wait

August 11, 2018 8:48 AM

So we been opening cans the wrong way our whole lives?
posted by griphus (72 comments total)

I don't get it. How else do you use those kinds of can openers?
posted by betweenthebars at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

I can't help but feel like opening a can that way just leaves sharp edges pointing upwards, ready to cut you.

Also why do some cans still require a tin opener? Ring pulls are the glorious future! I feel betrayed every time I reach for a tin and it doesn't have a ring pull.
posted by stillnocturnal at 8:56 AM on August 11, 2018 [17 favorites]

I remember seeing this before. Both methods are valid. The difference is that the traditional way leaves a sharp metal edge on the inside of the can where it's less likely you will cut yourself, and the other leaves it on top for whatever Tobin Bell / Jigsaw craft projects you have on your "To Do" list.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:58 AM on August 11, 2018 [7 favorites]

Yes. Learned this in a restaurant. Much smoother and quicker.

I can't help but feel like opening a can that way just leaves sharp edges pointing upwards, ready to cut you.

It actually comes out much smoother, with many fewer points and barbs and warps to catch your skin and cut.
posted by Miko at 9:01 AM on August 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

I don't get it. How else do you use those kinds of can openers?

this way
posted by griphus at 9:03 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

I didn't know that this was a secret. I have encountered a couple of cans that refused to open this way, but it's what I'd usually do.
posted by howfar at 9:12 AM on August 11, 2018

To the Canmobile!
posted by thelonius at 9:13 AM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh my god. I just watched two and a half minutes of someone opening a can.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:13 AM on August 11, 2018 [49 favorites]

this way

I watched that whole thing expecting it to be a joke somewhere but nope it was just an incredibly earnest, excited guy explaining at length how to do something very simple

I’m not even exactly disappointed because hey, in the end I did get my expectations subverted after all. So thanks, I guess
posted by aubilenon at 9:20 AM on August 11, 2018 [15 favorites]

Whaaaaaaaaaat. I-- I have to go open some cans.
posted by lovecrafty at 9:29 AM on August 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

I can’t wait to try this but unfortunately I’m at my SO’s house and the only can she has without a ring pull is coconut milk and I’m not sure I can justify opening it at the moment. And I have so many cans of chili at home!!
posted by ejs at 9:30 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Whatever, you guys. I open cans sitting down like nature intended.
posted by emelenjr at 9:34 AM on August 11, 2018 [45 favorites]

Oh my god. I just watched two and a half minutes of someone opening a can.


Dude has 136K subscribers.
posted by dobbs at 9:38 AM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

How to open a can with a concrete slab. I can attest this method also works using a belt sander.
posted by peeedro at 9:39 AM on August 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

I use this simple method because can openers are dangerous.
posted by dobbs at 9:39 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Jinx!
posted by dobbs at 9:40 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Somehow I expected, walking into this thread, that it would be about opening cans of beer. I am disappoint.

(This is based on absolutely nothing that griphus did/did not do, purely a consequence of my head canon as it were)

...so I guess I'm really saying thank god it's the weekend, and I need to go open a bunch of cans now?
posted by aramaic at 9:41 AM on August 11, 2018

40 Ways to Open a Beer Can That Totally Leaves the Beer Drinkable
posted by peeedro at 9:45 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

That was amazing. I just opened a can that way a few minutes ago, thanks to this. Both the lid and the can had very smooth edges.

I see an added benefit: some canned goods can slide out easily, with no lip to get past. Refried beans, tomato paste, etc.
posted by yesster at 9:55 AM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

ejs - if you want to practice, as long as the can has a crimped edge, you can do it. The can I just opened had a pull ring top, but I ignored it. I'm edgy that way.
posted by yesster at 9:56 AM on August 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

I upped my game on the ever competitive can opening front by getting a smooth edge can opener. An added benefit is that you can put the lid back on.
posted by bouvin at 10:03 AM on August 11, 2018 [27 favorites]

Ah bouvin, you beat me to it. I like the Kuhn Rikon. Opens jars and ring pulls too.
posted by mrcircles at 10:08 AM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm edgy that way.

It’s not you that’s edgy, nor the can that’s edgy. It’s the mind that’s edgy.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:09 AM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

dobbs,

Civilization has fallen. There is concrete, there are knives, but people are killing each other to get can openers.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 10:10 AM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

Apparently, all standard electric can openers I am aware of do it the "wrong way" as well...
posted by jim in austin at 10:32 AM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is NOT being used as designed because it favors the left hand. The can opener is the ultimate bane of lefties.
posted by Brocktoon at 10:35 AM on August 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

Most WTF method I've seen.
posted by smcameron at 10:36 AM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

There's a beans metaphor here, I just know it...
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 10:41 AM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

I inherited a smooth edge can opener because no one else could figure out how to use it. I love it. Warning: Now that jaggy edges are eliminated, you will find yourself "saving" cans and lids for some as-yet-undetermined future project.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:45 AM on August 11, 2018 [10 favorites]

This goes in the "open bananas at the other end!" category of meh.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:30 AM on August 11, 2018 [6 favorites]

I can't honestly remember the last time I opened a can.
It's all jars and cartons around here!
posted by madajb at 11:39 AM on August 11, 2018

Total aside, what is playing in the background? I want to say it’s from one of the Heroes of Might and Magic, but my useless video game music recall is failing me.
posted by Diagonalize at 11:47 AM on August 11, 2018

I upped my game on the ever competitive can opening front by getting a smooth edge can opener.

See, now that I've learned that a Swing-A-Way can be used as a side-cutting opener, those "smooth-edge" openers appear to be members of the "left-handed spatula" gimmick-gift family. Is the side-opener market a conspiracy between George Foreman and Ron Popeil? We may never know.
posted by rhizome at 11:52 AM on August 11, 2018

I have always found it funny that canned food was invented half a century before that can opener was. Now I see that future generations might find it still that two centuries after the invention of canned food we still hadn’t quite worked out how to open cans.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:55 AM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

As long as the contents come out at the end, I don't think anyone opens cans wrong.
posted by Sternmeyer at 12:03 PM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ooh, I love that smooth edge can opener.

Also that blog is a danger to my finances.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:06 PM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

P-38 or GTFO.
posted by bondcliff at 12:13 PM on August 11, 2018 [9 favorites]

Oops wrong thread
posted by Jakey at 12:15 PM on August 11, 2018

Great comment, wrong thread.

The music is from Interstellar.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:18 PM on August 11, 2018

This goes in the "open bananas at the other end!" category of meh.

Nope. I agree the banana thing is just stupid: you wind up with more banana goo on your hands and absolutely no benefit. The banana thing is the answer to the question, "how can we make eating bananas as messy and annoying as eating oranges?"

But, this is brilliant, particularly because it doesn't immediately drop the lid into the can after it's opened. I've never seen anyone use a can opener this way, including the dozen people I've lived with and several professional chefs. I've been holding it like my mom did - in what is now quite obviously the dumb way - since I was a kid.

I'm sold. Time to figure out what canned food I'm going to eat today so I can try it out.
posted by eotvos at 12:53 PM on August 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

OXO smooth edge can opener

works great, no sharp edges and you can still use the lid to close the can.

What's all the fuss about? (preview to boudin)
posted by TDIpod at 1:00 PM on August 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

Yeah but if you pop the whole top off you can’t tip and drain it one handed.
posted by Crystalinne at 1:04 PM on August 11, 2018 [8 favorites]

I call shenanigans!

I have both a side can opener that came with a picture showing it held vertically, and I have a top can opener, that is held horizontally. I just tried using the side opener as a top opener. Did not work.
posted by BlueHorse at 1:06 PM on August 11, 2018

Doesn't work on tuna because you can't use the lid to squish out the water. (Ring pulls are also bad for this; it's not impossible, but the lid gets curved/bent in the pull process, making it hard to hold flat to squish the water or oil to drain.)

The other method - the one that leaves you with a sharp disk floating on the can contents and trying to figure out how to remove it without touching the edges - is better for anything that needs the liquid drained out. But I'm gonna start using this method for everything else.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:09 PM on August 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

Besides children and accidents, what even is the benefit of side opening? I'm under the impression that it's bad to refrigerate food in their tin cans, so it's not like I'm going to use the lid again. I'll put the (leftover) food in a storage container if I'm not using the whole portion.
posted by rhizome at 1:21 PM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

P-38 or GTFO.

I grew up using FREDs, the P-38's Antipodean cousin.
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on August 11, 2018 [5 favorites]

Total aside, what is playing in the background?

Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack.
posted by dazed_one at 2:28 PM on August 11, 2018

I came here to recommend the Kuhn Rikon opener. I've had mine for years and love it. It feels odd learning that traditional can openers do like 90% of what it does, though - I had no idea. I guess the added benefits of the Kuhn Rikon is that it produces smooth edges, and includes a catch and toss mechanism so you can cleanly deposit the removed lid into the trash without ever touching it.
posted by naju at 2:44 PM on August 11, 2018

I came here to recommend the Kuhn Rikon opener.

And it is nothing new. The original patent goes back to 1984. Variations have been around for a while.
posted by JackFlash at 2:57 PM on August 11, 2018

There is a purpose to everything. You can't drain the water or oil from the can (example, tuna) if you open it to the side. The horizontal method is great for clean access, but bad for additional manipulation.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:47 PM on August 11, 2018

this is how i learned to open cans
the first time i opened a can in front of my first partner they looked at me bemusedly and said "you don't open cand like that!" and later showed me the "right" way. i said that both ways seem right but i find the way i learned easier for me, but they insisted that my way (the way the video says is the "right" way) was wrong.
things didn't work out
posted by LeviQayin at 4:49 PM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Toss er in the air, take .357, Bon appetite.
posted by clavdivs at 5:09 PM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

I open cans like this and can still easily use the lid to help drain the water from my canned salmon. Not sure what all the fuss is about re: tuna. Do ya'll need your tuna squeezed completely dry before you make tuna salad or something?
posted by cnidaria at 7:36 PM on August 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

> I can't honestly remember the last time I opened a can

I was surprised to realize last year that few-to-none of my Girl Scouts knew how to use a can opener. But most of the foods I opened with a can opener at that age don't come in those sorts of packaging any more. Deluxe mac and cheese, the blueberries in blueberry muffin mix, fruit cocktail, assorted canned fruits or vegetables -- they're all in boxes, pouches, have pull tabs, or are frozen. (One of my kids is a bean addict and he can use a can opener like a pro.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:50 PM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

Just tried this tonight with my shitty can opener, and it's a revelation. Dang.
posted by figurant at 9:05 PM on August 11, 2018

Do ya'll need your tuna squeezed completely dry before you make tuna salad or something?

Yes.

I bought the Oxo smooth edge opener after a nasty accident I had on the jagged edge of the can recently. I seriously tried to google how to use it because it wasn’t obvious to me. It doesn’t really feel like it’s working either, as you’re twisting. But it actually works great and gives me peace of mind that my kid won’t slice himself on a razor sharp can lid.
posted by JenMarie at 9:44 PM on August 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

We’ve got the OXO smooth edge can opener, and I think it must’ve worn out or something, because the mechanism keeps skipping and I have to go three or four times around to get the lid to completely loosen.
posted by leahwrenn at 9:49 PM on August 11, 2018

hmmm, I just tried it and, nope. it ended up getting a thin slice of label into my food. I think I'll stick with the old way
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:34 PM on August 11, 2018

This is the work of satan, how will I make drinking cups after the apocalypse?
posted by boilermonster at 11:13 PM on August 11, 2018

This is NOT being used as designed because it favors the left hand. The can opener is the ultimate bane of lefties

It’s early in the morning here so I may be a little slow but I don’t understand how the left hand is favored? They’re still twisting with their right hand.

I tried this with my left handed can opener from Lefty’s and I don’t know if it was the can or the opener but it definitely didn’t work.
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:09 AM on August 12, 2018

I just watched two and a half minutes of someone opening a can.

How do you feel about a solid half hour of discussing a video of someone opening a can?
posted by rokusan at 2:03 AM on August 12, 2018 [12 favorites]

Rotate the can through the fourth dimension an eat it like an apple and throw away the core.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:14 AM on August 12, 2018 [9 favorites]

I'll give this a try the next time I open a can of beans or tomatoes, but nice as that Oxo model looks, I would need a regular can opener around for being able to squish/drain cans of tuna. I'm sure there is a workaround for the tuna issue, but I've been doing it this way for my entire life and it works pretty well.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:26 AM on August 12, 2018

Is there a mirror to the video? The original tweet has been deleted.
posted by chara at 6:30 PM on August 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

This video tweet is still up.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:43 PM on August 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Swapped links. I've done all that...(sunglasses)...I can.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:04 AM on August 13, 2018 [8 favorites]

So like six years ago I made a video of me opening a can of Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce.

It got 27 thousand views. My next highest video ever was like 67 total.

Also, apparently I opened it incorrectly. Imma gonna keep doing it that way. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:43 AM on August 13, 2018 [4 favorites]

Do ya'll need your tuna squeezed completely dry before you make tuna salad or something?

Yes. I pestered my husband to make a wooden disk I could use to press the lid harder than my fingers can; I want the tuna very, very dry before mixing it with mayo and spices etc.

(Dried onion, dry mustard, Spike™, and pickle relish, if anyone cares.)
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:48 PM on August 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

The tuna I buy has a big warning not to drain it. I'm living in the future, I guess.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:52 PM on August 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I tried this today using whatever Oxo can opener I have (not the one linked to above) and it didn't work. It kinda dented the lip of the can and nothing happened and then I gave up and opened it the normal way, as the good Lord intended.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:53 PM on August 13, 2018 [2 favorites]

The tuna I buy has a big warning not to drain it. I'm living in the future, I guess.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that this needs more of an explanation. Are they worried about getting disease-carrying material from the can lid into your meal? Cutting your fingers? Wasting that delicious tuna-flavored water, when there are millions of cats who would love it?
posted by eotvos at 11:20 AM on August 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

I opened the wet food cans for our dogs this morning using this unfamiliar method, and was so excited by the results that our dogs noticed my elation and started wagging and tippy-tapping in support.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:49 PM on August 14, 2018 [4 favorites]