Blackened bottom of pans and pots when cooking on gas or wood.

[deestafford]

Most times when I cook on a stove outside I get black soot on the bottom of the pot or pan I'm cooking with. I understand that occurs when you don't have the right gas/air mixture.  Be that as it may, how do you prevent it?  I've heard you can cost the bottom of the pot with dish washing liquid and that will prevent it. Any ideas or suggestions?  Dee

[Las Vegan Cajun]

I did a search for this and found that making adjustments to the air/fuel mixture until the flame is all blue, no yellow is one way.  Another suggestion is to check and see if any little critters , like spiders, have made any webs inside, that will disrupt the air/fuel mixture too.   Clean out any foreign debris if present then see if there is an adjustment for the air/fuel mixture and get that blue flame.

[Smokin Don]

Cajun is correct you want the bluest flame with no yellow. Early cooking out I bought a Moron fish friar. It had the familiar round cast iron burner with a venturi tube that mixes the gas and air. After about two years all I could get was a yellow flame. I called the co. and said I think I need a new burner. They said that burner should last a lifetime; you probably have something plugging the venturi tube. I went to a Weber store and found a venturi brush, cleaned it out and got my blue flame. I have that brush hanging in my smoker deck. I also use a cast iron diffuser on my gas burner. I think it helps but I think even with a nice blue flame I get some black on the pot. Don

[muebe]

The air/fuel mixture is the the key. Without the proper air to fuel mixture you have incomplete combustion. The soot that forms on the bottom of the pan is carbon caused when the products of combustion are not completely converted to energy. An incorrect air/fuel mixture on a gas burner will cause sooting. This can be deadly on gas fueled heating appliances like a wall furnace or forced air unit for example. Many times improper cleaning of burner compartments will cause plugged venturris and sooting to form. Then dangerous CO can enter the home and possibly kill everyone in the home.

Also having the pan too low on the flame can interrupt the inner cone of the blue flame causing sooting. This can happen when a burner head is mis-aligned or higher than normal causing impingement on the burner grate or pan itself. Anytime the inner cone is interrupted on a flame it will cause excessive sooting.

When cooking over a wood fire it would be nearly impossible to avoid the carbon forming on the pan but keeping the pan higher above the fire will help. The more the flame touches the pan the more carbon will form.

[LostArrow]

Most times when I cook on a stove outside I get black soot on the bottom of the pot or pan I'm cooking with. I understand that occurs when you don't have the right gas/air mixture.  Be that as it may, how do you prevent it?  I've heard you can cost the bottom of the pot with dish washing liquid and that will prevent it. Any ideas or suggestions?  Dee

Don't use your wife's good pans!

[deestafford]

I also notice that when there is even a slight breeze the air/gas mixture gets changed and there is more yellow than I'd like.  I've never tried the dish washing liquid trick and I'll do it sometime and give y'all a report.  Dee

[Las Vegan Cajun]

  I've never tried the dish washing liquid trick and I'll do it sometime and give y'all a report.  Dee

I've read in several other places that the dish washing liquid tricks works too. I've never tried it but would be interested in hearing the results.

[AF5W]

Liquid dish detergent works well when cooking on open wood fire coals, never tried it on gas.

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[Pam Gould]

Liquid dish detergent works well when cooking on open wood fire coals, never tried it on gas.

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I cook outside on wood all summer long..the dish washing liquid works for outdoor cooking ONLY, you will have a mess inside and wish you hadn't.   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

[AF5W]

Liquid dish detergent works well when cooking on open wood fire coals, never tried it on gas.

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I cook outside on wood all summer long..the dish washing liquid works for outdoor cooking ONLY, you will have a mess inside and wish you hadn't.   .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.

Sounds like there was some hard earned wisdom there Ms Pam!  Best teacher?

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[Daze823]

when I was in the boyscouts, we learned to coat the bottom of pans with soap, but we didn't use liquid soap, we used bars of soap and they did the trick just fine.  You could cook over an open flame and the pots would be no worse for wear.

and the bar soap doesn't make a mess, I wouldn't hesitate to use it indoors as far as a mess, but I'm not a chemist and have no idea if heating soap puts off some kind of toxic fumes.

[DWard51]

Oh mercy me, a flashback to eons ago when I was an organic chemistry major in college...

The chemical makeup of Propane is C3H8.  When burned in the presence of Oxygen, the by products of a perfect burn are carbon dioxide, water and heat.  Insufficient oxygen in the burn gives soot water and heat, with soot being pure carbon, and some carbon monoxide thrown in for good measure.  So the answer is to open your air intake vane a little more if you have and adjustment for the air intake.