I feel better already! I mostly use these pans for roasting veggies and making biscuits, scones, etc. I sometimes use parchment, but mostly not.

Just get in the habit of always using parchment paper on your much used/loved baking sheets and you can tell your SIL that you "really appreciated her concern for your health and so I decided to always use parchment paper to put a layer between the food and the grungy pans."

Now can we talk muffin pans? I bet mine are grungier than yours....... LOL!

Teresa

OK, don't hate me. I have kind of a "thing" about keeping my baking sheets shiny. I use parchment paper or silpat when I bake cookies, scones, biscuits, etc. I do use these to roast vegetables, but I tend to use the already discolored ones for that. The one on the left is mine, it's about 7 years old. The one on the right came from Elery's house and looked about like yours when I got it. I've been scrubbing it since it came here, LOL.

As you can see from the scratches, scrapes and cut marks, they do get used a lot, then I scrub diligently.

So in our house if I clean them they look like mine. If it were up to Elery, they would look like yours. (shrug) Since I'm the one it bothers, I'm the one that scrubs.

Annie

Here's an old photo, taken to show what I stored in a new place. It shows, top and bottom (not counting the dog) the cookie sheets I use most often.

I love the bottom one. It is heavy and bullet proof. I usually use parchment paper, but don't sweat the cleaning of it. I used it tonight to roast brussel sprouts. The top one is the best "pizza peel" I have ever seen. It has a beveled front edge and three small rims on the other edges. Stainless steel, but it has acquired some "stains" over the years. I just don't bother to steel wool it.

You can tell which one I use least often. The shiny relatively new-looking one next to the bottom. And it is over ten years old. But I would always reach for the bottom one first.

So, hey, enjoy the richness of the patina on your cookie sheets. Tell your SIL patina is an expensive plus on richly used tools.

I wouldn't dare take a picture of mine and post. They look awful. About 4 of them are 45 yrs old and look like they have been thru WWII. Told the kids not to be putting them out on our sale rack, don't want anyone to know how I kept things. One of the sons said it just looks well seasoned. Got me an ink marker and wrote that on the bottom and dated how old they were. I am old and I don't look as good as I did 40 yrs ago either.

Got a couple new ones for company. But you know those new shiney ones don't cook any better than the well seasoned one.

I have missplaced a well taken care of cookie sheet that is 58 yrs old. It has been a good 3 months since I could not locate it. Now I am saying it is lost. I just cannot imagine what I did with it. Sometimes I feel it is looking at me laughing....you know you put something away in a different spot not thinking.

I am with Annie on this one. Mine may not be quite as clean but I do try.

Use parchment for most baking. Roasting veggies are what have made mine hardest to clean this summer.

I use a lot of Comet on my baking sheets.

LOL

Goodness, many, many years ago my dad scrubbed my mother's cookie sheets clean, boy did he get yelled at.

I use parchment paper for a lot, but not all, of my baking, so mine have accumulated a lot of charm over the years. I even have some of my mother's baking sheets - 60 or 70 years old. I treasure them.

mine all look a bit grungy -- they're at least 45 yrs old -- even tho I almost always use parchment paper for baking & aluminum foil for roasting-- now do we need to talk about the oven ?

Diane

Mine are black. Tough tittie. (haha)
I have a half dozen 1/4 sheets, half dozen 1/2 sheets. And a few full sheets. The full sheets are pretty since they do not fit in my oven and are used for prep...grinding, grill etc.

Black is how they will always be. But i do not cook on the surface. I always use parchment, foil/parchment, silpat.

Roasted root veggies tonight. Parchment.
I treat them like cast iron. A rinse, a bit of gentle soap, dry and back in the oven waiting for the next roast, under a roast, under a pie...foil lined, parchment, never cook on the surface itself, always covered.

I use parchment paper a lot but when things get spilled and burned on I use the Dawn Power Scrub I think it is called and burnt stuff comes off. Sort of like an oven cleaner for pans. I have a lot of nice jelly roll pans and cookie sheets and none of mine are grungy with burned on food. Most of the time the burnt stuff is caused from an occasional pie that has ran over. Mine are many years old. I have a couple of cookie sheets that are 60 years old and still looking good.They were wedding gifts. Most of the other ones are Sam's Club, aluminum ones.

Sue

This post was edited by Marilyn_Sue on Sat, Nov 23, 13 at 3:17

Er - they look normal to me :)

I have several that look "grungy" and that doesn't bother me at all. I do have 1 that is shiny, but it has never seen the inside of the oven. I "save" it for when I need to chill a sheet pan of cold hors d'oeuvres or something like that. Not sure why I do that, but when I got the new one a couple of years ago, I just kept it that way.

Alexa

Mine look like yours. I use parchment for cookies, silpat for roasted veggies, usually. I usually don't bother covering them for baked potatoes. I scrub mine with detergent and hot water after using them, but it doesn't get all the dark stuff off. I figure I have better things to do than to scrub for hours and not make any progress.

How do you get yours clean, Annie?

Sally

They look pretty much like mine, I occasionally get energetic & give them an extra scrub. I used to really feel bad that mine look so bad, but I have noticed a couple of times on cooking shows where the chef used a "well loved" pan. I was so happy to see that. True, it was only 2 or 3 times I've caught it, usually their stuff is so shiny new.
On another question, do you use different pans for roasting veggies than you do cookies? I never thought of that before, but someone told me that the sheet pans can hold off tastes & best to use a set for baking & one for roasting. I have certainly never noticed it myself.

My old ones look just like the ones in the OP's post. That is what old cookie sheets/baking pans are supposed to look like. I use parchment paper anyway so what difference does it make. I would never scrub all that "seasoning" off of my old pans! Your SIL doesn't know what she's talking about.

This post was edited by arkansas_girl on Mon, Nov 18, 13 at 12:15

I have some that look like yours and some that are nice and shiny like Annie's.

I use the grungy ones for ribs, potato skins and the like , as well as drip pans.

My shiny ones are for cookies, appys, bread, etc and I always use parchment paper.

When the shiny ones start looking less than shiny I start using them as the grungy ones and buy new shiny ones....this is a process that takes years.

Sally, I usually put the pan right into the sink, run some water in it and let it soak while we eat, then I scrub with a Brillo pad. Always.

I don't seem to be that diligent about everything else, but I want to be able to reach in the cabinet and pull out one of those 6 sheet pans that I have and be able to use it for a Texas Sheet Cake, a slab pie, for cookies or bread or biscuits. They are strictly baking sheets. I do use that one on the right for things like ribs, vegetables, roasting meats, and I have a dedicated one that's really bad for catching drips from scalloped potatoes, fruit pies, etc.

All my pans get that scrub, inside and out, except my old cast iron. That's a completely different beast.

Annie

I feel so much better!

I do have a parchment question, though. When you roast veggies on parchment, do they still get that nice brown crust? Incidentally, I had that pan out on the counter as I was preparing to roast a big batch or veggies.

I do have cookie sheets that I use just for cookies, but everything else, including scones and biscuits, go in the sheet pans.

I'm going to stop fretting over it and start calling it "charm", lol, momj! When I need a shiny pan I'll ask Annie if I can borrow one :-)

Shirl I hope you find your lost lamb, err pan.

Diane, no we may NOT talk about the oven :-)

I have both non-stick baking pans, and the shiny aluminum ones. My shiny ones are still shiny as I'm careful what I bake on them.

For roasting veggies I use parchment paper.

I picked up some skillets a while back on Freecycle. They were pretty gunked up, but Barkeepers Friend brought them up shining like new. Once there were cleaned, I realized how good they were. One is a Calphalon and the other Kirland brand. You could try BKF and see if it cleans your sheets.

I have a friend who has "company" cookware, and then the everyday stuff. Never made much sense to me! My half sheet pans are scrubbed and just a shiny as Annie's, but the one I use all the time is "well seasoned" as other posters have indicated. I have also thrown it away three times, but manage to rescue it from the garbage men because I change my mind!

Steve

I use parchment on the real cookie sheets so they are still shiny.... We won't discuss the baby one for the toaster oven though... talk about scary!

My sheets are in a similar condition. Periodically I use Easy Off oven cleaner on them. I spray a thick coating on the pan, seal it in a trash bag over night and rinse off the mess the next day. I only do minimal scrubbing, but most of the carbon comes right off. This technique should not be used on nonstick bakeware though. It would probably take off the coating. FYI, my sheets are aluminum and are not damaged by the Easy Off.

Yikes, what happened? I was looking through photo files at past Thanksgiving dishes for reminders and came across my 1/2 sheet pans. The carbon build-up doesn't really bother me and i suspect it is from my husbands focaccia. He does use parchment but it has olive oil rubbed on the parchment and baked at high heat. They are actually so black now that they look as if they are supposed to be that way...ish.
Now i want a couple fresh-ies, lol. This pic is just two yrs ago, dog biscuits. And the next pic in the file is two full sheets of granola using parchment also. Probably that same day.
I do use barkeep on my alum pizza pans but i don't want to spend the effort on the others.
They will blacken again in no time with all the roasting and bread baking.

Years ago I watched 3 ladies on a mission to clean pans that looked like the original ones. The pans had been brought to a pot luck and the ladies decided they needed cleaning. The Brillo and Ajax were not working fast enough. So... out came the Pine Sol and they went to town. By the time they were done and the owner of the pans came to pick them up she said "those are not my pans you must be mistaken". Annie while I admire your work on Elery's pan they'd be dousing it with Pine Sol and getting ready to go to town on it.

I don't know if I could use it again after those ladies doused it with pine sol. Eww. Even though it would be rinsed, I'd still smell it, I'm sure.

Speaking of smells lingering, the savory roasted aroma has permeated my silpats, which is why I only use them for that purpose. I don't know how to get that smell out of the silpats. Maybe pine sol! lol

Sally

Mine look...well-used. I like that word used above - "charm". Boy, mine sure are charming, LOL!

Since I do mostly roasting and baking of meats and veggies, I really don't care about cross-contaminating. I bake cookies maybe once a year - sometimes. My niece holds a cookie swap annually but this year I think I'm making mini-Black Bottom cupcakes instead of cookies.

I do line my commercial half-sheet pans with foil, but they get gunked up anyway along the sides. I throw them into the DW with everything else, run it on Sani-wash (without phosphates the hi-temp water works better at cleaning dishes), and figure that's good enough.

Nobody's ever died from my dinners or potluck items, so what they don't know isn't going to hurt them.

Chickencoupe - that is my method for cleaning my stove top grates. When I bought the stove, the directions said to NEVER use steel wool and I couldn't figure out any other way to get them clean. So now - I put them in a tall kitchen bag with ammonia-soaked rags and let stay overnight in the garage or outside on the patio.

Like magic, the stuff just comes right off the grates! I once used this method on a caste iron pot that I got at a garage sale but had to leave it in the bag for several days. Still - same result.

I just scrub the living daylights out of pans to keep them clean. I have a few aluminum baking pans over 50 years old, and they have very little accumulated stuff on them(just at the corners). I like to use SOS pads sometimes or usually the 3M green scrubbers with the yellow sponge backs. For burned on food, I will soak the pans in electric dish washing detergent and a little water for 15 minutes to overnight.

My baking sheets are pretty "fonded" up. Except I have some of those cookie sheets with the air in them, and I only use them for cookies and biscuits. They are still shiny. But the other pans that I use for everything else are a mess.

Yeah.. some things like the cook sheet dedicated to pita bread cooked at 400 degrees is definitely warped and black without return. I often wonder how much higher the temp needs to be in order to rework the metal LOL

I have arthritis real bad, so I am very happy about finding an easier method. I love SOS pads on things I don't care about damaging.

Mine look the same. I purchased heavy weight sheets over 11 years ago. They are washed front and back after each use and scrubbed for "caked" on bits but not for discoloration. I usually use a silpat or parchment but not 100% of the time.

I have gotten similar reaction from friends / family on the state of my sheets. I broke down and purchased new shiny ones for "public viewing" when I made a sheet cake for a picnic.

As a side note, I was watching a local morning news program when they visited a well respected bakery in the area. During the visit they showed their award winning bread cooling in the pan / sheets. Guess what .... they were "fonded up" and SIGNIFICANTLY darker then what my (or your) sheets look like.

Ha, mine all look like yours too! I mostly use parchment paper on them when I bake but what really started them on the road to grossness was roasting vegetables in them - can't do that on parchment. Mine are so cruddy I don't think hours of scrubbing would get them clean. I did, however, pick up a package of 2 heavy duty baking sheets at Costco that I am actually "saving" for the holidays when I have company so they won't see my "seasoned" baking sheets (silly, I know).

Just tell them "this ain't the Food Network HUN...there's no one sponsoring me new cookware for every meal!" Maybe they just don't cook so they don't know that real life used pans just do that unless you are OCD about them and scrub the heck out of them with SOS pads. I'm pretty sure if I scrubbed mine, they would rust. They are that Chicago Metallic (or whatever it's called) brand.

My pans are PolarWare, made in the USA. I get them at Sam's Club, they cost about $10 for two. They are aluminum. Aluminum does not rust, steel and iron rust. However, aluminum corrodes and becomes dull.

In addition, all the baking experts say that baking on dark surfaces can result in baked goods being too dark, shiny surfaces are preferred.

So, use your gunked up pans to your heart's content, but I don't think that because I like to keep mine clean makes me OCD. I spent much of my life being unable to afford to replace anything, so I maintain my equipment. That includes sheet pans. I didn't say anything insulting or derogatory about anyone else's methods or maintenance and don't think name calling is necessary or helpful.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Thu, Nov 21, 13 at 23:42

Duplicate post removed

This post was edited by annie1992 on Thu, Nov 21, 13 at 23:40

I also have the Sam's Club ones...I've had those for MANY years and just the other day there were some rust stops on them after I'd put them in the freezer to freeze up some pork steaks...or at least it looked like rust spots. Or maybe I just need to get the SOS pads out and scrub the heck out of them....nah....I'm doing good to even get them in my sink.

Last night I was shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond - my once a year trip there and sitting right there on the check-out counter was a stack of heavyweight "jelly roll" pans made in the USA by USA Pans. The size that was given was 10"X 15", but I knew that wasn't correct. So I whipped out one of the three small tape measures that I carry in my purse to measure it. The pan was more like 9"X14" - but it was very, VERY heavy for its size and only $10. So, yeah, I caved and bought one. Can't wait to use it to roast the sweet potatoes on T-giving day.

I'll report back my results - including the clean up of this new pan.

Here is a link that might be useful: USA Pans link

My pans came from a restaurant supply house over 20 yrs. ago. They're just heavy aluminum, like Annie's, but they've proven to be a work horse. And after all these years, I can still see my own reflection in them. I can also see my nose rapidly growing...

Seriously, I do keep the pans as clean as possible. And even though I always use parchment, the pans will inevitably start to show signs of the constant use they're subjected to. And I don't mind one whit.

Hey Annie, I haven't had my morning coffee yet. So who called you a name? I'll kick their sorry butt :)

Sol

That would be me! I said that cleaning them to shiny is OCD! Sorry!

I did get out the Brillo pad and none of the brown even moves.

My pans also were bought at Sams. Probably at least 6 years old or more.

Very easy to clean.

You can roast veggies on parchment. Even chicken and fish. It's fine and they get crisp and golden on the bottom. It is just not recommended to use them a second time. It is a one-use baking item.

Chefs just call black pans 'well seasoned'. I'm good with that.
My full sheets that do not fit in my oven are used for prep and when i do meat grinding to keep it all contained on the counter. Or when the pasta factory comes out. Nice that they still 'shine' having never been baked on.

Not OCD to keep pans clean. We just roast so often that it just happened somewhere, somehow.

Well, call me ocd also cause I scrub my pans sillyâ¦.

I think once you've neglected them for a long time , it's almost impossible to remove the baked on residues.

SOS pads are my best friends.

I so rarely come to this forum that I didnt even have it bookmarked - I have a question but began to glance over the thread titles and this one stopped me dead it my tracks.
I just KNEW what the pictures would look like if anyone posted one! I love this thread, it was so much fun to read.
Im very particular about everything - except my cookie sheets and, I must confess, my muffin tins. They look just as bad as the sheets. Well, they did.

Besides some family and a couple who are more family than some of my family, we unexpectedly but gladly insisted upon another couple coming over for Thanksgiving dinner when I found out that bit by bit their plans unraveled.
I have recently been to her home for a cocktail type of party and her cookie sheets and baking pans were well used but pristine. The idea that she would see the shape of mine threw me into a panic and I went out and replaced them all.
Mine get badly burnt by the use of spray pam. I tend to use parchment paper/cupcake papers but all it takes is one spray without elbow greasing them clean and that stuff burns in the very next time they are used. I have sworn to myself that I will keep them looking nice and so far I actually have. Check back in a year though, and that first photo in this thread will likely be what mine will look like.
I didnt know that parchment paper could be used for roasting. What a nifty piece of info! With my lipped pans I would use aluminum foil and a bit of olive oil but its wonderful to know that I can use the paper for things other than just normal baking temps which are generally fast baking.

Bellsmom, I love the pic of that cute fur face!

You know how the roasted veg is browned on top but still pale on the bottom where it sat on the pan?

Sometimes I put the pizza stone in the oven, put the bare pan on the stone, preheat the oven to 500F, open and spread the veg (tossed in oil, salt, etc) on the hot pan, then close the oven and turn the temp down to 350-400F. The veg sizzles when it touches the pan. My theory is that the hot pan, and the hot stone under it, fry the veg from below while the oven roasts it from above. Anyway, the bottom of the veg gets more browned this way.

I mention this because it is one time you wouldn't use parchment or a sil pat.

I am as OCD as the next guy when it comes to some things...I don't think of that as "calling someone names". We are all OCD about something.

As far as taking care of stuff so that it will last because you are on a tight budge...well I'm on as tight a budget as anyone and I have Revere Ware pots and pans that I still use every SINGLE DAY since 1981 as they were a wedding gift from my parents. They are in great shape still after all these years. I would have never even considered scrubbing my pans with an SOS pad for fear that it would damage them. It's not that I don't clean my pans, it's that I use a safe scrubber such as those green pads or another plastic type scrubber. I also take care of my stuff and that doesn't mean scrubbing the living daylights out of it. I still have most all of my wedding presents(kitchen stuff) from 1981 so I'd say that's pretty well taken care of. These brown sheet pans will still be here long after my rotting corpse is gone and forgotten about!

Pretty sure the browning is from using cooking spray before they improved it.

I will venture to put the blame on the less than appetizing baking pans on 'cooking spray'. When pam first came out, of course I tried it like everyone else did. Unfortunately, it seemed to gum up everything and was impossible to remove. I removed it from my pantry permanently. I grease pans, when necessary,
the same way my Mom did.

I will venture to put the blame on the less than appetizing baking pans on 'cooking spray'. When pam first came out, of course I tried it like everyone else did. Unfortunately, it seemed to gum up everything and was impossible to remove. I removed it from my pantry permanently. I grease pans, when necessary,
the same way my Mom did. And believe me, I am not OCD :-)

First off, Annie, or anyone else, I certainly did NOT mean to offend you! My apologies if I did!

I appreciate seeing the broad range of posters and their experience. I use parchment for things like scones and biscuits, but it never occurred to me to use parchment for roasting veggies -- I wish it had!

I suspect some of the "Charm" is from using oil with too low a smoke point -- I now know to roast with peanut or safflower oil which has a higher smoke point than olive oil.

Mostly I am glad to learn that I am not alone! My SIL really had me a bit freaked out by her reaction. I noticed that she ate the meal though!

John, I leave my pizza stone (heavy clay tiles) in the oven all the time -- it works great for baked goods and especially well for pie.

Thanks all for your comments! I'm going to roast some garden shallots and potatoes tonight, so I'll try the parchment.

Mabel, you most certainly did not offend me, my clean and shiny pans are a family legend, LOL. Only my mother has pans that are as shiny as mine, and hers are older than I am. She and my stepfather did some catering before he passed away and used those pans. She's not a great cook but he was, and she was the "clean up crew", so you know she had to do some serious scrubbing on those!

Annie