Thursday, August 30, 2012

Old Smokey



You know I have this fire thing.  Sometimes I wish I didn't.  Like when I put the pot of plums and onions on to simmer into lovely chutney while I chat with my daughter who lives in another town three hours away.  Well into the conversation I can smell it.  Fortunately, the only real fire is the gas flame of the kitchen stove.

Steel wool on the working end of the stick





The char was only 1/4" thick.  Another pot in the cupboard can be used to finish simmering the chutney while I set to scrubbing, chipping, clawing out the char. Amazing what Things I get to do today that were never on the list.









Black specks that I'm after don't show up in this shot.
 This portrait is for the "big stick."
Leverage is the kitchen tip here.  Makes all the difference.

Only "cinders" gripped the bottom of the pot and refused to come off.  Steel wool pads (the soapy, sticky kind) seemed to be the solution.  Hands and fingers that had been canning all day just didn't seem to be able to put enough grit behind the effort.  So I grabbed a big stick and muscled the black remnants of the careless smoking off the bottom of the pot, Teddy Roosevelt style.

4 comments:

  1. Don't you just hate it when....

    I especially don't like the weak hands, but that's me all the time. Good job on the Teddy Roosevelt lever.

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    Replies
    1. Let's just keep the big stick handy in our back pockets.

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  2. Hi Handy Andy
    Thank you for visiting me on my blog and your sweet comment.
    Gosh- all that cleaning of that pot sounded like a big job!
    You don't give up- I can tell..... not until that pot is all shiny and new looking again.
    We burned toast today in the oven. At least there was nothing to clean. Now all the crows outside get burned toast for breakfast in the morning,.
    love
    tweedles

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  3. I have burned too many pots, some not able to rescue and others, like you, scrub, scrub and more scrub. I have lost my sense of smell, and that is when the timer became my friend. I use it all the time, as I am easily distracted. I have learned not to get too far from the sound of that timer. We all adjust to what we have to.

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