The best we can have in the kitchen is a fully functional tool to which we can give various uses with an efficiency of professional category. One of them is the toaster oven, a team that for every great chef and even for those who are not, is a weapon of great performance but, how can you do a correct cleaning of it?
If you have asked this question on more than one occasion, you’re just in right place, you have found the perfect place where we will explain step by step how to give a correct cleaning, without causing any damage and what is best, it won’t take much of your time.
The first thing we must keep in mind is that equipment or utensils inside a kitchen that handles high temperatures should have an ideal rest of at least 20 minutes in order to completely dissipate the heat and not cause damage to the tools more valuable, your hands. However, this does not happen in the same way for toaster ovens, most of them work with much higher temperatures, so they are characterized as “non-temporary equipment”, that is, they are instruments that once their function is finished they mustn’t be handled quickly. For this reason, it is recommended to wait around 30 or 35 minutes with your main hatch open and your electric controller disconnected. What is sought with this is to get the largest air circulation within its metal body and a complete cut of its functions?
The second thing that we must take into account is to know the equipment that is being manipulated, and with this reference is made not to the way it works but to the components that make it work. Most conventional toaster ovens are small in size, highly developed and with the ability to be easily incorporated into a small domestic kitchen, but their main characteristics lie in their stainless steel metal walls, which, given their properties can handle large amounts of temperature but, What happens if we do not comply with the above mentioned?, simply the walls of our equipment will suffer a very small fracture that over time will begin to be a problem, then, what should we do ?, usually for the cleaning of these equipments people only use water with a sponge covered in soap, but this may not be all that good, so it is recommended to use an absorbent towel or in its absence a current, but paper, this will make it completely isolate the high temperatures causing a normality in the breaking points of the steel walls of our kitchen utensil.
As step number three, it is recommended to use a compound known in some places of South America as “The effective” given its various properties and uses. This is not more than a few grams of “Bicarbonate”. Take a little of this compound in the tip of a small spoon and mix it at a rate of approximately 100 Ml of water, shake enough and add a couple of drops of lemon. By having this mix, you will use a small cloth towel, moisten it considerably and clean the inside of your toaster oven. What is achieved with this is to reinforce the natural properties of the metal walls of the equipment, as well as the bars “grills” (Accessory that is used on some occasions)? But the most important thing is that the mixed compound plus the addition of small drops of lemon juice, cause a chemical reaction, not toxic, not harmful to ingest possible odors, nor of danger to your hands, which disinfects, crystallizes, and Brightens your kitchen tool It is very important that you leave the mixture spread over the body of your oven for at least 5 minutes to achieve greater effectiveness in the disinfection issue.
As point four, you should continue removing the remains of the bicarbonate mixture, and to do so use another lightly dampened cloth towel. With this, we get a cleaner finish, disinfectant, and that does not cause any effect on future food entering your oven since, the small moistened towel will absorb completely even smaller particles of bicarbonate since, due to its chemical properties, they are looking for fast coupling with water molecules.
As point number 5, and to achieve a better finish, you should use an absorbent paper towel, which should slide through the interior of the body of your oven to achieve a complete absorption of liquids, also providing a new layer of friction to the metal that will come back in contact with great temperatures and that will improve its usefulness considerably.
And finally, already reaching the final touch, you should only leave the glass door of your oven open for at least 2 minutes. What is sought when using this method is to leave a circulation of air inside of it for a prudential time to expel vapors created by the metallic body of the equipment when coming into contact with the water particles. Also, it is a good a true that most of the body of this equipment is made up of alloys of various metal compositions that help that its deterioration and possible oxidation is almost zero, however, does not prevent it. The fracture that the metal exerts when receiving large amounts of temperature causes a flash of small particles that at the end of our process are released by the contact with the molecules and with the air circulation they return to their original state.
And that’s it!
As you can see, you are only investing a few minutes of your time to use these methods, with common materials, which besides being profitable and safe, will give you a greater saving of your detergent, since, it will not be very useful for this case in addition, your food will leave aside those possible flavors or hidden odors that remain when leaving your oven those rich and delicious roast or a succulent pizza.