If there was ever an appropriate time to consider cleaning your oven, it's now. That dark, cavernous space is easy to ignore when the door is closed, but consider how much overtime your oven has put in over the past couple of weeks. The Christmas cookies for your neighbor's Christmas party, the cupcakes for your son's class, the brownie batter Aunt Minnie spilled, and, of course, the turkey all did time in your oven. It's a certified mess now. If you're lucky, you had the foresight to purchase a self-cleaning oven. But if you own an older home and inherited the kitchen's existing oven, you're probably going to have to roll up your sleeves and clean your oven the old-fashioned way: with a few cleaning supplies and a lot of elbow grease.

The longer you've been in denial about the caked-on culinary creation in the bottom of your oven, the harder the job ahead of you. But don't despair -- it is possible to lift up the residuals from a year's worth of baking.

Wait a minute, you say; can't I just head to the nearest grocery store and buy a container of oven cleaner that will, with a single spray, make my oven look brand new? Sorry to burst your bubble, but those cleaners are for smaller jobs. They're most effective when used right after a mess -- one mess -- has been created. Instead of spending your money on those products, you'll need to use stronger cleaning agents -- many of which you probably already have at home. And before you head to the kitchen to tackle the job, remember that now is not the time to be breaking in that new white shirt. Put on your grungiest attire for your date with the oven.

Before you begin cleaning your oven with any substance at all, make sure the oven has been off for several hours. Preferably, you'll be tackling this project in the morning after the oven has been off all night long. If your oven is hot or even remotely warm, you should never under any circumstances be using ammonia or flammable oven cleaners to clean its interior. Sounds basic, but novices have been known to forget.

If your oven racks or broiler pan are encrusted with residue, remove them and soak them in your kitchen sink overnight. Add soap if the residue isn't particularly significant, or a touch of ammonia if your oven has been suffering from neglect and the deposits are stubborn. After scrubbing, rinse the racks and the broiler pan thoroughly the next day to remove any existing traces of ammonia before you place them back in your oven and expose them to heat.

The first step is to grab a container -- preferably one you don't have any attachment to -- and fill it with household ammonia. Place the container on the top rack of your oven, shut the door and leave it there for an extended period, either before you head to work in the morning or before you go to bed at night. The next step is to create your own cleaning solution of two of the most common and versatile cleaners in your kitchen: white vinegar and baking soda. The ammonia will help break down stubborn deposits; the baking soda serves the same purpose while helping to eliminate odors from your oven.

There's no set recipe for the amounts of vinegar and baking soda you should use in the mixture, but it should resemble a paste when you're done mixing the two ingredients. Experiment by pouring some vinegar in a container, and progressively add more baking soda until you have the consistency you want. Use a scrubbing brush (such as the variety that you use to clean dishes) or a plastic scrub pad (not steel wool) to apply the paste and clean your oven. This is where the elbow grease comes in. Take out your aggressions, or crank up some music to help get yourself inspired. This could take some work, but you'll see the results relatively quickly. To rinse off the paste, dampen a sponge with water and wipe the inside of the oven clean.

If you've never cleaned your oven, and it's a veritable museum to your cooking projects throughout the years, it's going to take the paste a bit longer to take effect. Cooks who fall into this category should apply the paste before going to bed and let it sit overnight. Just make sure you warn your night-owl kids not to fire up the oven to heat a pizza or make slice-and-bake cookies before bed.

It goes without saying that once you've applied a little elbow grease to the inside of your oven, the job won't be as difficult if you attend to your oven periodically, the frequency depending upon how often you cook and bake. Once you've removed stubborn residue, you need only spray the inside down occasionally with commercial oven cleaners available at your nearest grocery store. You'll soon notice the difference your efforts have made not only in the effectiveness of your oven, but also in the aromas drifting through your kitchen. Those of us who have allowed residue -- and particularly spills -- to collect inside our ovens have encountered persistent and unpleasant burning smells or the aromas of last night's dessert while tonight's dinner is cooking. And if you haven't been able to see inside your oven for as long as you can remember, you'll be able to do so now, which prevents you from having to open the door to check what's inside, subsequently dropping the oven's temperature and forcing you to extend cooking time and use more energy.

Published: December 29, 1999

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