I do all the cooking in the household. At least once a week is spaghetti night. Generally my spaghetti sauce is never the same twice. It’s always pretty good, but different. Sometimes I make it with a can of whole tomatoes and sometimes with tomato paste. With small cans of pasty substance (refried beans included in this group), I use a manual can opener to pop one lid off. I take it over to the pan the can contents are going to be dropped in, flip it over and proceed to pry the lid off the can’s upended bottom. Most of the time, with perhaps a small shake or two, the contents slide right out of the can without any residual. That works great. But, those tiny cans of tomato paste are nearly impossible to open. I have gone through five can openers, from the cheap grocery store ones through an expensive Kitchen Aid. The can simply tilts away from the opener and then falls off - usually into my hot pan of other cooking ingredients.
Does anyone know of a good manual can opener that will open those designed in hell tomato paste cans?
My favorite can opener is a made in china $6 job that functions as well as if not better than the $40 swiss one that preceeded it. However it won’t open the rounded bottoms either. Just use a spoon, add a little water and shake it around to get the rest and dump it in. Drain a little juice off the tomatos and it comes out the same.
Put some carrots in next time too. but avoid peanut butter cups - the pb doesn’t dissolve very well, though the chocolate goes well in chili.
This is the best can opener I have ever had – bought it in Germany, but it’s made in the UK and has a US patent so you might be able to get it in the States. It takes the entire can top off but it’s a tight “slice” and you usually have to use a little plier mechanism on the can opener to pry the top off. The seal is so tight you can put the top back on if you want to store things in the can. A great tool to use – I look forward to opening cans! Here’s a link:
Hey I just bought one last week, as I had the same issues. I also find that really large cans are hard too. Anyway, I bought the OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener. Expensive, but it works great and won’t cut anyone.
1 - buy about 8-10 roma tomato’s, garlic (fresh), and basil (fresh if you got it)
2 - slice tomatoes in half
3 - pour a small bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on tomato’s, sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt, pepper and basil (if you have dried basil)
4 - peel garlic a clove or two, not to much, this is not Emeril and I dont want to imagine his garlic breath (you can do onion too if you want)
Put everything on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 for about as long as it takes to boil a big pot of water (35-45 minutes). Cook your noodles and when they are done put the tomatoes and all in a blender. Add some italian cheese and you are set.
Cheap, easy, no chemicals, no bugs (you ever been in a tomato anything factory?) and pretty darn tasty.
P-38, AKA “John Wayne.” One came in every pack of C-rations. You can get them at your local military surplus store for $.50 apiece. Once you get the hang of it, you can open a small can in less time than an electric, plus get a wrist workout at the same time. You can also carry one on your key chain.
I also have a “cheap” grocery store hand crank job that usually does the trick.
But as an alternative, try using tomato paste out of a tube. It’s sold in higher end “gourmet” stores, and some larger chains. It tastes much fresher, without the “canny” metal taste.
I have found the ultimate can opener! It took many months and several broken can openers and seriously tweeked 8 oz tomato cans. The model that works like a champ is an Oxo. Here’s the website: http://www.oxo.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=314