It's perfectly fine to heat up a tin submerged in water as the temp won't go over 100C. Since the canning procedure most likely involves going over 120C under pressure the lining is made to endure this. An open flame? Not so much.
āOlder Cans: Often used epoxy resins containing Bisphenol A (BPA).
Newer Cans: Manufacturers have moved to alternatives like acrylics, polyesters, or oleoresins, often labeled "BPA-free," though these replacements have their own environmental and health considerations, according to Center for Environmental Health and EWG.
In summary: Expect a plastic-based liner in your tinned fish, even if it's labeled "BPA-free," as some lining is necessary for safe food preservation, notes The Guardian.ā
Where are you getting this info? That would be way more expensive for the canning companies
Not just older cans in many areas. It's still legal to have BPA in Cans in the EU. Some organisations made people aware of this fact a few years back.Ā
Pressure canning often reaches 250F which is around the ignition point for wood. Industrial canning may reach higher temperatures--but since it's typically done at 15 atmospheres I'm not sure what effect it would have on the liner.
I'm not an expert in thermodynamics but the majority of that heat is transferred away from the can, still likely unsafe because of the paper towel but the can definitely does not get hotter than it did in the pressure canner. Otherwise sterno cans would be 800 degrees instead of just moderately warm after you blow them out.
The fire doesn't actually contact the can, though. I do this occasionally, and the can only gets slightly warm. The paper towel just acts as a candle wick.
people are concerned cause they think fish tins are lined with plastic, which is rare most use a BPA alternative these days. Still not great but itās not plastics.
Google it up, BPA-free contains a list of stuff it could be that arenāt plastics. Alternatives Could also use Epoxy resins, polymers, polyester, olefins, and even acrylics.
Im not a chemist, these are the alternatives to BPA that they say are non-reactive to heat. Iām not doing anyoneās research Iām telling you what I read.
Having watched a ton of ration reviews on youtube, I've learned that the IDF does this with their canned tuna. Crack open the tin, drop a piece of napkin on top then set fire to it.
Maybe things have changed since then, but the IDF provides their soldiers with some pretty crappy rations.
Nah this is fucking stupid, sorry. If you want smoked tinned fish just buy smoked tinned fish, not fish with burnt paper towel in it. Not only is the tinned fish already cooked, but you're not gonna cook it appreciably by burning a paper towel on top.
Also, don't tin cans have some sort of liner on the inside? I don't think it's just straight metal you can heat up, you may be melting whatever liner it has into your food.
They often do. It's heat resistant to a degree (canning/boiling in other words) but you don't want fire around that. And if the can has been painted/printed afterward like many are... even worse
The way I understand it, this was an old Soviet drinking snack. Sometimes people had a near-endless supply of mid/low-grade canned fish, bread, vodka, and not much else. This was a zero-prep, zero-effort way to add some variety to the menu, and maybe warm it up a bit if you were outdoors.Ā
What kinda canned tuna is this? Iāve never see it have a skin, but I love fish skin. I bring canned tuna as like a staple snack when I camp or do long river trips
No more than you eat the wood used to smoke something. You don't eat the paper piece you put in it... there are some fibers you do eat, sure, but that's not a big deal, it's just plant fiber.
Do you eat vegetables right? Or at least pre-shredded cheese? Plant fibers are used as an anti-caking agent in many of them, especially hard pre-shreded cheese like parmasean.
Do you add extra cellulose to your pre-shredded cheese? No? Then why add paper towel to a dish that doesn't need it? This is a dumb argument. Adding paper towel to your food and lighting it on fire is dumb, it doesn't magically get less dumb because cellulose-based anticaking agents exist wtf
All of those cans are heated when they're packed and a paper towel isn't going to heat the actual contents to the same temperature as when they're packed.
You'll get more carcinogens sitting around a campfire.
They are heated to autoclave temperatures, not open flame temperatures.
Smoke your fish this way if you like. But, there is no need to. I mean, if you had that same can of fish in your home kitchen would you smoke your fish? Its the kind of tacky camper trick like buying a magnesium stick instead of just bringing a lighter that was in you kitchen drawer. Its just camper vibes.
They are heated to autoclave temperatures, not open flame temperatures.
The open flame doesn't heat the whole can to the same temperature as the flame... you can literally put a paper cup filled with water in an open fire and the parts of the cup in contact with the water won't burn until the water is boiled off.
I mean, if you had that same can of fish in your home kitchen would you smoke your fish?
Yeah. Why add flavor to anything? If it's in your kitchen why bother seasoning it, right?
Its the kind of tacky camper trick like buying a magnesium stick instead of just bringing a lighter that was in you kitchen drawer.
Someone's only experience with camping involves renting a site, diving their car tonit, etting up their camp there and it shows.
It tastes good. These fools down voting you are dumb. The fish already come full of microplastics and cancer because we filled the environment with it already. To that I say "so long, and thanks for all the toasty fish".
I think there's potential for the flames to pyrolise the plastic on the peeled-up part of the lid that doesn't have the benefit of the contents to keep it cool. I'm not sure how much of that burnt material might flake off and end up in the food. Probably not much.
It's probably not an issue in the bigger context of all the stuff we get exposed to routinely on a daily basis.
I cook outdoors with fire regularly and still try not to kick up ash while my food is in/near the fire. Just saying people have cooking quality concerns beyond being sheltered or paranoid
Gross. You can literally buy smoked tinned fish already. You could add smoked salt or sauce like a normal person if you actually care about flavor. Burnt paper ain't it.
Worst case you're melting the plastic lining around the tin. (surprise people! Tin cans are ALL lined with plastic.)
Oh wow. Guerilla tuna. Hadn't had this since military days. Toilet paper and a can of tuna + some bread. Decent dish when you've eaten mush for few days in middle of a damn forest.
I've seen this done without paper on tins of tuna in oil. Use a can opener, push the lid down to get the oil on top, light the oil, and pry the lid out with a knife or other utensil when you're done. Not sure about this method with the pull ring tab cans and paper towel, but hey, if it's not your cup of tea, you can eat the fish without doing this.
I thought it was stupid until I tried it. It both warmed it up and gave it a slightly smoky flavor. Now I do it every time. The can doesn't get even remotely hot enough to compromise the BPA liner.
Take a can of tuna, open it, put a clean paper towel, let it soak in the oil and then set it on fire for 15 minutes, it will smoke the tuna for a quick meal if you're really desperate, I had to do this when I was camping out in the woods with my older brother and we ran out of Vegetables to cook with
So many people emotional about something they will never eat. Does it exist, sure, is it stupid, yeah. Does it work? Yep. You donāt have to like it but you donāt have to fight over it either. Things can exist and not be perfect, thatās the point of this sub.
Literally so many Nancy Sues in here thinking they know everything cause they read a little word called microplastic one day when they were a teenager.
Because itās Tinplate steel. Generally Type L steel with a layer of tin on both sides. Unless theyāre using TFS (Tin-free steel), but that would have a layer of chromium instead
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This is actualy realy tasty but its a thing which is only good when you are in the army (I have learn this when I have served)
When you have 10 min to eat your only meal of the day make it count make it good and quick
In any other situation it is stupid just get some cooking stuff and take 5 more min to do it without microplasics
I know only one army that uses this method to heat up canned tuna.)
All the army around the world do some wacky shenanigans when on the field
Idf?
Ah, social media taking what is supposed to be a morale boosting tool to show off as a restaurant dish
But it was already cooked in the can before you opened it?
Yes but the point is to heat it or even fry it
But canned fish is generally already over-cooked.
The point is to heat it.
People like hot food.
That's what we did with tuna. Just put a paper on top, light in on fire, and wait. Tasted actually pretty good
Holy BPA, Fishman
~(_8I "The can seals in the flavor "
Most cans have a plastic liner inside. Heating it up like this is not a great idea.
Following tiktok trends isn't a great idea either.
Hopefully the tins that are recommended to heat up dont have this!
It's perfectly fine to heat up a tin submerged in water as the temp won't go over 100C. Since the canning procedure most likely involves going over 120C under pressure the lining is made to endure this. An open flame? Not so much.
Itās latex and itās food safe. Make sure youāre getting your microplastics
Lol what??
āOlder Cans: Often used epoxy resins containing Bisphenol A (BPA).
Newer Cans: Manufacturers have moved to alternatives like acrylics, polyesters, or oleoresins, often labeled "BPA-free," though these replacements have their own environmental and health considerations, according to Center for Environmental Health and EWG. In summary: Expect a plastic-based liner in your tinned fish, even if it's labeled "BPA-free," as some lining is necessary for safe food preservation, notes The Guardian.ā
Where are you getting this info? That would be way more expensive for the canning companies
Not just older cans in many areas. It's still legal to have BPA in Cans in the EU. Some organisations made people aware of this fact a few years back.Ā
Edit: Source: https://foodpackagingforum.org/news/european-commission-bans-bisphenol-a-in-food-contact-materials
Ladys and Gentlemen,
today i have the honour to present you
"the reason why satire has to be labeled on reddit."
Do you think food safe means "safe to be heated over open flame in direct contact with food safe"
Focus on the macroplastics and the micros will take care of themselves
We had someone need to go to the ER over this. So although I think you're joking I'm reminding people no, don't heat up cans over or in open flames.
Dude thank you. Exactly what I thought
Tinned fish is generally packed raw and boiled in the can, this is perfectly fine, these are made to handle much higher temps than that
You do realize that fire is way hotter than boiling water, right?
Pressure canning often reaches 250F which is around the ignition point for wood. Industrial canning may reach higher temperatures--but since it's typically done at 15 atmospheres I'm not sure what effect it would have on the liner.
An open paper fire is around 900F.
I'm not an expert in thermodynamics but the majority of that heat is transferred away from the can, still likely unsafe because of the paper towel but the can definitely does not get hotter than it did in the pressure canner. Otherwise sterno cans would be 800 degrees instead of just moderately warm after you blow them out.
The fire doesn't actually contact the can, though. I do this occasionally, and the can only gets slightly warm. The paper towel just acts as a candle wick.
Every canned product is heated in the process of canning it. None of it is done with an open flame though.
r/ConfidentlyIncorrect
Imagine not knowing how fire works in 2025, we've had this down for like... 400,000 years now, come on man.
As in, using the preserving oil as fuel? I have never tried it but I've heard that it's a common camping thing?
Itās the burnt paper towel people are concerned with.
The paper towel acts as a candle wick to burn off the oil slower. I used to do this with old candles once the wicks wore out.
Hereās me thinking that was the fish skin lmao.
This thread is funny because of all the back and forth of miss information.
Burn can good!
Burn can bad!!
Letās eat itās ready!!
I also thought that was fish skin.
That's Mrs. Information thank you very much.
people are concerned cause they think fish tins are lined with plastic, which is rare most use a BPA alternative these days. Still not great but itās not plastics.
What is it if it's not plastic?
Google it up, BPA-free contains a list of stuff it could be that arenāt plastics. Alternatives Could also use Epoxy resins, polymers, polyester, olefins, and even acrylics.
Those are plastics. You said not plastics.
Im not a chemist, these are the alternatives to BPA that they say are non-reactive to heat. Iām not doing anyoneās research Iām telling you what I read.
Yes, there are BPA-free plastics, but they are still plastics. You seem to have misunderstood that detail.
I suppose I did
They definitely react to heat rofl. They're plasticĀ
They don't contain BPA, and that's the only safety claim they can make
They most definitely use a plastic liner. It's to prevent botulism and the like.
The fish is cooked in the can in the first placeĀ
I do a lot of camping and backpacking
We donāt do that. Not with fish. Because then we have to haul out a smoky, fishy tin.
Having watched a ton of ration reviews on youtube, I've learned that the IDF does this with their canned tuna. Crack open the tin, drop a piece of napkin on top then set fire to it.
Maybe things have changed since then, but the IDF provides their soldiers with some pretty crappy rations.
Edit: Here's the burning napkin trick
Why not just open the cans and set them right next to a campfire for 20 minutes
My gf got pretty mad last time I started a campfire in the kitchen
Your gf might be part werewolf šŗšš awooooo
You would need to build a campfire every time you wanted sardines then
Bugs, birds, or maybe a squirrel will eat it before that 20 minutes is over.
Animals, notorious for wanting to get close to a campfire
r/mildlycarcinogenic
What the hell. Lol, just microwave your fish in the break room like everyone else.
This is actually really good. Try it when you go camping. It gives the tuna a smoky taste.
Nah this is fucking stupid, sorry. If you want smoked tinned fish just buy smoked tinned fish, not fish with burnt paper towel in it. Not only is the tinned fish already cooked, but you're not gonna cook it appreciably by burning a paper towel on top.
As you say, it's already been cooked. This isn't to cook it but to heat it up. It's been done by campers for years.
*hundreds of years
Sorry. Still dumb.
No I donāt camp or eat tinned fish. Yes all I eat is chicken star nuggets with hunny mussy
Who said it wasnāt? Just pointing out this is nothing new
Also, don't tin cans have some sort of liner on the inside? I don't think it's just straight metal you can heat up, you may be melting whatever liner it has into your food.
They often do. It's heat resistant to a degree (canning/boiling in other words) but you don't want fire around that. And if the can has been painted/printed afterward like many are... even worse
No cares about any of this but you I can say your whole life is stupid to me
Doesn't the towel act as a wick and you're burning the oil?
The way I understand it, this was an old Soviet drinking snack. Sometimes people had a near-endless supply of mid/low-grade canned fish, bread, vodka, and not much else. This was a zero-prep, zero-effort way to add some variety to the menu, and maybe warm it up a bit if you were outdoors.Ā
No idea why it's a social media fad now, though.
Like burning the bleached chemical filled paper towel on your food?
I live in a county without a functioning food inspection system, the paper towel is the least of my worries. I at least want to see my cancer coming.
Iām personally okay on ever doing this, but more power to the people! š
What kinda canned tuna is this? Iāve never see it have a skin, but I love fish skin. I bring canned tuna as like a staple snack when I camp or do long river trips
It's not fishskin, it's idiots putting a paper towel into the fish and burning it.
And whats wrong with that?
If this is a real question your asking, I have additional questions about your diet
If the answer is so obvious, why do you feel the need to deflect instead of just answering? You know you don't eat the paper, right?
You taste it right? Why do you think you arenāt eating it?
How much of your daily diet includes paper?
No more than you eat the wood used to smoke something. You don't eat the paper piece you put in it... there are some fibers you do eat, sure, but that's not a big deal, it's just plant fiber.
Do you eat vegetables right? Or at least pre-shredded cheese? Plant fibers are used as an anti-caking agent in many of them, especially hard pre-shreded cheese like parmasean.
Do you add extra cellulose to your pre-shredded cheese? No? Then why add paper towel to a dish that doesn't need it? This is a dumb argument. Adding paper towel to your food and lighting it on fire is dumb, it doesn't magically get less dumb because cellulose-based anticaking agents exist wtf
If it changed the flavor I might. So you agree that extra cellulose isn't a big issue since it's a normal food additive?
I clicked on your profile and went through some of the dumbest shit I ever read
Those cans have a plastic liner... Fire + plastic + eating = bad
All of those cans are heated when they're packed and a paper towel isn't going to heat the actual contents to the same temperature as when they're packed.
You'll get more carcinogens sitting around a campfire.
They are heated to autoclave temperatures, not open flame temperatures.
Smoke your fish this way if you like. But, there is no need to. I mean, if you had that same can of fish in your home kitchen would you smoke your fish? Its the kind of tacky camper trick like buying a magnesium stick instead of just bringing a lighter that was in you kitchen drawer. Its just camper vibes.
The open flame doesn't heat the whole can to the same temperature as the flame... you can literally put a paper cup filled with water in an open fire and the parts of the cup in contact with the water won't burn until the water is boiled off.
Yeah. Why add flavor to anything? If it's in your kitchen why bother seasoning it, right?
Someone's only experience with camping involves renting a site, diving their car tonit, etting up their camp there and it shows.
i think it's trout
It tastes good. These fools down voting you are dumb. The fish already come full of microplastics and cancer because we filled the environment with it already. To that I say "so long, and thanks for all the toasty fish".
[deleted]
Itās the plastic lining in the can most people are concerned with
[deleted]
I think there's potential for the flames to pyrolise the plastic on the peeled-up part of the lid that doesn't have the benefit of the contents to keep it cool. I'm not sure how much of that burnt material might flake off and end up in the food. Probably not much.
It's probably not an issue in the bigger context of all the stuff we get exposed to routinely on a daily basis.
Take the lid off then
I'm talking about the photograph in the OP. I can't take the lid off that.
What is it with everyone in this thread trying to argue with the premise that you should avoid eating things that may have plastic in them
So take the plastic bit away
Weird that this person worded theirs the (mostly) same way but said it's the paper towel.
https://www.reddit.com/r/StupidFood/s/ssbhRau1ff
Sheltered, paranoid, and a little stupid is a good description of the majority of redditors.Ā
What if I just actually donāt want paper towel ash on my food, regardless of what people are saying about chemicals or whatever
[deleted]
I cook outdoors with fire regularly and still try not to kick up ash while my food is in/near the fire. Just saying people have cooking quality concerns beyond being sheltered or paranoid
This is an extremely common camping thing. Doesn't cook the fish, as usually it's already been cooked, but warms it up appropriately to be enjoyed
This is how we ate our tuna in the military here in Finland. A bit of paper on top and a lighter.
Lmao yall donāt spend time outdoors and it shows.
Much like r/crappymusic, Iām starting to realize how fucking stupid some of you are.
I think it's a good idea if you don't want to make a campfire
Gross. You can literally buy smoked tinned fish already. You could add smoked salt or sauce like a normal person if you actually care about flavor. Burnt paper ain't it.
Worst case you're melting the plastic lining around the tin. (surprise people! Tin cans are ALL lined with plastic.)
No one cares
lol yes they do
If anyone cared we wouldnāt be doing it imma do it real quick just to make you mad
Eh, do what you want random_user_$$ no one cares what you eat.
See you're getting confused between people who don't know what's in their food (some) and people who care what you think (zero).
No one eating this like this cares honestly it gets said all the time and people still do it dumb fuck
Aw if you didn't care why would you tantrum like a toddler about it? Cute but kinda weird.
The same reason you are replying because I just felt like engaging in a argument
Well that is actually fair lol
Very stupid. Fits this sub perfectly.
If you donāt think itās stupid, then it might be you thatās stupid.
I want to try this, but I canāt bring myself to burn papertowel into my food -.-
I want to try this, but I canāt bring myself to burn papertowel into my food -.-
Most cans are lined with bpa or an alternative plastic. Enjoy your melted plastic fish
Oh wow. Guerilla tuna. Hadn't had this since military days. Toilet paper and a can of tuna + some bread. Decent dish when you've eaten mush for few days in middle of a damn forest.
Lots of idiots in this thread
First click on your profile is about fantasy football donāt think I would be calling anyone an idiot
I have a hobby, you eat burnt paper towels. Not really comparable. What color crayon do you think tastes the best?
Do you think people are eating the burnt paper towel?
Yes he really probably does
Dudes a fucking creep going and stalking your profile to try and form a come-back to something that literally impacts them none
No I seen his name in another thread and was seeing if it was the same person saying the same dumb shit
USMC crayon eating is my strong suit.
what do you mean? i don't know anything about this trend. what is its essence?
Same energy
I was shown how to do this years ago ā¦ by a skag-head
tea light works
I've seen this done without paper on tins of tuna in oil. Use a can opener, push the lid down to get the oil on top, light the oil, and pry the lid out with a knife or other utensil when you're done. Not sure about this method with the pull ring tab cans and paper towel, but hey, if it's not your cup of tea, you can eat the fish without doing this.
Its not a trend. Its an old hobo meal
Yippee!!! Another way for me to get my daily dose of microplastics
This is super common camping thing to do (at least with cans with no plastic liner in them).
So based on most comments if I just dump the can into a bowl then do this so no plastic liner we're all good?
This was actually tested by the guys at Sorted Food, as long as you use non bleached/dyed paper towels it works great
I thought it was stupid until I tried it. It both warmed it up and gave it a slightly smoky flavor. Now I do it every time. The can doesn't get even remotely hot enough to compromise the BPA liner.
Iāve always loved canned sardines š¤·š¾āāļø
Needs more gas
lead poisoning wasnt enough for americans
Take a can of tuna, open it, put a clean paper towel, let it soak in the oil and then set it on fire for 15 minutes, it will smoke the tuna for a quick meal if you're really desperate, I had to do this when I was camping out in the woods with my older brother and we ran out of Vegetables to cook with
š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®š¤®
Do people warm up their sardines? Weird.Ā Takes less time to eat it than warm it up.
Iāve done this while camping. It heats up the fish and gives it a smoky flavor. Fun camp activity and a good snack with crackers.
It's mostly for show but adds a slight smokey taste. Not really stupid, just a bit silly.
Putting burnt paper in your food is, indeed, stupid.
Eh, it's on top.
people use it to degrease pizza or better yet, to dry off chicken before you cook it. Not really a big deal.
Burnt paper for degreasing or drying? That's a new one.
If you taste it in your food (which you admit), then it's in your food, which is pretty different from just dabbing a paper towel on pizza.
Sounds like you also ate paint chips regularly as a kid, how did those taste?
Sometimes food is stupid and delicious. So many people being precious here in the comments. I bet you love your gross butter candles.
So many people emotional about something they will never eat. Does it exist, sure, is it stupid, yeah. Does it work? Yep. You donāt have to like it but you donāt have to fight over it either. Things can exist and not be perfect, thatās the point of this sub.
People getting downvoted for saying they've done it and they enjoy it by people who have never done it.
Literally so many Nancy Sues in here thinking they know everything cause they read a little word called microplastic one day when they were a teenager.
[deleted]
Cavemen were not using paper towel to make a grease fire on the tinned fish to give it a light Smokey flavor
The bleached chemical filled paper towel yummm
[deleted]
You could just admit you didnāt realize what OP was talking about
To be fair if they had just invented paper towels they could have.
why do non americans call it tinned? Modern cans are made of steel or aluminum.
Because itās Tinplate steel. Generally Type L steel with a layer of tin on both sides. Unless theyāre using TFS (Tin-free steel), but that would have a layer of chromium instead