Have I ruined my All-Clad frying pan?

[foodshark73]

On the first use, no less! Just fried something up in bacon grease over moderate heat and now the entire cooking surface is dark brown and will not clean off even after scrubbing until my hand practically fell off. Tried Barkeeper's Friend already; have also applied a paste of baking soda and let that sit for a while. Is bacon grease AC's Kryptonite, or am I an idiot of some as-yet-undetermined kind?

Would be grateful for any tips. Thank you!

[suebro]

I suggest the microwave for bacon in the future.

[cooker4]

You could try putting one cup of water and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in the fry pan and bringing it to a boil. This should take out any discoloration and may work to loosen and clean any residue. You also may want to try a cleaner made especially for stainless steel like Bar Keeper's Friend.

[brendastarlet]

I second that but I'd use white vinegar because the odor is milder, and you also can see if the grease is lifting out, where with cider vinegar you might not see much of a color change.

[MakingSense]

Before you give up, try putting some powdered DW detergent into the pan with water and boiling it for awhile. I do this every now and then with an All-Clad pan I have. Bacon grease seems to be a particular offender but this gets it off mine when nothing else will.

[HLing]

"...Tried Barkeeper's Friend already; have also applied a paste of baking soda and let that sit for a while. Is bacon grease AC's Kryptonite, or am I an idiot of some as-yet-undetermined kind?..."

By the way, applying a paste of baking soda and letting it sit won't do much. Baking soda is too mild to be used as you would something abrasive and bleaching like Ajax.

It might be more effective if you wipe the pan dry, sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda, and scrub it with half of a cut lemon in a pressed, downward, circular motion.

If the above doesn't help, and it probably won't if you've already tried Barkeeper's Friend without success, then like others have suggested, this sounds lika a defective All-Clad and probably should get replaced by the manufacturer.

[Clarkafella]

Would oven cleaner work? I'm just asking, not telling you to try it!

[Kelli2006]

It should be perfectly safe. I would be careful if she has the LTD exterior, but the SS cooking surface is perfectly safe w/ oven cleaner.

I would suggest that she rinse multiple times with clean water before reuse.

[foodshark73]

Thanks for the reassurance--I'll give a call tomorrow.

[scubadoo97]

Get some Dawn Power Dissolver a try. I don't have All Clad but when my stainless pans get some burnt gunk on the sides this will make take care of it.

[ccbweb]

That's totally unheard of for me...I've got the all stainless All-Clad as well and while I have certainly managed to burn or otherwise leave stuck many many things on my pans, I've never had anything that Barkeeper's friend couldn't take care of pretty quickly. I'd definitely call All-Clad on this one.

[foodshark73]

Oops, should have specified: it's the all-stainless model.

[Annapolis07]

Call All-Cald. They may be able to help, but it could be a flawed pan in which case they will replace it for you.

I had a pan warp once and they replaced it no questions asked.