When I make myself a bowl of ice cream, I can typically “wash” my bowl to a pretty clean degree with just hot water. However, other foods like a braised beef reduction can produce fats that take quite a few cycles with hot water + soap to get off. Or when I get takeout with chili oil.
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Ice cream has a much lower fat content than pure fat, and a lot of its fat is emulsified into the cream. So it is a lot easier for the water to get in between the bowl and the residue. Fat is hydrophobic so water cannot get in between the molecules stuck to the bowl and the bowl.
Different fats have different melting points. If warm water can melt it, you’re easily mixing the soap with melted fat. If it can’t, you’re trying to scrub off bits of solid fat and combine it with soap. Milk fats melt at a pretty low temperature, and your ice cream isn’t even solid milk fat, so it washes easily.
Also, some of that beef fat will eventually solidify in your drain system even if you wash it down with soap and hot water. This can cause some nasty buildup over time, requiring a costly visit by the plumber. Heat it to make it liquid again, wipe off what you can, then wash it.
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