Author: sushiChefKnife

Is it wrong to have a favorite dish that you can eat multiple times a week and still not get tired of? Well, Japanese food lovers, gourmets, and diners from all parts of the globe have just the same problem once they encounter the challenge of making a decision to just turn their heads away from sushi and sashimi. As Japanese delicacies like Fatty Tuna sushi, Salmon sashimi, and Sea bass are what diners swoon over, the fame and popularity of Japanese food goes beyond the borders of diversity.

As gourmets love the exotic blends of supreme-quality raw ingredients with delicate flavors of cooked Japanese rice mixed with vinegar, sugar, and salt, it can’t be denied that the unique and original flavors wake the tastebuds like no other. Thus, Japanese food restaurants are almost everywhere to be found for its fame and popularity. Japanese delicacies like sushi, are very much loved by diners of all ages – it has been found that most Japanese students and kids eat sushi during breakfast, as they are also available in the form of convenient foods which are proved to be healthier than other alternatives to start a day or have a morning meal.

One of the reasons why Japanese delicacies are loved by their diners and gourmets, is the intricate food preparation processes and the cooking of original, authentic dishes. Behind the techniques required in the crafting of Japanese delicacies lies the importance of the mastery of the blades. Just similar to that of a Samurai’s blade, instead of acting like a weapon, the use of a Japanese knife makes tasks a lot easier for little-to-less-complications. Yanagiba knives are sleek and thin, original in style, and are very much essential for both general and professional uses. Thus, to make Japanese delicacies like sushi and sashimi, it is required to learn the functions of each knife prior to the cooking processes.

Yanagiba

Also known as the ‘Sashimi Knife’, a Yanagiba knife has a thin and sleek blade design. Yanagiba knives are usually thin and long; however, it is best to purchase the ones that can be kept for professional use and ones to have in collection.

Gyuto

Gyuto is another knife type that has among the highest sales since it is also called the ‘General Kitchen Knife’. However, a Gyuto knife is a multi-tasking knife that works very well with all kinds of processes in the kitchen. Be it slicing, cutting, chopping, or dicing, a Gyuto knife can handle the basic techniques. Another similar knife is the Santoku knife, also a multi-tasking knife used in the kitchen for the general skills.

Deba

Deba knife is a Japanese knife used for cutting fish and for light mincing of ingredients. The knife has a thick blade body, with wide blade surface, making it more suitable towards the cutting of fish and the handling of ingredients with bones. As the blade is thick and dense, Deba knives are very much suitable for cutting through ingredients or meat with bones (for example: chicken bones). Although it is not recommended to cut through frozen ingredients, it is among one of the Japanese knives suitable to handle dense ingredients when needed.
For sushi and sashimi dishes that involve the use of a vast variety of ingredients coming from all places, most Japanese knives are required in the kitchen as standbys to perform whatever task is thrown to them. Despite Santoku’s, Gyuto’s and Yanagiba’s popularity and capabilities, other knife types like Deba and Sujihiki are as well essential for the cooking of wonderful Japanese delicacies.

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Sakai Takayuki is among Japan’s top-tier, premium-quality cutlery brand that has introduced tons of superior Japanese knives to the world. Best known for its supreme quality blades equipped with extreme sharpness, longevity, durability, rust resistance, and fine selections of handle materials, Sakai Takayuki and its long history of over 600 years have guaranteed users high success rates in the crafting of Japanese delicacies served at high-end, luxurious and authentic Japanese specialty restaurants known as ‘Omakase’ restaurants.

Japanese chefs, culinary experts, and professionals put Sakai Takayuki up on a pedestal, for its wide array of knife series and models are forged with top-tier hard steels through the traditional Japanese knife-forging techniques passed on from generation to generation. To ensure that all knife models will fulfill all the duties and tasks required to craft sushi and sashimi dishes loved by diners and gourmets from all the world, Sakai Takayuki and its highly-skilled blacksmiths are always coming up with new knife series with high performance.

As Japanese dishes require the use of Japanese knives to slice, cut, chop, and fillet a wide variety of ingredients, specifically raw fish, seafood, and poultry, Japanese chefs and professionals only trust a few brands – among those, Sakai Takayuki tops the charts. Sushi and sashimi dishes will need professional cuts, even chops, and long strokes to successfully pull out both subtle, delicate flavors and exoticness of rawness. Therefore, no brand can best perform this special technique other than Sakai Takayuki.

Its superb Gyuto knife models feature varying hard steels and selections of handle materials to fulfill the duty of being a multi-purpose knife for everyday use and general kitchen tasks. Due to all knives being delicately crafted and forged with a dedicated heart to accomplish just the best results, Sakai Takayuki is widely praised for its supreme quality Gyuto knives. Although a Gyuto knife is often used as a multi-purpose, general kitchen knife, some professionals also use it as a beef cutting knife, which was its initial use when it has been first introduced back in the old days.

Among Sakai Takayuki’s top Gyuto knife models

‘Sakai Takayuki 45-Layer Damascus Goldish Tsuba Japanese Chef’s Gyuto Knife 210mm’ is best known for its limited production line, which is crafted out of the famed ‘45-layer Damascus Stainless steel’ with AUS10 Alloy Core. This makes the blade highly durable – equipped along with excellent edge retention. Sakai Takayuki’s 45-Layer Damascus Goldfish Tsuba Gyuto knife is well-loved and highly recommended by professional users for its extreme blade sharpness and the light center balanced feel it provides. Comfortable grips and simple strokes are as well the pros of this 45-Layer Damascus Goldfish Tsuba Gyuto knife, marking it a unique Gyuto knife model that comes in a reasonable price and an original design that is worth having in possession.

Sakai Takayuki 45-Layer Damascus Goldish Tsuba Japanese Chef’s Gyuto Knife 210mm features half-rounded octagonal Ho wood (Magnolia) handles with beautiful, unique collar for the best experience in professional use. Hand forged, crafted, and sharpened to ensure extreme blade sharpness and pointed tips, be aware that this knife is razor-sharp and new out of the box.

Manufactured by Aoki Hamono, the AUS10 Alloy core maximizes the efficiency of Sakai Takayuki 45-Layer Damascus Goldish Tsuba Japanese Chef’s Gyuto Knife 210mm and makes it among just the best double edge (both left and right-handed) Gyuto knife models out there. Highly recommended by culinary experts and professionals alike, Sakai Takayuki 45-Layer Damascus Goldish Tsuba Japanese Chef’s Gyuto Knife 210mm is just the right blade companion that will guide you through all kitchen tasks and processes with ease.

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The beauty of crafting delicate pieces of culinary art can only be seen with the heart, not only through the eyes. Well, tasting subtle, yet exotic flavors of your favorite mouth-watering sushi pieces may be the best way to describe happiness, but sometimes, opening your heart to understand the components of your favorite dish will make you see through the cute Caviar crystals, ordinary-looking seaweed, and the vivid orange-colored Salmon slices.

Understanding a Japanese dish might seem like a complicated game of guessing; however, a huge fan of Japanese cuisine will learn to love their favorite dishes a little more as they open their hearts to understanding what makes these dishes so special and extraordinary.

Through this perspective, a huge crowd of Japanese food lovers and diners are gradually becoming more interested in the process of Japanese food making. Why is sushi so popular?

Why is everyone swooning over sashimi than the fast-food king, burgers?

Apart from its healthier ingredient choices and also offering an option to be vegetarian-friendly, sushi and sashimi dishes are becoming the healthier versions of the famed fast foods, with their names on top of the list of the ‘most-searched’ and the ‘most-enjoyable’ convenient dishes. Despite its convenience, most diners are fond of their ‘intricacy’ and ‘delicacy’ expressed through the fine selection of premium quality ingredients, the artsy aesthetics, and the placement of culinary components in a plate.

Japanese food isn’t just any ordinary convenient food, but quite the opposite – an intricate cuisine which expresses the authenticity of Japanese traditions through subtle slices of fresh, caught-from-sea fish, hand-formed and cooked Japanese rice, as well as the exotic combinations of flavors that melt the hearts of diners. With this being the specialty Japanese food holds, the mastery of the skills required to craft them remain somewhat a mischievous task and a mystery to many cordon bleus.

The art of crafting delicious Japanese food like sushi and sashimi rely upon the mastery of the Japanese blades. Similar to that of a Samurai’s sword, a Japanese knife is also a culinary expert’s companion, leading all cooking processes to its next stages with ease. Slicing, cutting, and chopping may sound like ordinary skills any house-wife can perform as she cooks her favorite fried rice; however, the three ordinary cutting skills earlier mentioned are different to that of the typical ones when it comes to Japanese food. With this being a highly essential part of Japanese food which also led to the introduction of delicate dishes like sushi and sashimi, the production of Japanese knives has become an interesting topic among culinary professionals in the food industry. As Japan is home to a wide selection of knife brands, Yu Kurosaki is no doubt making its way to the top of the charts.

Yu Kurosaki is a famous blacksmith and also a famous Japanese knife brand that makes finest quality blades equipped with excellent steel hardness, great edge retention, amazing rust resistance, and most of all – beautifully unique blade designs. Known for the continuous makings of new Japanese knife series and models, Yu Kurosaki is famed for original knives forged through the traditional Japanese techniques. Among the best models, ‘Yu Kurosaki R2 (SG2) Hammered SHIZUKU WA RS8P’ knife series is made out of the Super Gold 2 Micro Carbide Powder stainless steel – which guarantees extreme hardness. The unique handle is also expressed through the octagonal-shaped Rosewood with White Packer wood ferrule, further establishing its fine beauty alongside durability and long-lasting feature.

For knife collectors, this series of knife is among one of the stunning models to collect, while various knife types are available as follows: Santoku, Gyuto, Bunka, Nakiri, Sujihiki, and Chef’s Petty knife.

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Regarded as one of the finest culinary tools, Japanese knives earn its honor and respect from worldwide professionals in the culinary world. As Japanese food is greatly known for its unique application of traditions in its intricate food preparation processes, diners and gourmets are in awe of the beautiful complexities it portrays. The expression of a wide range of emotions, feelings, and thoughts can be poured into fine works of culinary arts in the world of Japanese food – be it the plain-looking Ebi sushi with no vivid hues of bright orange like that of Salmon sushi, yet delicacy, simplicity, and plain flavors of cooked shrimp wins the hearts of diners from different parts of the globe.

The addition to plain cooked shrimp topped on rice includes the popular slight dabs of spicy Wasabi paste to add up to the spice and little dips of Japan’s traditional sushi sauce. As these complex processes make Japanese cuisine one of the world’s most intricate foods to prepare, the value of these hand-crafted dishes is indescribable, and can only be measured when tasted. With all the respect Japanese cuisine carries on its shoulders, it is highly important to master the skills of the blade.

Unlike just any ordinary knife, a Japanese knife is also referred to a ‘Hocho’ in Japanese. Japanese knives have a world-renowned reputation for excellence, efficiency, quality, and their artisanal craftsmanship in which explains why Japanese chefs look for the finest blades to master their techniques, and knife collectors dream to have them in their possession. If Japanese knives are similar to that of the general kitchen knives with nothing special, professionals wouldn’t be looking passionately for top-quality knife brands even if it requires them to go through hassles of pre-orders and pre-reservations. Quality Japanese knife makes a difference in cooking – be it the chops or cuts of simple ingredients, the materials and techniques used to forge Japanese specialty knives are distinct compared to the general knives.

Finding just the right Japanese knife for a specific task might take time and appears to be daunting. However, once you find the right brand and know what you need the knife for, then you’re all set to own one.

The Not-So Simple Vegetable Knife

Japan is home to culinary tools and quality kitchen equipment for its long history influences the making of crafts ages ago. Since Japan’s Nara era, Japanese knives were used for ceremonies and rituals, also known as “Hocho-shikis”. In the present time, Japanese knives are well adapted in becoming one of the world’s most efficient culinary tools – a great selection for the crafting of intricate dishes like sushi. Japan’s traditional Samurai swords, otherwise known as “Katanas”, are known to be strong blueprints for the adaptation into culinary blades or knives still in use today.

One of the best quality knife brands in Japan is ‘Sakai Takayuki’. Sakai forges countless numbers of fine-quality culinary blades, of which most are for multi-purpose use and those intended for sashimi. However, Sakai Takayuki’s vegetable knives or Nakiri knives are also famous for material quality, grip comfort, balance, and efficiency.

Among the Nakiri knife models, Sakai Takayuki GINGA ZA-18 69-Layer Damascus 165 mm Nakiri Knife is an extremely sharp knife that performs perfect tasks cutting, chopping, and slicing vegetables in accordance to our needs. The eye-catching mirror-finish Damascus version of the blade is crafted out of a 69-layer Damascus stainless steel with a core made up of ZA-18 Alloy. Sakai Takayuki GINGA ZA-18 69-Layer Damascus 165 mm Nakiri Knife also equips extreme hardness of around 61-63 HRC, has high edge retention, has a light center balance when gripped, and owns the finest quality handle materials perfect for professional use.

In Japanese, we call someone who is a beginner or a novice ‘Shoshinsha’. And of course, every one of us has gone through that stage of being a starter at something, specifically at a technique or a skill in which requires the grasp of concepts, practice, and strong-willed dedication to succeed. Whatever skill it is, beginners or ‘shoshinsha’ will have to master the required techniques in order to reach the definite goal of becoming a professional – being good at something with great confidence.

When it comes to Japanese cuisine, the important skills required not only revolves around the ability to season the veggies, marinate the meat, or cook the authentic Japanese rice, but also the mastery of cutting skills. Japanese knives are known to be designed specifically for the making of sashimi dishes – one of the first authentic Japanese dishes that emerged in both the East and the West. Japanese food requires dedication – strong passion and understanding of every little detail each ingredient or process holds. The use of a specialized Japanese knife to slice, cut, and chop fine ingredients to create wonderfully hand-crafted delicacies is therefore highly essential and involves a great deal of concentration.

To correctly use a knife, especially if you’re a ‘shoshisha’ as they call novices in Japan, there are some tips and tricks that would serve as the awesome hacks you could use to appropriately hold a Japanese knife of your own and prepare the dishes efficiently without any worries. You may not be able to hold a knife professionally or perform the master-style slicing techniques featuring the swift blade motions like top-ranked Japanese chefs, but practice makes perfect. Now, we will now be looking into the basics, including some Japanese knife usage techniques to help out all beginners and novices out there.

Basic Preparation and Safety Tips

For beginners, find easy vegetables to practice the simple chops and cuts – cucumber, spring onions, or celery. It is recommended to position the cutting mat around 3 centimeters away from the counter’s edge for safety. However, once you are done using the knife, place it on the side of the cutting mat that is opposite of you and make sure the side with a sharp blade faces outwards away from you, the user.

Positioning

Ensure that you are positioned away from the counter for around 5 centimeters and not more; face your hips towards the counter and make an angle of 45 degrees to the counter or the cutting mat. This way, your hands and fingers would be positioned away from the cutting mat and will prevent the extinction of your knuckles resulting from accident knuckle-chop offs. Stand tall facing towards the cutting mat with your left foot pointing towards the counter. On the opposite, position your right foot a little bit to the right, ensuring that it makes a 45-degree angle.

Holding the knife

Although people have different preferences when it comes to holding a pen or a pencil, holding a Japanese knife needs a decent positioning, a good grip and a healthy hand gesture that will allow the sashimi pieces to be cut cleanly without wriggly lines and edges. The most typical way to hold a multi-purpose Japanese knife is to hold the knife in a way where your index finger’s knuckle would touch a side of the blade. Your thumb must be facing outwards to the sharp end of the blade, while the rest of the fingers follow the grip. If you are not familiar with that position, you can also adjust the position of your index finger, laying it on the spine of the blade to allow more control at the tip (it is a great position for delicate slicing).