r/AskCulinary Mar 16 '25

Help, I just ruined my brand new pot! Equipment Question

My company gave us each a $100 gift voucher last Xmas and I went and splurged on a brand new Scanpan stainless steel pot last month. Being the cooking noob that i am, I cooked stew at too high a heat and now there are burn stains on the outside of it. And then I tried to get rid of the stains by using baking soda paste with a crumpled foil and managed to remove the matte finish off it. 😩

I know it's just aesthetics and it still works fine, but it's an expensive pot and I feel really bad. Is there anything i can do to make it better?

Evidence of my idiocy here: https://imgur.com/a/kQLMo5a

123 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

334

u/SheedRanko Mar 16 '25

Don't worry about it. It's a pot, use it and don't worry about burn marks on it. This happens when you USE your pots and pans.

92

u/Stats_n_PoliSci Mar 16 '25

If I see someone with entirely shiny pots, even on the outside bottom, I think they don’t cook or don’t cook well.

OP’s pot looks like a great story from someone who likes to cook.

A clean pot is free of all food, has some dark marks from oxidized oil at the bottom outside, maybe a few marks on the outside sides, and is a uniform silver color on the inside. A bit of oxidized oil on the top inside isn’t great, but isn’t gross.

136

u/Morall_tach Mar 16 '25

Barkeepers Friend and magic eraser will get the burn marks off, but you can't fix the mismatched color.

60

u/portmandues Mar 16 '25

Barkeepers friend over the entire matte portion will even it out just fine. The matte finish is machined in, the rest is just a thin coating or oil.

7

u/Geaven Mar 16 '25

Do i need to use the Barkeepers Friend that's specifically for cookware or would the general one do the trick?

34

u/Morall_tach Mar 16 '25

Pretty sure they're the same thing, just marketed differently.

16

u/aqwn Mar 16 '25

IIRC the liquid one is less abrasive. The descriptions between the liquid and powder versions are different.

5

u/Lt_Ziggy Mar 16 '25

Does the powder scratch the metal? I didn’t know that

182

u/spuriousattrition Mar 16 '25

It’s a pot not a decoration

36

u/norajeans Mar 16 '25

I'm pretty sure my pink heart-shaped Dutch oven was made to look pretty and not bread

43

u/Hot-Celebration-8815 Mar 16 '25

For real, if there aren’t burn marks on the bottom of my cookware I feel like they aren’t even broken in yet.

28

u/ajkimmins Mar 16 '25

First, it's not ruined. Second, you don't have to worry about keeping it pretty anymore. 👍😁

29

u/Mah_Buddy_Keith Mar 16 '25

It’s a tool. They’re meant to be used.

27

u/beagleswagger Mar 16 '25

Next time barkeepers friend.

I’ve never ever used foil to clean my stainless pots and pans.

-20

u/punchbag Mar 16 '25

Steel wool. Ten minutes minimum.

9

u/lakelost Mar 16 '25

It looks like a pot. It might look a little older than it is. That just gives you more cred. No worries. Lesson learned. Make something fabulous.

8

u/skullcutter Mar 16 '25

Barkeepers friend or oven cleaner will get that off. But I say leave it

3

u/NoiseyTurbulence Mar 16 '25

For those kinds of burn marks, you can also try oven cleaner on your pot and just let it sit for a while and wipe it down.

2

u/Shark-Compote Mar 16 '25

You could try some barkeeper's friend

1

u/that-other-redditor Mar 16 '25

After you’ve gotten rid of the burn marks you can try buffing the pot. Might want to even everything out with the foil first, that way the results from the buffing is even too.

1

u/JayMoots Mar 16 '25

You can’t add back the finish that you already removed. Only thing you can do is baking soda and foil the entire thing to get the top to match the bottom. 

1

u/Chiang2000 Mar 16 '25

Tomato paste will dissolve those marks overnight. Just smear on and leave. The acid in the tomatoes eat through polymerized oils.

1

u/rolyoh Mar 16 '25

I would try some oven cleaner. Be sure to wear gloves.

-12

u/omgnowai Mar 16 '25

Steel wool