Japanese cutlery comes in a number of different types. Some of the most common kinds of Japanese cutlery are the santoku hocho the all-purpose knife. The deba bocho or kitchen cleaver and the tako hiki including the yanagi ba are slicers and the nakiro bocho or vegetable knife.
Traditional Japanese cutlery uses two methods to forge knives, honyaki and kasumi. Japanese knives fall into two categories or classes depending on the method and material used to forge the knife. High carbon steel is used exclusively with honyaki method of forging knives. The other method kasumi knives used to create samurai swords incorporate two materials to forge the knives. The two materials soft iron and high carbon steel are forged together using the kasumi process of forging.
Early on Japanese kitchen knives were made from carbon steel. San mai knives were more expensive knives than the others but their quality was equal. They contain brittle carbon steel and a layer of ductile steel around the brittle core. Today, Japanese knives can be created from stainless steel. The most expensive knives are still made with san mai laminated blades.
Unlike the knives from the western world, the Japanese knives are single ground, meaning they are sharpened in a way that only one side has a cutting edge. Some of them are angled from one side and others are angled from both sides. It was originally thought that the one side angled knives are able to cut better without requiring additional skills as you might be required in the case of the other type.
The professional Japanese chefs frequently use their personal set of knives. These are not used by any other chefs. Some of them own two sets in order to be able to alternate them. So highly prized is a good set of Japanese cutlery, that these chefs spend much time learning the art of cutting before they can be considered as a good chef.
After being sharpened in the evening, the knives are left to rest an entire day in order to remove any metallic taste or odor that may be transferred to the food as well as to preserve the patina of the Japanese cutlery. Every professional chef knows that maintaining a sharp knife is a must and essential to their craft.
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Iron Chef Japanese Knife Set (5- Knives With Tulip Block) List Price: $89.00 Sale Price: $79.95  |
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Master Cutlery Iron Chef 5-Pc. Japanese Set with Tulip Block... replace your cutlery at a LOW PRICE! Crafted for precision, irresistibly priced... this is your perfect opportunity to upgrade your worn-down kitchen cutlery! And we'll throw in an authentic bamboo Knife Rack to boot! While it includes all the tools you need to prepare flavorful Japanese cuisine, it's versatile enough for everyday use! See how fast, easy and fun cooking can be when you're using the tools of a professional! Time to upgrade: 5" Deba Knife great for chopping hard vegetables and cutting fish; 5 5/16" Utility Knife with hollow edge blade designed for easy slicing; 6" Santuko Knife with hollow edge blade designed for paper-thin slicing and meat carving; 6 3/8" Usuba Knife for precision cuts; 7" Sushi / Chef Knife; 6 1/2 x 2 3/4 x 8 3/4" Knife block... |
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Calphalon Katana Series VG-1 Japanese Steel Asian 41/2" parer and 5"santoku 2pc. Set List Price: $80.00 Sale Price: $72.95 |
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From the time-honored Asian culinary tradition comes this set of two essential knives. Elegant and proficient in many tasks, each knife utilizes ultra-tough VG-1 Japanese steel elegantly clad with an impressive 33 layers, providing ultimate sharpness and edge retention... |