My toaster oven is only a couple of years old. Ican't seem to get the trays clean and grease free. Any solutions?
Hi Mother,
- have you tried leaving them overnight in the sink covered with hot water and a sprinkling of baking soda ? :cool:
The trays in mine are steel so I put them in a shallow plastic container and spray them with Easy-Off, leave them for several hours, lightly scrub, then pour a cup or so of vinegar/water mix over it (1 part Vinegar/3 part water) rinse and repeat until clean. NOTE: consider using rubber gloves during the short scrub session unless your hands are pretty tough, even then rinse afterwards with the vinegar till your fingers are no longer slippery. Be careful when spraying Easy Off into any container that is smaller than a normal oven. Whenever I use it I always put on eye protection. Also, use short bursts, else you will get blowback and the stuff is pretty caustic. Its primary ingredient is old fashioned Lye (Sodium Hydroxide). If you do get any on you use the vinegar/water to neutralize it.
If the trays are aluminum then Easy-Off will start to eat the aluminum after it eats the grease. Note: The non-liquid Drano is nothing but lye and little chips of aluminum. The lye reacts with the aluminum, which generates heat thus making the Lye more effective just like a warm oven makes Easy-off work quicker.
If you have an aluminum tray you can still use this approach but limit the amount of time you let it sit just a few minutes and try to spray the Easy Off only where there is grease to be removed. Note, after use of Easy Off on aluminum it will be clean but it won't be shiny anymore either. I don't recommend using this method on aluminum as a routine practice but only as a method to get them clean. After that you should consider doing what every Sushi bar in the country does and that is line them with heavy duty Alum foil which, depending on use, you simply replace as needed.