Chef's knives

[Endboss]

Hi all

I'm hoping that one of the Japan-based members here might be able to help.

A friend of mine is going to Japan for two weeks next month and asked if I wanted anything.

Top of the list would be a decent (although not necessarily top of the range) chef's knife.

I currently use a Wusthof knife but I have been told that there are better quality brands available cheaper in Japan.

Any suggestions?

Kind regards
Ben

[Brian Owens]

Hi, Ben.

This post comes a bit late, and your friend may already be in Japan, but I thought I'd chime in anyway.

What specific kind of knife are you looking for? A French-pattern chef's/cook's knife, a santuko, or something more specialised like a yanagi-ba?

I like the santuko as a general-purpose knife, but the straighter edge can take some getting used to for those that are used to the rocking motion of the more-curved French knife. Most santuko also have a 15-degree bevel on the edge versus the 20-degree bevel common to Western knives; so slicing and dicing onions, for example, is better, but chopping hard root vegetables can be riskier to the edge.

The more-specialized knives are an whole subject unto themselves, and because most of them are single-sided there are actually left-handed and right-handed versions of them.

[Brian Owens]

Here's a link you may find interesting:

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/e..._3_0_mv=Knives

The top-rated "Western-style" Japanese-made hybrid chef's knife in their testing is the Masamoto VG-10 Gyuto. (Sometimes spelled "Gyutou.") It's about $140 at the stores I've seen it at here in the Seattle area; I don't know what it could be bought for in Japan -- nor in South Africa, for that matter.