The Japanese have a special way of cleaning ovens. The dirt just dissolves and wipes off easily.

 

Cleaning the oven is one of the least enjoyable chores you can do in the kitchen. It can be especially tricky to remove grease that has built up and baked into the oven. Fortunately, there are some handy tips to help you deal with this problem.

It’s a good idea to give the oven a clean after every use.

It’s not uncommon for meat to sputter grease, and sometimes, when you take food out of the oven or taste it, a little bit of grease will splash inside the oven. If you leave it, the residue and grease will first congeal and bake the next time you use it. It’ll be even harder to get rid of.

Also, the baked-on dirt will eventually start to cause an odour or light smoking from the oven, which will make any further baking unpleasant. That’s why it’s a good idea to clean your oven as often as you can.

Special oven cleaner

Washing the oven can be really difficult and unpleasant, so there are plenty of oven cleaners on the market designed specifically for ovens. If your oven is really dirty, these products will help you get rid of the worst deposits. If you’re going to clean your oven regularly, a cloth and sponge, warm water and maybe some regular kitchen cleaner will do the trick.

You could try a dishwasher tablet.

If grease has built up in your oven and you can’t get it out, you could try the dishwasher tablet trick. Preheat your oven to 80 degrees Celsius and put a baking tray with water in the middle, maybe on a wire rack, and drop one or more dishwasher tablets in. Just close the oven and leave it for an hour or two.

As the water evaporates, it will moisten the air inside the oven and the greasy deposits will soften slightly. Dishwasher tablets are designed to degrease, and by being enriched with these vapours, they will allow the grease to loosen more quickly.

Then take the pan out, air out the oven so you don’t burn yourself, and get down to the business of conventional cleaning. The loosened grease will clean up much better than before!