This $2 Kitchen Tool Instantly Degunks All My Dirty Dishes
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Despite being an inept cook, I spend copious amounts of time in the kitchen. My wife is a trained chef, and while I’m barely allowed to participate during meal prep, my time to shine (literally) comes after we eat when it’s time to clean up.
I pride myself on efficiency and resourcefulness when cleaning. It’s a dirty job, and I want it done fast with as little fuss as possible. Pots and pans with crusted-on gunk, grease, and food bits are the final boss of a good kitchen cleanup, and I have discovered a saving grace in a tiny tool that costs next to nothing: a humble plastic bench-scraper.
Bench-scrapers are typically used for manipulating dough on surfaces and in bowls. The good ones are made of metal, like a broad spatula without a handle. Cheaper scrapers are made of plastic, flexible and sharp-edged, and excel not only at scraping dough but at unseating dried rice bits and sauce from pots and pans.
Traditional techniques for cleaning cookware vary, of course, but most commonly involve soaking with soapy water and a sponge attack with vigorous scrubbing. This poses two problems. First, the time it takes to soak: usually hours. Second, the appalling state of a good sponge after scrubbing a filthy pan — no thank you. I like a sponge staying clean and lasting as long as possible.
The beauty of the plastic scraper is that it does a better job of dislodging grime from a host of surfaces than any tool I have yet encountered. Because it’s plastic, it does not damage those more temperamental cooking surfaces, nonstick or cast iron (as long as you don’t get too aggressive). Because it’s flexible, it molds itself to every curve, cranny, and corner of your cookware, where more rigid tools struggle. And because it has an extremely thin edge, it slips under caked-on grime and peels it off with ease. If you’ve ever used a credit card to scrape ice off a windshield, you know the concept. Most often, I’m deploying the bench-scraper foranyfood left on pots, utensils, and plates, not just stubborn grime. Once removed, you can wash the mess down the drain and give the pot or plate a good once-over with soap and a sponge, but you’ve spared your sponge a vile and degrading experience. (Note, however, that this little tool is not a miracle worker: You’ll still encounter the occasional glued-on polymerized film that may require more drastic measures like an abrasive cleaner or the extended soak.)
There are scores of plastic bench-scrapers on Amazon (in fact, we wrote aboutone specifically for cleaningmany years ago). They usually come in multiples that cost between $5 and $10. I tried a few models, trying to find just the right mix of flex and edge sharpness. The perfect balance in a single scraper did elude me, but I found one that isrigid and sharp— for really stuck-on gunk — and another that issuper-flexible, great for getting into nooks and crannies, though the edge deteriorated quicker. Let’s be real: These objects are not meant to last. They’re made from cheap plastic, and eventually you’ll want to dispose of them. I certainly understand not wanting to amass unnecessary plastics. But most sponges are also plastic, and I would wager the added lifespan of my sponges outweighs the scrapers in my overall plastic footprint.
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More rigid and sharp, for really stuck-on gunk.
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More flexible, ideal for getting into nooks and crannies.
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