I'm sure there have been numerous posts here about cleaning stainless steel, but I want to share my experience anyway.
I'm a pretty good cook, and I have the full complement of overpriced pots and pans. My favorite is a set of All-Clad heavy duty stainless I bought 10 years ago for around $800.
The other night I used the 10-inch skillet to brown some tacos. Simple enough. Corn tortillas brushed with vegetable oil, filled with shredded pork that had been braising all day. Tacos browned up nicely and everybody was happy, including me. They're one of my favorite comfort foods.
Unfortunately, the veggie oil burned onto the stainless skillet like you wouldn't believe. Just a brown gunky mess that I couldn't remove with normal washing. I set the pan aside, intending to deal with it later.
That later was last weekend. First thing I tried was a good soak in lacquer thinner followed by strenuous rubbing with purple Scotch-Brite. This didn't even cut the oil. It remained baked on.
I've seen deposits like this turn to ash when I put my oven into its clean cycle, so I put the pan in my heat-treating oven, cranked up the temperature to 600 degrees F, and let it soak for 2 hours.
It came out an unholy black mess. No ash -- more like a badly done powder coating that nothing, not even steel wool, would scratch.
In desperation I turned to the internets, where somebody recommended Bar Keeper's Friend for the worst buildups on stainless utensils. I was skeptical after all I'd done to it already. I was pretty sure I'd have to send this pan to its grave, but I bought a can of the stuff anyway. At $2 or so, it was a cheap experiment.
Lo and behold, to my astonishment, the first application of Bar Keeper's Friend cut about half the black buildup off the pan. I applied some more, making a nice thick paste and letting it sit for a few minutes. With only minimal rubbing with Scotch-Brite, the rest of the pan came spotlessly clean. I was freaking amazed.
What is IN this stuff? Should you be using it with bare hands? Should you be using it around food at all? If it can do THAT to a baked on mess like I had, what can it do to things you (presumably) want to keep?
Anyhoo, that's my story. I'm sticking to it, and I'm keeping a can of this stuff in my cleaning cupboard from now on.
-Frank [Not affiliated with the makers of BKF in any way.]