How to Clean Stoneware Dishes
Stoneware, also called cooking stones, is made out of clay that is klin-fired at up to 2,000 degrees. The high heat, which welds the clay together, allows the cooking stones to withstand hot oven temperatures. Cleaning stoneware is hassle free, given that you know the proper way to do it. Keeping your stoneware in good condition sets them up for continuous use year after year.
Things You'll Need:
- Hot water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
- 3 tablespoons water
- Nylon kitchen brush or scraper
- Wait for the stoneware to cool to room temperature, after your meal, before you starting cleaning them.
- Set the stoneware under running hot water, up to 180 degrees F, for the purposes of disinfecting the dishes. Avoid using soap, because your next couple of meals will taste like the substance if you try to clean your stoneware with it. The soap eats away at the seasoning on your pots or pans because the purpose of it is not to disinfect (the hot water does this) but to loosen food that's stuck onto your cookware. The reason you have to pay close attention to how you clean the stoneware is because you want to leave on the seasoning that forms a non-stick coating. Your stoneware will form a layer of seasoning after you cook a few meals.
- Scrape stuck food of the bottom of your stoneware with a nylon scraper or brush the bottom with a nylon kitchen brush.
- Refrain from setting your stoneware in the dishwasher or self-cleaning oven. Wash them by hand in order to keep them in good condition.
- Reach for baking soda if you feel the need to clean your stoneware with something other than hot water when you experience buildup in the non-stick portion of your cooking pots and pans. Put together a paste by mixing 1/2 cup of baking soda with 3 tablespoons of water. Let paste sit on your cooking dish for up to 20 minutes. Scrub using a kitchen brush or nylon scraping brush to clean off stuck food. Rinse the stoneware using warm water. Dry the stoneware right after you clean it.