Don't let the title of this post fool you - I am actually excited about this discovery.
I chronically burn my food onto my pots and pans. All the time. I should probably just stop turning the burners all the way to "high" when I cook, but I'm just impatient that way.
Until now, it was all elbow grease and frustration to get those burns off. But, a couple of weeks ago, I burned some snack onto a friend's Le Crueset, and could not get it off. No matter what. This was obviously unacceptable. And I didn't want to buy a replacement pan.
So, off to the internet for the knowledge. After some Googling, I found a bunch of articles that swore that baking soda was the solution to my woes. I don't remember where the articles were, or how to find them now, but I rushed off, got a box of baking soda, and after a bit more scrubbing (but much less than without) the pot was all shiny and burn-mark free. And, not scratched - baking soda is a mild enough abrasive to not mess up the surface.
Then, I promptly forgot all about this innovation. Until another friend waved his crusty, burned-up pan at me and asked what to do. It was then that I realized that I could actually clean all of my sad pans with the baking soda method.
I've just scrubbed half of my pans and a cookie sheet with baking soda, and they are oh-so-much shinier. But, now my arm hurts, so I will put off the other half until I'm feeling more feisty.