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Re: Cleaning burned pressure cooker

On Thu, 1 Jan 1998, Joe wrote:

<less dramatic tips on cleaning scorched pressure cooker snipped...>
> 
> As and ultra last resort:
> Bring it to a machine shop and ask if they can clean it for you. They may be
> able to remove / cut off, a small amount of the aluminum bottom inside of
> the pot with a lathe, which shouldn't harm the pot.

Eeeek!  As someone who has spent considerable time in machine shops and 
used lathes, I have to say this doesn't sound like a very good idea.
Ignoring the feasibility issues (lathe or mill, finding that big a drill 
bit), there are some other problems.  Even if they do manage to remove 
the bottom layer of the inside of the pot, it will never be nearly as 
smooth as it was.  Also, the inside edge (where the sides meet the 
bottom) will now be a sharp 90 degree angle, instead of slightly rounded 
as it is now.
Mainly though, having working in a machine shop, I would be very hesitant 
to eat off of anything that came out of there.  Definitely not food grade 
stuff.

Interesting idea though!  And since Neil already got his pot clean, I 
guess we'll never have to try anything this dramatic.

btw, Neil just mentioned that he uses a small amount of oil to keep beans 
from foaming and blocking the escape valve of the pressure cooker.  
Though my pressure cooker's instructions say to do this, I've never found 
it to be necessary at all.  When I take my lid off, I always look to see 
if this happened, and I've never seen it happen yet (and I've used it a 
lot).   Results probably vary depending on the style of pressure cooker 
though, but mine isn't a particularly fancy one.

Susan Lehman
UNC-Chapel Hill
Go Heels!

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