What is a Santoku Knife?

By www.Kitchenware-Extraordinaire.com

Since a few years the Santoku knife has gained popularity in America, seemingly because Rachael Ray used it as her favorite knife in her show. Many of the well-known Western knife manufacturers started to produce copies of this Japanese knife. Originally, it is used as an all-purpose knife in the Japanese kitchen and functions there in a same way as the 8” Chef’s knife does in the Western kitchen. There are several notable differences between the two, however; why would the Western manufacturers start selling Santoku’s anyway, if they were exactly the same?

The Santoku has a different shape and requires a different technique than the chef’s knife. The traditional chef’s knife has a curved blade towards the tip; in this way the knife can be rocked up and down, which makes chopping very easy. The belly and heel are used together for the chopping movement. For the Santoku, however, this does not work.... Read more…