I burned a pot of baked beans last night and was dreading the scraping and scrubbing usually involved. To avoid having that awful smell linger in the house, I covered the bottom of the pot with cider vinegar and left it to deal with in the morning.
A few minutes ago, I poured out the vinegar and much to my surprise, the awful burned mess poured right out.... all of it! No scrubbing involved!

Vinegar has a great many uses. The wife of former Chicago Richard Daley ("The police aren't there to create disorder; they are there to preserve disorder." said in response to the Chicago Police Riot in the 1968 Democratic National Convention) swore that a bowl of vinegar placed in a corner of a room got rid of the cigar smell, regardles of how many politicians were in the room.