I was improvising with some scrambled eggs, and decided to put a spoonful of white sugar in while cooking them. The recipe was good, but the subsequent coating of egg on the teflon pan was very difficult to scrub off. I suspect that the sugar made it "stickier," perhaps, or maybe was more inclined to burn onto the pan.
The food was good, is there a way I can avoid making the pan so difficult to clean?
Melted and re-hardened sugar (including caramel) is very difficult to remove through mechanical action, but trivial to remove by soaking. Just pour in enough hot water to cover the sugar and wait an hour or so. (If oil was used, add some dish soap.) For a quicker turnaround, you can simmer the pot with the water on the stove; 10 minutes should be enough to remove even a thick coating.
Add the sugar at the very end.
When heated the sugar turns into sticky caramel that then cooks onto the bottom of the pot. If you wait until the very end to add the sugar there is no time for this to happen. One the food is ready add the sugar, give it a quick stir to incorporate, and serve.
Note: Usually the residual steam coming off the food will dissolve the sugar so there is no gritty texture. For food like eggs where there is little steam you should dissolve the sugar in a little hot water before adding.
If sugar starts caramelizing, it'll get stickier and harder to clean. (especially once it cools down.)
Have you tried deglazing the pan before you're done cooking? You just need a little bit of booze to throw in there to dissolve the sugar into some semblance of a sauce.
Honestly, throwing a bit of wine on the bottom of a pan that's stained all different shades of brown hiding behind some frying onions to clear it up is like magic the first time you see it.
Find something that works for you if wine doesn't go with the flavor you're looking for.
