Sugar burns really easily.

There has been an ongoing drama in my host family about a steel pot.

I wasn't home when the incident itself happened, but since then I have heard again and again how Mélida was making those strawberries that Rosie dropped off into jam and then she left the room and before she knows it the landlady is at the door and says to us that something is burning and Mélida rushes into the kitchen and Díos mío the place is full of smoke so she superquickly turned off the stove and ran out of the room and don't you smell the burning still and look how this pot is coated in black now!

The first step in the drawn-out pan saga was soaking in dish soap. Minimal improvement. Then buying steel wool and scouring, which took the stuff off the rim but not the base. Then, last weekend, I walked into the kitchen and found the empty damaged pot on the stove, high heat, absolutely empty. It stayed that way for hours, and Mélida proudly showed me that it made the soot loosen right up. Whaddya know??