dan teloq sotong yang memang syur. Kalau takat kobis goreng, sotong, ketam, atau udang goreng tepung, or sausage masak sos(!), tu semua bukan lauk hidden specialty nasi kandaq!

So, memang betui lauk asas wajib nasi kandaq adalah daging hitam, gulai ikan, telur dan bendi, setiap kedai akan ada special dish dia sendiri, jangan lupa ayam goreng dan ayam gulai pun bukan lauk asas nasi kandaq, tapi dah evolve cukup lama untuk diterima sebagai lauk asas nasi kandaq.

Harap hampa semua jangan triggered na, tapi adik abang kakak semua, hampa toksah dok buat lecey kata lauk nasi kandaq gulai sembilang tu merepek semua na, sebab lauk specialty memang wujud sebagai tarikan tambahan.

Tepuk dada tanya selera.

(Tambahan)

Kalau nasib baik, ada masa mamak tanya nak tak lauk underground yang dia simpan bawah meja, sembilang karang atau teloq ikan!

p/s: weekend ni kami rehat sat makan nasi kandaq, bagi peluang pada yang rentas sempadan cari nasi kandaq selepas tiga bulan kena quarantine 😉😅

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Life, regret?

Funny thing this regret, given a chance we will always go back and have another go at it. It must be coded into our genes to relish in the memory of pain.



Sunday, January 05, 2020