To test the method out, I burned some food in the Dutch oven (on purpose). I put a bit of leftover finely diced onions and bell peppers in the Dutch oven along with some oil, flour, and sugar, which I knew would scorch and really put the method to the test!
So, did it work? The boiling water did a great job of loosening and dislodging some of the mess, and the wooden spoon easily scraped up a good portion of it. But, unfortunately, there wasn't any further flaking, even after I let the Dutch oven dry. I repeated the boil and scrape process again, and got a bit more up, but a stubborn portion of the burnt sugar remained on the bottom of the Dutch oven.