It was around 15 years ago when I bought my first “serious” knife. It was an 180mm Gyuto, German, good quality, well-known brand,   and I was so excited that when I brought it back home I started chopping whatever I could find on my kitchen counter top and fridge. It felt just like I got a new car. The funny thing is that ,at the time, I thought I got myself a Ferrari…If I only knew!

Using and enjoying that knife, got me into going deeper in knives. I started reading, watching videos, trying new techniques in cutting; even got my first double sided whetstone and started my first (failed) attempts into sharpening.

My second one was again a German. An even better reputed brand Santoku 210mm and I thought “This is it!” I was already at the top of the knives world! My Joy didn’t last long as I was continuously reading and I realized that I really was at the foothills of the mountain. Reading and researching more and more I decided to “break the bank” and make my first dive into the Japanese side. A factory manufactured, well reputed “Japanese” Gyuto was my choice and again, like a fool, I felt like I have reached the end of the road.

I clearly remember how much I was impressed the first time I used it and only then I realized why everything I have read about Japanese knives were not overstatements. Effortlessly flying through onions, potatoes, tomatoes and everything else I could feed it, it gave me such a wonderful feeling… I read once in a blog about a guy that was a Japanese knife collector. When his professor found out about his hobby, he teased him by saying “You just eat fruits, why you need all these knives?”. The guy answered “Yes, but every time I use one of my knives to cut my fruits, it puts a smile on my face”. That’s exactly how I was feeling (and I am not eating only fruits!).

It’s been a long way since then. I got obsessed looking for the best knife, got into the handmade ones and started buying “better and better” ones on my quest for the Holy Grail of knives. A never-ending quest.

Many years and dozens of knives after, I realized the simple fact that the Holy Grail does not exist. But the quest, the journey should not stop. You just enjoy the ride. And believe me I still do love that ride.

Many years ago I had the opportunity to meet a guy that was a Master of Wine. He was part of  a very closed group of people – only around 250 in the whole planet at that time – that they study for a decade everything related to wine and then they have to pass exams to gain the title of “Master of Wine”, a test where 8 out of 10 fail. They are considered the people at the top of wine knowledge. During our discussion I thought of asking him “So, please tell me, which one is the best wine there is?” He looked at me with a smile and replied “That’s easy. The one YOU like the most”.

Having said that little story and the profound outcome, choosing your knives is not a simple task. It’s good to get feedback and opinions from “experts” but in the end has to do with your personal taste, aesthetics, cooking habits, experience, even your hands size and how you are used to treat your tools.

The first thing to consider is your cooking habits and the types of knives you already have. For most home cooks a set of a Petty (Pairing), a Gyuto and a slicer (sujihiki) is enough (??), If you’re more of a veggie instead of a meat lover, you can replace the slicer with a Nakiri. When we come to professional cooks it’s a whole different ballgame…

The next is aesthetics. Your personal taste. You prefer the rustic finish of a Nashiji or a Kurouchi, the aggressive look of a Tsuchime (hammered) or the smooth, satin or even polished looks of a Migaki (polished)? That’s totally up to you. The same applies on the looks and the type of the handle. Wa (Japanese) or western? Dark wood or the classic Japanese Magnolia? Rings or no? Fancy colors or simple? Of course handle type selection has to do with practicality too and what fits you the best.

The third factor is how you would like to treat, clean, and maintain  your knife. Are you the type that usually leaves the knife in the sink until after dinner? or the one that will clean it and wipe it dry after each cutting session or even between cuts? Here comes the choice in steel type: Stainless, stainless clad or carbon steel? If you are the first type of person better forget the last two types of steel and go for stainless. Especially carbon steel needs a lot of TLC(Tender Love and Care) so choose it only if you’re ready to give it proper treatment.

Then you should consider the space you have available. If you  have a large space it would be wise a big cutting board where you can start experimenting with bigger knife sizes, starting with a Gyuto 240mm. As soon as you get used to it, you’ll never replace it. If your space is tighter there are many smaller sizes to choose from.

Last, but not least, your sharpening experience. If you are a newbie on that liberating, Zen like experience called sharpening, then go for steels that are easier to sharpen. Maybe a Shirogami or Aogami is right for you. But if you have the experience and the love for sharpening and you’re ready to take the challenge, you can go for the Aogami Super or even the Powder steels.

We are here to help you in choosing the best knife. The best knife FOR YOU!

Let’s talk about it. Contact us and we will be more than happy to help, either you are a newcomer in the world of Japanese knives or an experienced user trying to experiment with new brands or knife types and steels.

Talk to you soon,

George

Using a sharp knife is not all about the cutting pleasure. There are other important reasons too.Taste and hygiene.

Let’s see the facts.

Vegetables stay alive and breathe after they are harvested. The simplest proof for that is that we can witness garlics sprout a green stem after some time, a potato growing eyes or celeries growing new leaves.

So, the cells of harvested vegetables grow until they’re cut for meal preparation. During cutting, the cells of the vegetables are wounded and develop injury-based responses – that is stress – that is similar to other forms of stress like extreme heat, extreme cold, dehydration and other physical conditions. Such stress leads to electrolyte leakage (like potassium and calcium) which degrades the overall nutrient value and taste of the ingredient as proven in a study published in the Journal of Food Science & Technology .

Using a sharp knife minimizes the damage on the cells, reduces the risk of bacterial growth and excessive softening.

Nevertheless, delicate ingredients like aromatic herbs will stay fresher for longer if you are using a sharp knife. A dull knife will damage much more the cells and fibers, leading to sagging and discoloration. Fresh herbs cut with a sharp knife, will release more aromatic oils. A tomato will not lose its juices and an onion cut with a sharp knife will brown better as the sharp cut will not cause them to dehydrate during mincing.

Another important factor is that different sizes in cuts leads to different times in cooking time. With a dull knife is impossible to create even cuts for all pieces of your ingredients, leading to uneven cooking times – some pieces will be overcooked while others undercooked – and that ultimately is affecting your food’s taste.

But wait, there is more than that. Proteins are affected too!

Let us see what happens to fish and meat…Using a sharp knife, cutting sashimi with a single stroke will not damage the fish flesh structure. Not only the texture will be very different while you taste it, but also as you lightly dip it in soy sauce will not absorb much of it which will lead in drowning the taste of the fish. Using a blunt knife, will crush the fish flesh structure and make it more absorbent and will directly affect its texture while tasting it.

Another interesting fact is that an unevenly cut surface will lead to more contact with air, which means that is easier for germs to get in. A silky cut and surface will drastically reduce that risk and keep it fresher for longer. One of the main factors that helped Washoku (the traditional Japanese cuisine – registered as an intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 2013), to develop, was that back in the days were refrigeration was hard to find, Japanese knives helped keeping the fish fresher for longer.

The same principles apply for the meat. Even though less sensitive than fish, using a sharp knife in cutting it, will create better surface and texture, will dehydrate it less by not losing its juices during the cuts before cooking, but also after cooking during serving. We all have witnessed how a dull knife is pushing the cooked meat causing it to lick its precious juices on the cutting board.

References

Gleeson E and O’Beirne D. Effects of process severity on survival and growth of Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua on minimally processed vegetables. Food Control, Volume 16, Issue 8, October 2005, Pages 677-685.

Hodges DM and Toivonen PMA. Quality of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables as affected by exposure to abiotic stress. Postharvest Biology and Technology, Volume 48, Issue 2, May 2008, Pages 155-162.

Murcia MA, Jimenez-Monreal AM, Garcia-Diz L, et al. Antioxidant activity of minimally processed (in modified atmospheres), dehydrated and ready-to-eat vegetables. Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 47, Issue 8, August 2009, Pages 2103-2110.

Song L and Thornalley PJ. Effect of storage, processing and cooking on glucosinolate content of Brassica vegetables. Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 45, Issue 2, February 2007, Pages 216-224.

The “National Center for Biotechnolgy information”, an American governmental research center, published in their “National Library of Medicine”, different studies / researches checking the hygiene of wooden compared to plastic cutting boards.

The below results, prove beyond any doubt that wooden cutting boards are far superior to plastic. Not only for treating your precious knives much better than plastic ones (especially the end grain ones as we have explained in detail in our cutting boards section), but even more importantly for hygienic reasons.

As stated below:

“Cutting boards are commonly perceived as important fomites in cross-contamination of foods with agents such as Salmonella spp., despite the lack of supporting epidemiological data. A variety of woods and plastics have been used to make work surfaces for cutting. In general, wood is said to dull knives less than plastic, and plastic is seen as less porous than wood. Research to model the hypothetical cross-contamination has been done in a variety of ways and has yielded a variety of results.

At least some of the work with knife-scarred plastic indicates that the surface is very difficult to clean and disinfect, although this may vary among the polymers used. High-density polyethylene, which is most used in commercial applications, has been shown to delaminate in response to knife scarring. Wood is intrinsically porous, which allows food juices and bacteria to enter the body of the wood unless a highly hydrophobic residue covers the surface. The moisture is drawn in by capillary action until there is no more free fluid on the surface, at which point immigration ceases.

Bacteria in the wood pores are not killed instantly, but neither do they return to the surface. Destructive sampling reveals infectious bacteria for hours, but resurrection of these bacteria via knife edges has not been demonstrated. Small plastic cutting boards can be cleaned in a dishwasher (as can some specially treated wooden boards), but the dishwasher may distribute the bacteria onto other food-contact surfaces. Most small wooden boards (i.e., those with no metal joiners in them) can be sterilized in a microwave oven, but this should be unnecessary if accumulation of food residues is prevented. However, 2 epidemiological studies seem to show that cutting board cleaning habits have little influence on the incidence of sporadic salmonellosis. Further, one of these studies indicated that

use of plastic cutting boards in home kitchens is hazardous, whereas use of wooden cutting boards is not.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16640304/

The microbiology of Plastic and wooden cutting boards was studied, regarding cross-contamination of foods in home kitchens. New and used Plastic (four polymers plus hard rubber) and wood (nine hardwoods) cutting boards were cut into 5-cm squares (“blocks”). Escherichia coli (two nonpathogenic strains plus type O157:H7), Listeria innocua , L. monocytogenes , or Salmonella typhimurium was applied to the 25-cm² block surface in nutrient broth or chicken juice and recovered by soaking the surface in nutrient broth or pressing the block onto nutrient agar, within 3-10 min or up to ca. 12 h later.

Bacteria inoculated onto Plastic blocks were readily recovered for minutes to hours and would multiply if held overnight. Recoveries from wooden blocks were generally less than those from plastic blocks, regardless of new or used status; differences increased with holding time. Clean wood blocks usually absorbed the inoculum completely within 3-10 min. If these fluids contained 10³-10⁴ CFU of bacteria likely to come from raw meat or poultry, the bacteria generally could not be recovered after entering the wood. If ≥10⁶ CFU were applied, bacteria might be recovered from wood after 12 h at room temperature and high humidity, but numbers were reduced by at least 98%, and often more than 99.9%. Mineral oil treatment of the wood surface had little effect on the microbiological findings.

These results do not support the often-heard assertion that Plastic cutting boards are more sanitary than wood.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31113021/

Lets see some more…

“Talking about the wooden cutting board, it is a renewable resource and is more durable. Most people prefer using it since it doesn’t scar as easily as plastic. Not only do wood boards last longer, they also help in keeping the knives stay sharp for a longer time. Wood boards don’t make the blades blunt as quickly as plastic boards. Wood shows the ability to halt the growth of and kill bacteria on its surface. Both new and used wooden cutting boards maintain this ability equally well.

As stated in a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin they tested which surface was better by using bacteria known to produce food poisoning namely Salmonella, Listeria and Enterohemorrhagic E.coli. These bacteria were placed on cutting boards made from seven different species of trees and four types of plastic.

All the wooden boards consistently outperformed the plastic”. (read more  )

 

The same study results were also published in The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/10/health/wooden-cutting-boards-found-safer-than-plastic.html