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Ovens are one of the most essential kitchen tools, responsible for delicious dishes ranging from baked salmon recipes for weeknight dinners and elaborate Thanksgiving turkeys, to sweet Italian rainbow cookies and flaky, tasty puff pastries. Needless to say, your oven does a lot of heavy lifting and accumulates grease and food residue as a result, turning it into a basecamp for bacteria if left uncleaned for too long. This is not only unhygienic, but it also has an effect on the quality of the food that you cook in it. More importantly, the buildup can sometimes lead to serious consequences like kitchen fires.
Despite it seeming like a herculean task, cleaning an oven can be pretty straightforward if you have the right tools. This is where a steam cleaner comes in: The hot vapors that a steam cleaner produces can help break up grease, grime, and stuck-on food residue inside the oven. This makes it easier to clean all the muck off with relatively less effort than simple elbow grease. Steam cleaning is also quicker because it requires less rigorous scrubbing, and is safer when compared to other methods which require the use of strong chemical disinfectants. Some chemical cleaners are corrosive enough to damage certain ovens and can also be toxic for humans. Plus, the steam will also do a good job of sanitizing your oven.
Tips on using a steam cleaner for the oven
In order to clean your oven with a steam cleaner, start by taking out all the racks and grills, and scrape off any evidently large food particles stuck in there. Then it’s time start steam cleaning. Make sure that the reservoir of your steam cleaner is filled with fresh, ideally distilled water, and that you have the appropriate attachment head — in this case either a brush, hand nozzle, or scraper will do — before switching it on. Direct the hot vapor towards the greasy spots and have a soft cloth handy to wipe off all the gunk that loosens. You can change the heat setting of the steam cleaner based on the rigidity and toughness of the food particles you’re cleaning. If there are particularly nasty grease spots that refuse to come off, try treating them with a mixture of baking soda and water. You should be able to wipe the grease right off with a cloth after a few minutes.
Some swanky ovens come with a built-in steam-cleaning function. However, if your oven does not have this, and you don’t own a steam cleaner either, try boiling a pot of water with vinegar in the oven instead. This will produce steam which will dislodge any grime, allowing you to easily clean the oven once it has cooled down. Even though it won’t give you the same control and thoroughness a steam cleaner would, it will give you a cleaner oven which can greatly contribute to the overall hygiene of your kitchen and the quality of your meals. Of course, you could invest in a steam cleaner as they have multiple uses around the home, from cleaning grouting to sprucing up sofas, as well as cleaning a grubby oven. A mid-range one like this Awaski hand-held steam cleaner costs around $70 on Amazon.
