A Santoku knife is best for:
①Cutting meat.
②Slicing cheese.
③Mincing meat or herbs.
④Creating very fine slices.
Are Santoku Knives Good For Cutting Meat?
You are passionate about cooking and want to choose a Santoku knife? However, you wonder about its uses? This article is for you.
Cooking is one of the daily repetitive jobs of all families. For everyone, especially those who love cooking, good knives are very important. Many people mention the Santoku knife as a perfect choice. So, are Santoku knives good for cutting meat? Let’s find out!
What are the Santoku knife and its uses?
Santoku knife is the most professional knife set in a Japanese family. This is a 3-in-1 knife that can be used to cut meat, fish, and vegetables. ”San” in the name of the knife means “three.” That is an explanation for its three uses.
In the old days, Japanese had to use specialized knives for each type of food to cut. For example, Gyutou knife is used to cut meat, Sashimi knife is for cutting fish, and Nagiri knife is to cut vegetables. That division of use would be annoying and time-consuming, so Santoku good knife set was born to solve that problem.
Santoku knives are usually sharpened by 2 sides, the surface of them is wide, and their blades are about 12 ~ 18cm long. They have good balance, suitable blade structure for housewives to handle many materials without a lot of distinct knives.
Although there are three great functions, when requiring for high requirements like pruning vegetables, or cutting fish to make Sashimi, this is not a perfect choice.
Some Santoku knives are honed on only one side of the blade. This is the customary Eastern way and allows the chef to have more control while cutting. However, most Santoku knives are a mix of West meets East, in that the edge is bent with a level front line and the honing is 50/50 on each side. This makes for simpler honing with a traditional sharpening steel or pull-through sharpener. A Santoku knife is ideal for detail work because of the light, sharp edge, which can make more slender cuts.
Japanese knives require a different handling technique compared to Western knives in that they cut through food in an advance and in reverse movement. Instead, Western knives require a rocking movement, which for the most part makes thicker cuts and takes more time to cut than the speedier Santoku chef knife set.
What to look for when buying a santoku knife?
Santoku knives are usually made from stainless steel but also come in ceramic or high carbon. At Misen, we opt for high-carbon steel because of its number of long-term benefits: it’s stronger, more durable, and stays sharper longer than other material .
Of course, you’ll have to sharpen the knife eventually — unless your knife comes with a life-time sharpening guarantee like Misen’s do — but out of the box, you’re looking for a properly-sharpened knife that’s already in fine cutting form .
A sharp blade is the key to any good kitchen knife. Knives made from high-carbon steel already feature a sharper blade, which is a big help for a kitchen tool that’s used as frequently as a santoku.
The fact that it is also used to slice raw fish is thanks to its ultra-sharp blade, thanks to which the santoku has become so famous and popular.
The term Santoku may refer to the wide variety of ingredients that the knife can handle: meat, fish and vegetables, or to the tasks it can perform: slicing, chopping and dicing, either interpretation indicating a multi-use, general-purpose kitchen knife.
It is used in the kitchen for cutting, slicing, and chopping.√VariationsSome of the knives employ San Mai (or "three layered") laminated steels, including the pattern known as suminagashi (墨流し literally, "flowing-ink").
The term refers to the similarity of the pattern formed by the blade's damascened and multi-layer steel alloys to the traditional Japanese art of suminagashi marbled paper.
Forged laminated stainless steel cladding is employed on better Japanese Santoku knives to improve strength and rust resistance while maintaining a hard edge.Chef knives possessing these laminated blades are generally more expensive and of higher quality.
These scallops create small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced in an attempt to improve separation and reduce cutting friction.√Chef Knife sharpeningAs mentioned, whetstone sharpening is the superior method when it comes to creating a defined and highly sharpened edge.
The three virtues being the knife’s ability to handle fish, meat and vegetables equally well, making it a great all-purpose knife for beginners and experienced cooks alike.Every cook needs a versatile knife that they can rely on to be the backbone of their kitchen tool collection.
Japanese santoku chef knives have been gaining in popularity over their European-styles, so we’ll focus on understanding the advantages of a santoku knifeSantoku knifeWe derive the advantage of Santoku knife from the comparisonCompared with chef knife .Some Santoku knives are sharpened on one side of the blade only.
Japanese knives require a different technique to Western knives in that they slice through food in a forward and backward motion, rather than Western knives which require a rocking motion, which generally creates thicker slices and takes longer to cut than the quicker Santoku blade.Santoku knifeCompared with German knife .Most kitchen knives are made of various types of steel.
This means Japanese knives can get sharper and have better edge retention over time.German and Japanese knives also differ in their shape and use.
Although Japanese fish knives are great for many purposes, knife makers excel at a variety of shapes that are perfectly geared for specific jobs.Let me recommend a Santoku knife that I likeMiyabi Knife Miyabi Fusion 7″ Santoku KnifeSantoku knifeFeaturesVG10 (CMV60) super steel encased by 64 layers of softer steels, creating a Flower Damascus design60 Rockwell hardness; special ice-hardening Cryodur process maximizes the properties of the steelTraditional Japanese 9-12° cutting edge, sharpened using a honbazuke blade-honing technique by master craftsmen in Seki, JapanTriple riveted Western style handle with full tang and eye-catching red accentsHandcrafted by expert artisans in Seki, Japan with a lifetime warranty; hand-wash onlyDescriptionThe Miyabi Fusion Santoku Knife is perfect for mincing, chopping and slicing fruits and vegetables.
The durable VG-10 (600D) cutting core is sandwiched by 64 layers of softer steels, each rolled on top of each other creating a ‘Flower Damascus’ pattern.
