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Home remedy tested: How do you get an oven clean?

5.10.2017

Translation: machine translated

After a - let's call it a "mozzarella incident" - my oven looks like it has come straight from hell. Normally, I reach for an oven cleaner in these cases. However, I can't resign myself to it because the thought of a combination of detergent odour and food makes me shudder. Time for a home remedy test.

My oven looks unsightly and is crying out to be cleaned - and yes, I am aware that such incidents could be prevented in the first place. I just keep forgetting. So I came up with two tricks: Baking soda and salt as a cleaning agent. Sounds good. I've been using vinegar for a long time to get rid of nasty limescale marks. Then that could probably work too, right?

The test object after the mozzarella incident

Test 1: Baking powder

According to the instructions, I mix a packet of baking powder with an equal amount of water. After mixing, I realise that the amount is not enough. So I use three sachets of baking powder and the same amount of water. After about an hour, I wipe the whole thing away with a cleaning cloth.

Baking powder and water mix: it bubbles happily on the oven floor.

The magic behind it: The baking soda contained in the baking powder reacts with acids due to the moisture. The foaming creates carbon dioxide, which dissolves the baked-on dirt.

The result is really not bad compared to the beginning. Of course, I secretly wished that the dirt would dissolve completely - like in teleshopping adverts.

The oven after one hour of baking powder treatment.

Test 2: Salt

The idea is simple: the salt removes moisture from the dirt and is easy to dissolve. So I moisten the bottom of the oven and put a thick layer of salt on the dirty areas. I then run the oven at 50 degrees for about an hour. The result doesn't knock my socks off. Of course, the baking powder has already loosened a lot of dirt. But the salt also removed fine incrustations, which is unfortunately not clearly visible in the picture. What I'm wondering: Is it perhaps because the salt indirectly acts as sandpaper when wiping away?

Conclusion

I think the baking soda tip is great. Heavy incrustations have come off. Of course, it's still a case of touching up and scrubbing. A little chemistry may also have to be used, but certainly not as much as without the baking powder. So the tip is really recommended as a pre-treatment. I'm not so sure about the salt. I could imagine that the salt might work better on fresh stains.