I have used tomato sauce and or paste to clean my parents cookware (due to the way my dad cooks)! You just scrub it with a sponge as if the tomato paste was liquid dish wash. The cookware looks brand new! I looked up this page as my stuff has been in storage unfortunately with fluctuations in weather... so for some odd reason I had what looks like hard water build up on the screws that hold the handle to the pot, which are both stainless steel. So I put baking soda on it with a Lil water then wrapped with paper towels and poured some white vinegar. I let it sit for 20 minutes. Wiped with a sponge and cleaned regularly after. And it then again looked amazing!