The first priority for a cook in a kitchen is a good set of a knife. Because to cook anything in a kitchen, it starts under the sharp edge of a knife. So, you must care about selecting or choosing a kitchen knife. Therefore, we prefer you to choose the Japanese Chef Knife, as they are the best of the kitchen knives. The Japanese blacksmiths have a tradition of making knives for over centuries. They try to retain their ancestor’s acquired fame by making quality and aesthetic knives.
Sometimes, You may have to cook a lot of fish and seafood or a lot of poultry and red meat or some vegetables. In that case, you have to choose different knives for your different needs. You must also consider how comfortable you are when using those knives. But, Your requirement for comfort may vary in slicing, dicing, and chopping or prices or durability or sharpness of them. In below, we will discuss all the things before choosing a best Japanese knife. In particular, we will focus on 10 things that must be considered.
Japanese knives are available in different types. Each of the types is used for different purposes. In a kitchen, different cooking materials are found. You can neither cut or slice red meat or fish using a bread knife with comfort nor use a vegetable knife. So, here are the types of Japanese Chef Knife you need to consider.
See also World Best Japanese Chef knife
Various lengths of knives are available. But, The most typical and preferable size of the Japanese kitchen knives is an 8.5 inches knife. You may consider smaller blades for your smaller hands or can choose by trying various sizes. Besides, there are considerable sizes for different purposes. For example, for slicing purpose you may feel comfort in using a knife between 8-12 inches of size.
Considerable sizes for different purposes
Moreover, you can choose a Japanese Chef Knife based on how comfortable you are while using various sizes to select from.
In a Japanese Chef Knife’s, blade part is crucial. All the cutting that you are going to do starts with the blade. So, it’s important to make an informative decision before choosing a blade. We have to consider the types of steels with which they are made of. Thus, following things must be checked before choosing steel.
Here, we can distinguish the steel in two forms. One is stainless steel and the other is carbon steel.
Knives can be split into two parts. One is a single-edged knife and another is the double-edged knife. Single bevel knives are made by the Japanese tradition and double-edged knives are made by the western tradition. A double-edged blade has both the sides sharpened to the same degree. Whereas, a single-edged blade has just one sharpened side. These single-edged Japanese style kitchen knives are made from harder steel and hold its sharpness longer than that of the western style knife. You must think about some facts before choosing a knife.
In general, there are two types of handles. One is Japanese style or “WA” handle and the other is the western style. Japanese handles are made of woods which are glued on the part of a tang of the knives. Whereas, a western style knife handle is riveted on a full tang. Tang of a western style knife is often visible. The most amazing aspect of the handle is, it will feel comfortable to you and gives you a good sense of control over the blade. Now, let’s see the pros and cons of these two types of knives
400;”>Japanese Chef Knife is often single side sharpened. In general, a single bevel knife is sharper than the double bevel knife. A Single grounded knife cuts with perfection. Although, since the end of the second world war the double bevel knife has been so popular. Usually, the right-hand side of a single bevel blade is sharpened. In that case, if you are a left-hander, then you should buy the left-hand side knife. The facts you should consider the designs are:
One of the most important thing in a Japanese Chef Knife is steel. Your comforts in using knife differ when the steel is used for cutting purposes. There are two classes of traditional structured Japanese knives. Honyaki (carbon Mono-steel) and Laminated knife. Hardness, sharpness, rust resistance and edge retention differ in this two types of knives because of distinguished steels. Carbon Mono steel generally for the experienced chefs. And the laminated steel is more used for regular purposes. It is convenient if you want to use it for everyday use. Now, let’s find the differences between these two different structured blades.
In these two structural knives, two different materials of steel are used. Carbon steel and stainless steel. In above, we have discussed these two types of steel. Just take a look again!
High-quality cutlery originates from Sakai, in Osaka, Japan since the 14th century. But, the production of steel knives started in the 16th century. The Japanese have increased their reputation when they started making knives with the combination of modern machinery and their traditional methods. About 90% of the Japanese chefs use professional chef knives from Osaka. But, Nowadays Seki, Gifu is considered to be the home of Japanese Chef Knife. Seki and Osaka produce the quality Japanese Chef Knife which is sharper than the western style knives.
The production centers now present in Japan are :
After all, we think you already have figured out which knife is the best. It is obvious that you want to buy the best of the knives. But what about the cost. You may find that the price of the best knives is higher. Definitely, you will want the best combination of quality and reasonable price. But, before choosing a reasonable price you must have to review the knives quality. In general terms, the price of Japanese Chef Knife is determined by these:
So, if you want all the quality mentioned above that the best knife must have you may have to spend some extra. Or, you can choose an average quality for an average price of Japanese Chef Knife.
You have bought a knife by spending dollars. Then, now you have to think about the maintenance of your knives. Your blade will get rusty and dull if you don’t care about it and therefore all the investments will be wasted. A rusty and dull blade won’t do the optimal performance of which you have expected. So, how to maintain your knives performance –