Every chef needs at least one knife that can do many different things and serve as the foundation for the rest of their kitchen tools. You should find out which knife best serves your purposes. The French, the Germans, and the Japanese all produce multifunctional knives that differ in size, shape, and thickness. A Japanese Santoku knife is manufactured all over the globe. You will concentrate on developing a grasp of the benefits of using a santoku knife since, recently, European-style chef knives have been losing ground to their Japanese counterparts in terms of popularity.
Sharpness
Santoku knives created in Japan are often crafted using steels that are indigenous to Japan. In general, Japanese steel is more robust. It has a greater capacity to maintain an edge for a more extended period than the steels utilized by knife producers in other nations. In addition, Japanese knives often tend to be sharpened at steeper angles, resulting in a razor-sharp cutting surface that can cut through food with remarkable ease and accuracy. This function comes in handy when making many cuts in a row.
Size And Weight
The standard length of a Santoku knife is around 7 inches, making it much shorter than a chef’s knife made in the Western manner. Because of the increased height of the blade, your knuckles will not come into touch with a cutting board when you are using it. Like many other Japanese knives, Santokus has a penchant for being lighter. Because of each of these characteristics, the knife is easy to handle while it is in your hand. Santokus are a well-liked option because of their space-saving design, low weight, and excellent balance, contributing to their widespread popularity.
Efficiency
When considering the benefits of santoku knives, it is essential to consider a particular method that only applies to using santoku blades. Because the knife’s edge does not have the noticeable curve typical of Western blades, you cannot rock them back and forth as you cut with them. Instead, you should employ a chopping motion that goes up and down in a straight line while cutting. With some time and practice, the santoku knife cutting technique may help you to cut with better speed and efficiency. At first, this slicing method may take some getting used to, but after some time, it can become second nature.
It’s not simply their durability and razor-sharpness that set Japanese kitchen knives apart from their Western counterparts. In addition, they are often thinner, lighter, and more attractive than European knives, which enables the user to make more exact cuts. Therefore, the allure of Japanese knives does not just rest in their practicality; it also lies in the beauty of their designs. Japanese artisans have had centuries of experience in the production of swords and knives, which has allowed them to create the best in their class in terms of sharpness, durability, accuracy, and elegance.
Conclusion
The Japanese Santoku knife also features ingenious additions that make preparing food a pleasure rather than a chore. In addition, although European knives have an additional finger guard on the bolster (the metal portion linking the handle to the blade), which contributes to the knife’s overall weight, the bolster on Japanese knives is just an extension of the blade. In addition, the handle of a Japanese knife tends to be lighter, which makes the knife ideally balanced for making intricate cuts.
