How to Maintain the Sharpness of Boning Knife

Maintaining the sharpness of a boning knife is crucial for both the efficiency and safety of your kitchen work. Here are some key tips and techniques to ensure your boning knife remains sharp and in top condition:

Regular Honing

Honing realigns the edge of the blade, which can become bent during use. Using a honing steel regularly, perhaps every few uses, helps maintain the knife’s edge. It’s important to note that honing does not sharpen a dull blade but maintains a sharp one.

Proper Sharpening

Sharpening actually removes metal from the blade to create a new edge. This can be done using a whetstone or a professional sharpening service. If using a whetstone, it’s crucial to maintain the correct angle and to go through different grits for the best results. Sharpening should be done every few months or when you notice the knife is not performing as well as it used to.

Use the Right Cutting Surface

Always use a wooden or plastic cutting board. Hard surfaces like glass, metal, or stone can quickly dull your knife’s blade.

Proper Cleaning and Storage

Clean your knife by hand with warm water and mild detergent; dishwashers can damage the blade. Dry it immediately to prevent rust, especially if it’s made of carbon steel. Store the knife in a block, sheath, or on a magnetic strip to prevent the blade from becoming dull due to contact with other objects.

Avoid Misuse

Boning knives are designed for specific tasks. Avoid using them for inappropriate tasks like cutting through bone, frozen foods, or hard surfaces, as this can damage the blade.

Mind the Blade’s Material

Different materials may require different care. For example, carbon steel blades are more prone to rusting and may need oiling, while stainless steel is more forgiving but might not hold an edge as long.

Inspect Regularly

Regularly check your knife for signs of wear or damage. Chips, bends, or rust spots should be addressed immediately to prevent further deterioration.

By following these maintenance tips, you can prolong the life of your boning knife and ensure it remains a reliable tool in your culinary arsenal. Remember, a sharp knife is not only more effective but also safer to use.

How to Maintain the Sharpness of Japanese Knives

Japanese knives are renowned worldwide for their exceptional sharpness, precision, and craftsmanship. These prized kitchen tools are an investment, and maintaining their keen edge ensures that they will serve you well for years to come. Here are some essential tips on how to prolong the sharpness of your Japanese knives:

Proper Storage:

Magnetic Strip:

Consider using a magnetic strip on your kitchen wall. This will prevent the blades from touching anything, thus keeping them sharp.

Knife Block:

If you prefer a counter-top solution, use a knife block. Ensure the slots are horizontal, so the blade doesn’t wear out when sliding in and out.

Blade Guard:

For those who store knives in a drawer, using a blade guard can protect the edge from contact with other utensils.

Use the Right Cutting Surface:

Hard surfaces like granite or glass can dull your knife quickly. Instead, opt for a wooden or soft plastic cutting board which is gentler on the blade.

Proper Cleaning:

Avoid putting your Japanese knife in the dishwasher as the aggressive detergents and banging around can damage the blade.
Hand wash the knife using warm soapy water and a soft sponge. Dry it immediately with a towel to prevent rust, especially if it’s made of high-carbon steel.

Honing and Sharpening:

Honing:

Use a honing rod (or honing steel) regularly to realign the knife’s edge. It doesn’t remove any material but corrects any minor bends or imperfections.

Sharpening:

Over time, honing won’t be enough, and you’ll need to sharpen the blade. Depending on your knife type (e.g., single-beveled or double-beveled), you might use a whetstone. When sharpening, always follow the knife’s original angle and work with a consistent motion.

Mind Your Technique:

Using proper cutting techniques not only ensures your safety but also keeps your knife sharp. Avoid using a “rocking” motion which can wear down the edge faster. Instead, use a smooth slicing motion.

Regular Maintenance:

Depending on how often you use your knife, consider having it professionally sharpened once a year or every other year. A professional will ensure that the blade is sharpened correctly without removing too much material.
Conclusion

The beauty of Japanese knives lies in their meticulous craftsmanship and superior performance. With a little care and attention, you can ensure that these culinary masterpieces remain as sharp as the day you bought them, giving you precise cuts and a joyful cooking experience for years to come.

The Features of the Boning Knife

In the vast world of culinary tools, certain knives are crafted to perform specific tasks with precision. The boning knife is one such specialized tool, designed primarily for the de-boning process in various meats. Here’s an exploration of the unique attributes of the boning knife:

Narrow, Tapered Blade

The boning knife typically features a narrow blade that tapers to a fine point. This design allows for precise cuts around bones and joints, ensuring minimal wastage of meat.

Flexible Blade Option

Some boning knives have flexible blades, making it easier to maneuver around bones, especially in fish and poultry. The flexibility allows the knife to bend, providing more control during the deboning process.

Sharp Pointed Tip

The pointed tip of the boning knife is crucial for puncturing and making initial incisions in the meat. It also aids in removing small bones from delicate cuts.

Optimal Blade Length

Ranging from 5 to 6.5 inches, the blade length is perfect for a variety of meats, from large cuts of beef to smaller poultry and fish.

High-Quality Materials

The best boning knives are often crafted from high-carbon stainless steel. This ensures durability, sharpness retention, and resistance to corrosion.

Ergonomic Handle Design

Given the precision required for de-boning, many boning knives come with ergonomically designed handles. This offers a comfortable grip, ensuring safety and reducing hand fatigue.

Safety Bolster

Some designs feature a bolster between the handle and the blade. This not only provides balance but also acts as a finger guard, offering an additional layer of safety.

Precision and Control

The design and balance of the boning knife allow chefs and cooks to have maximum control, essential for the delicate task of de-boning.

Versatility

While primarily used for removing bones, the boning knife can also be used for other tasks like trimming, filleting, and butterflying meats.

In conclusion, the boning knife, with its distinctive design and specialized function, is an indispensable tool in both professional and home kitchens. It streamlines the de-boning process, ensuring that meats are prepared with finesse and precision. Whether you’re a seasoned chef or a passionate home cook, a quality boning knife can elevate your culinary skills, particularly when working with meats.

The Difference Between Japanese Knives and Western Knives

Knife selection plays a crucial role in the world of cooking, be it in professional settings or at home. Two popular types of knives widely known for their distinct characteristics and craftsmanship are Japanese knives (Wahōchō) and Western knives (Yōhōchō). This article aims to delineate the differences between these two culinary icons.

Material and Manufacturing

Japanese knives, made of hard carbon steel, are renowned for their sharpness and edge retention. The forging process involves careful hammering and folding, creating a blade with intricate layers of steel. This produces a lightweight knife that allows precise and delicate cutting motions.

Conversely, Western knives are typically made from softer stainless steel. This gives them durability and resistance to rust and staining. They are heftier and provide robust support for a variety of heavy-duty cutting tasks.

Blade and Edge Design

Japanese knives often feature a single bevel blade, meaning they are sharpened on one side. This results in a razor-sharp edge, ideal for slicing through ingredients with precision. Additionally, these knives usually have a straighter edge, suitable for up-and-down chopping motions.

Western knives, on the other hand, have a double bevel blade, sharpened on both sides. This design makes them versatile and easy to handle for different cutting styles, including rocking cuts. Their curved edge design aids in the rocking motion commonly used in Western cooking.

Handle Design

The handle of a traditional Japanese knife is usually made of wood and is often cylindrical or D-shaped. This design is meant to provide comfort and control for precise slicing movements.

Western knives often feature a more ergonomic handle design that may include contours for fingers, providing a secure grip for various cutting tasks. Handles are usually made from materials like plastic, composites, or stainless steel.

Maintenance and Usage

Japanese knives require regular maintenance to prevent rust and retain their sharpness. They are best suited for tasks that need precision, such as sushi or sashimi preparation.

Western knives, due to their sturdier build and rust resistance, need less frequent sharpening and are more forgiving of rough handling. They are versatile tools, ideal for a wide range of cutting tasks in daily cooking.

Japanese and Western knives each have unique strengths. The choice between them comes down to personal preference and the specific culinary tasks at hand. Understanding the key differences can help one to make the best choice for their cooking style and needs.

Behind Japanese Delicacies

Japanese food is worldwide known for the intricate nature, delicate flavors, and the wise choice of unique ingredients that mostly capture the attention of diners and gourmets from different parts of the globe. Diners enjoy seeing the professionalism in Japanese delicacies expressed through the wise combinations of vivid-colored ingredients, often freshly caught from sea. Orange-colored Salmon slices and crystal beads of Caviar not only showcase the creativity in ingredient selection – the professionalism and the mastery of the blades revealed the secrets behind the perfect slices, the paper-thin pieces of Sea Bass, the fat pieces of Fatty Tuna topped on cooked, Japanese sushi rice.

What truly lies in the heart of Japanese food, isn’t just the satisfaction of the final flavors that rock the tastebuds and linger in the unfulfilled, clouded minds of the hungry gourmets, but the major satisfaction that comes from the splash of certain magic – the spark of curiosity that wakes the mind and is given the answer with a performance of sushi and sashimi-making. The latter mainly answers to why many Japanese food lovers enjoy eating at Omakase restaurants or specialty dining places. Being able to express the traditional Japanese culinary cultures through the mastery of the blades, unique ingredient selection, and culinary placement not only pushes forward the success of Japanese delicacies like sashimi and sushi – the ability to bare the intricate processes is a major professionalism and a high significance Japanese cuisine holds. With this reason, many diners and cordon bleus are intrigued by the skills and the traditional techniques Japanese food chefs and culinary experts have, portrayed in their works of culinary arts.

The Tastes

Japanese food tops the charts for the delicate flavors, yet exotic bursts of newness in every of its components. The original blends of rich, raw ingredients like Salmon, Mackerel, and Sea Bass with the authentic, Japanese vinegar-mixed cooked rice makes Japanese cuisine a huge standout among other kinds of culinary delicacies. Most diners agree that the subtle flavors and delicacy Japanese dishes offer makes their dining experiences magical. Japanese food chefs are very careful when it comes to the selection of seasonal and fresh ingredients – not only do the wise choice of ingredients make a difference, it also showcases the understanding of culinary combinations and its significant relationship with the Japanese authentic sushi-crafting traditions.

Most times, the tastes of Japanese delicacies like sushi and sashimi are often described as being delicate and subtle. However, these dishes are crafted professionally through intricate, complicated processes that involves the mastery of the blades, the wise choice of ingredient selection, as well as the techniques in culinary placement for satisfactory aesthetics.

The Mastery of The Blades

Japanese knives are essential cutleries that play an important role in the crafting of most famed Japanese delicacies. These special knives are forged out of extremely hard steels like high prime carbon, Damascus stainless steel, and Aoko blue steel. Japanese blades are like those of Samurai’s blades – in the culinary war, Japanese chefs and culinary experts are forced to master the essential skills in order to perfectly slice through a vast variety of high-quality ingredients. Be it poultry, seafood, vegetables, or bones, there are a wide variety of knife types that can cut through and beautifully slice ingredients into desired forms and shapes.

Therefore, Japanese knives are highly needed and required by all Japanese food experts to successfully craft Japanese delicacies with ease. As Japanese knives are forged with superb-quality materials and hard steels, there is no way Japanese chefs would choose other knife types, as these are especially made to authentically craft and create traditional Japanese delicacies.

Japanese Knives and How to Choose One

Japanese food is loved worldwide by diners and gourmets for the delicate flavors coming from cooked Japanese rice mixed with vinegar, sugar, and salt – creating the perfect blend of subtleness, enough to form rice balls perfect for making sushi. Fresh, fine-quality ingredients like Salmon, prawn, squid, and other seafood freshly-picked from sea, on the contrary, provide exotic, savory tastes to each menu. The social media-friendly aesthetics that feature vivid-colored ingredients like glistering orange Caviar beads, ocean-green Wakame seaweed strips, and perfect alignment of fresh Sea bass slices spread on the traditional, Japanese-style plates are also what makes gourmets swoon and swore their loyalty to Japanese food.

As Japanese delicacies are often served in specialty restaurants called ‘Omakase’ restaurants, culinary experts and Japanese food professionals find it highly crucial to continuously search for high-end, top-notch Japanese knife brands that forge extraordinary knife models to help in the crafting of Ebi sushi, Maki rolls, and Sake sashimi. As Omakase restaurants are high-end, traditional Japanese restaurants that stand out for the signature dishes head chefs serve in their very own unique ways, diners and gourmets can enjoy all the Japanese food aesthetics, the Zen-styled interior, and the elegance of serving Japanese dishes to mark your dinner night an amazing dining experience.

With high expectations gourmets have when it comes to Japanese food, it is a must for professionals and culinary experts to master their knife skills of chopping, cutting, slicing, filleting, and layering various kinds of ingredients. Thus, a wise selection of Japanese knives is needed to successfully craft one-of-a-kind menus and dishes to be presented by proud, dedicated Japanese food chefs.

Selecting a Japanese Knife

Although it might sound like a challenge to choose the right Japanese knife to meet your specific needs in the kitchen, you can look at the following factors to ease your decision-making: function, steel hardness, sharpness, and knife edges. It is best to first choose your knife according to the function it serves – for example, go for a Gyuto knife if you need a multi-function or a multi-tasking knife in the kitchen but choose a Yanagiba knife if you want to make sashimi or sushi dishes instead. Although these two knife types are different in the function they serve and the features they own, Japanese knives are made out of hard steels.

It is best to look at high Rockwell hardness values to ensure that the knife is durable enough to cut or slice through various-textured materials or dense ingredients. Japanese knives are also made to be extremely sharp – they are forged with a general purpose of filleting and slicing through numerous ingredient types. It is best to choose new, razor-sharp blades out of the box for the best cooking experience.

Japanese knives are as well available as single edge knives and double edge ones. Single edge knives are generally sharper – only on one side of the blade is sharpened, while the other side of the blade is slightly concaved. For delicate and sensitive culinary work, single edge knives are highly recommended. A double edge knife, on the other hand, works well with users who are both left-handed and right-handed. A double edge knife can work with all kinds of processes in the kitchen and its sturdy blade body allows users to confidentially utilize and grip onto the blade without worries. However, when compared to single edge ones, this double edge knife may work a little less neatly and re-sharpening the blade can be a little tougher compared to those of single edge knives.

Now, choosing a great pair of Japanese knives is no longer a challenge if you understand a few tips to wisely select one of your own. To possess a Japanese knife and keep it safe in the kitchen, remember to clean your knife right away after use and keep them dry.

Sakai Takayuki Aoniko Blue 2 Steel Knife Selections

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If you are a dedicated cook or a passionate, ready-to-learn chef wishing to succeed in the cooking of Japanese delicacies like sushi or sashimi dishes, then you’d know how important a Japanese knife is. A Japanese knife plays a significant role in how the dishes will be made, specifically when it comes to sushi and sashimi menus. As sushi and sashimi dishes require intricate cooking processes like those of accurately slicing paper-thin pieces of raw fish into sizes and proportions deemed suitable and perfect to bring out all the authentic, yet exotic tastes of rawness, a Japanese knife and the mastery of the skills are essential. True Japanese food lovers and gourmets will notice the differences in flavors and scents due to the slightest changes in the thickness of fish; therefore, the skills of the blade are truly essential when it comes to crafting Japanese delicacies like those earlier mentioned.

Japanese sushi with toppings like Sake, Sea Bass, Fatty Tuna, and Unagi may be the popular, most well-known sushi toppings out there. However, who’d know that slicing through them could be a challenging task? Different kinds of fish will require varying techniques and different pressure to result in precise, perfect slices for various dishes. Thus, being able to efficiently utilize a Japanese knife for various cuts, slices, and chops will result in delicious, mouth-watering sushi and sashimi pieces ready to be served.

As the importance of Japanese knives tripled worldwide due to the surprising increase in the intensity and the popularity of Japanese food in general, there are new Japanese knife brands in the market, competing with best prices and quality materials. However, not all Japanese knife brands are ‘reliable’ and ‘efficient’. Despite the increase in Japanese knife brands, only a selected few are those that truly earned the ‘trust’ from Japanese knife users, culinary experts, and professionals. Among those, Sakai Takayuki tops the charts for efficient blades with high performance, premium quality steels, fine selections of handle materials, elegant designs, and uniquely styled sheaths.

Sakai Takayuki Aoniko

Although Sakai Takayuki offers users and knife collectors a wide variety of knife types, series, and models featuring selections of materials that differ from one another, the Aoniko series stand out among the rest with all of its knife types and models made out of the famous Yasugi Blue steel or also known as the Aogami No.2 steel in mono steel construction. The Yasugi Aoko Steel is among the hardest steels which are often used to make high-end, top-tier culinary tools. The Aogami No.2 steel is also known as a High Prime Carbon steel especially used in the crafting of professional tools and equipment, as high resistance, longevity, durability, strength, and rust resistance are all its pros. Compared to other steel types, the Aogami No.2 steel is considered top of the rank with all the benefits it provides to knife users and collectors alike.

Sakai Takayuki Aoniko knife selections differ from other knife lines and series with the ‘authentic Japanese edge’ feature. Other knife collections and series made out of stainless steel like Sakai Takayuki Grand Chef, for instance, can be enough for beginners and intermediate cooks. For professionals, though, trying out the Aoniko knife selections will bring the challenge to the next level. Crafted out of the unique and high-quality Mahogany wood, all handles of the Aoniko knife selections are crafted by highly-skilled Sakai Takayuki craftsmen and blacksmiths. With the Aoniko knife series, users and even collectors will be extremely satisfied and surprised with all the function and benefits these knives have to offer.

Sakai Takayuki Grand Chef SP1 Kiritsuke Knife Series

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Japanese food tops the world charts for its delicacy, yet savory, exotic flavors coming from its traditional roots – leaving the jaws dropping for its unique, subtle tastes that blends together so well despite its selection of varying ingredients of all kinds. The original liquid condiments and the recipes to combine them with a selection of certain, fresh ingredients makes Japanese cuisine a stand-out among other form of culinary arts. With its famed intricacy, Japanese dishes like sushi and sashimi became a world phenomenon – the unique blends of raw ingredients brought light to the Western world for the very first time.

With its long history that dates back to centuries ago, Japanese sushi and sashimi has evolved into what we know today as the ‘modern sushi’. Its popularity hit its peaked even during the olden days despite the lack of developments in food processing and the storing of food. However, as sushi and sashimi now tops the international charts for its originality and authenticity in the portrayal of Japanese traditions through the complicated blends of flavors that waters the taste buds, it can be said that Japanese cuisine is indeed, of which fills the stomach with elegance and utmost satisfaction.

The most common reason upon why Japanese cuisine is world-famous, would be its fine selection of fresh, sea-caught seafood and fish. However, what truly makes sushi and sashimi dishes special is the mastery of the Japanese blades. Picturing a Japanese Samurai with his sword, a professional Japanese food chef also has his own blade. A culinary expert in the crafting of Japanese food also needs his essentials – just a set of perfect blades to perform all skills and techniques to cook one’s own signature dishes. The mastery of Japanese knives is highly important to all hopefuls who are looking forward to their dreams in becoming a Japanese food chef.

Sakai Takayuki’s Grand Chef SP1 Kiritsuke Series

Japan is home to countless numbers of cutlery, including other culinary equipment for professional use. Among the cities with high exports of culinary equipment like knives, the city of Sakai is where Sakai Takayuki forges their premium quality blades for Japanese chefs worldwide.

With a long history of over 600 years, Sakai’s knives are all forged with experience and a great understanding of what a blade needs to perform the techniques required in the crafting of delicate sushi pieces. Among Sakai’s top knife series, Sakai Takayuki’s Grand Chef SP1 Kiritsuke series provides users with a wide variety of knife types and models to choose from. A razor-sharp series of blades, the Kiritsuke series features single-edge models made from the Bohler-Uddeholm Swedish steel.

For standard models, the handle material is black Polyoxymethyl resin, while premium models feature brown Desert iron wood. As this series of knife is made especially to ease left handed users with a single-edge feature, most Western chefs and culinary experts will find this series simple to utilize and easier to grip without any concerns in regards to discomfort.

Despite the lesser number of single-edge knives in the market, top brands like Sakai Takayuki sees the importance of comfort as it affects the performance in the crafting of delicious dishes. With this in mind, users can enjoy a wide range of knife lengths in the Kiritsuke series to meet specific needs and requirements. As most are Yanagiba knife models, users are expected to use this Kiritsuke knife to craft delicate sashimi pieces – slicing through a fine selection of fresh seafood and fish. Left handed users, specifically Western Japanese food chefs, would definitely enjoy having this Kiritsuke knife series in possession.

Sakai Takayuki Top Knife Models

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Although Japan is a destination filled with scents of Cherry blossom trees, the pastel colored skies hovering the well-known Mount Fuji, and traditions of tea reading, it is also one of the most mysterious countries that hides a culinary gem. Japanese cuisine tops the world for its intricate food crafting processes, the delicacy in the crafting of various dishes, and the creativity seen in the eye-widening aesthetics and vivid colored ingredients often placed on soft, subtle yet in a way exotic trays and platters. Japanese cuisine reflects its traditions – the origins coming from historical events, antique traditions, and nature were crafted into pieces of culinary arts. This explains why most Japanese head chefs have higher preference towards opening up one’s own Omakase restaurant, as this allows them to freely express their passions through the dabs of the Wasabi, the swift motions of the blades, and the colorful caviar line-up surrounded by droplets of the chef’s very own Nitsume sauce.

As creativity and a great understanding of the Japanese traditions are highly important in the crafting of delicate sushi pieces, so does the mastery of the Japanese knife. Japanese knives are specially forged to support numerous techniques required in order to make perfect sushi pieces. As sashimi pieces often feature thin slices of raw fish like Salmon or Sea Bass, it is only right to know how to correctly use a Japanese knife, or the so-called ‘Wa-bochos’. As knives are essential in the making of Japanese cuisine, Japan and its countless numbers of cities in various parts of the nation have always been home to various equipment and tools required in the culinary world. However, there is one significant brand that forges splendid quality knives and extremely sharp blades perfect for making sushi.

Sakai Takayuki is among Japan’s top-tier, high-end Japanese knife brands introducing the world with quality blades made out of fine materials. To support a wide variety of usage, Sakai Takayuki knives are forged and designed to meet specific needs – to further master the skills and techniques essential to the crafting of delicate Japanese dishes, specifically sushi. Though there are so many models to choose from, the brand has its very own top best-selling models that are purchased by professionals and novices alike.

Sakai Takayuki Special

The Sakai Takayuki Special selections feature a wide variety of knife models forged for different uses, with unique designs and dimensions to meet the needs of the users. Among the special selection line, top models like the Rinka Ginsan silver steel blade, Mirrored Honyaki, and the Shirogami models are the all-time best sellers.

Sakai Takayuki 33-layer VG10 Damascus DHW

This model is forged with high quality VG10 Damascus and is extremely durable with high edge retention. It is among one of the most-loved Sakai Takayuki knives.

Sakai Takayuki Honyaki Water Quench Aogami 2 Steel

This Honyaki water quench Aogami 2 steel knife model is suitable for professional use. It is made up of the famous Yasugi steel or also known as the prime high carbon steel, making it super durable, with very high edge retention. It is among the highest quality traditional knife models extremely perfect and suitable for professional use.

Sakai Takayuki Homura Kogetsu

The Homura Kogetsu knife is also made up of the Yasugi steel and is among the best knives to have in the kitchen for food preparation. It equips the highest wear resistance and is a very sharp knife with durability that comes with extreme blade toughness. It is a model extremely popular and widely used among professional chefs at luxurious restaurants and the authentic Omakase sushi places.

Japanese Knife Maintenance Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Yes, Japanese cuisine has played an important role in the domination of almost the entire world population. Japanese food is found everywhere on planet Earth – there is no deny to this fact as Sushi, Sashimi, Ramen, Tempura, and Miso soup are to be found in almost every part of the globe. Apart from the original flavors of the chewy-textured Ramen noodles, the crispy flour that covers the fresh, deep-fried prawn Tempura, Sushi and Sashimi remains the ‘number one’ most-loved Japanese cuisine that won the hearts and the thumbs up from diners worldwide. The fast-growing phenomenon has made the traditional, authentic styled sushi the top of the charts. Mouth-watering textures of raw ingredients like Salmon, Tuna, and Saba topped on professionally cooked Japanese rice mixed with the unique recipe of blending in the tastes of vinegar, salt, and sugar has made Sashimi the most wanted dish in the West.

With this reason, not only Japanese locals and chefs learn to make sushi – the beauty of Japanese cuisine and the crafting of subtle dishes have lured the interests of foreigners and people from different parts of the world into the world of ‘Japanese food’. To taste the authentic, traditional flavors of raw ingredients along with the beautifully balanced elements, people would have to visit fine dining places, luxurious Japanese restaurants, and Omakase restaurants – places that offer specialized tasting menus. However, if you’re on a tight budget, that doesn’t always mean you would have to spend all the bucks and dimes, all the pennies earned to explore the rich, exotic tastes of Japanese food. You can enjoy the bliss, the happiness of crafting your very own Japanese dish at home. Sushi is the right starter for beginners and novice cooks. Now, to make good sushi, you will need hard practice – the techniques and skills which can be learned gradually with time and dedication. The passion to craft delicacies will also be required, along with the selection of fine ingredients and equipment.

Every sushi chef needs a blade. A perfect knife to master the skills required to swiftly chop the onions, cut thin slices of raw Salmon fish or Saba, and craft delicate pieces of Nigiri will need proper maintenance. A great multi-purpose knife or also called the ‘Gyuto knife’ will be a great start for beginners and novices. After purchasing a Gyuto knife of your own, it is only right to learn the quick tips and tricks you can make use of in order to properly care for your companion, the blade that will make you a true warrior.

Washing

Whether you bought a stainless steel core or a Chromium core knife, do not forget to thoroughly wash your knife every time after use. It is essential to always wash your knife with soaked cloth or dampened sponge, then dry it with a clean cloth. Letting your blade dry by itself in the air would make it rust – so never forget this.

Cutting or Opening

Although Japanese knives are out-of-the-box sharp – as in extremely sharp, do not use it to cut hard objects. Hard bones, frozen foods, and basically anything that would hurt your teeth so bad just by munching it would be a bad choice of material for the blade. Do not use your knife to open cans or hard objects either – this would simply make your blade brittle and would finally result in possible shatters and crushes. If you want longer lifespan for your Japanese knives, only use it for meat, veggies, fruits, and the ordinary ingredients you would chop, slice, or cut in food preparation – nothing bizarre.

Storing

To safely store your knife, avoid leaving it in a drawer full of other kinds of knives – that will only result in unwanted scratches from all directions. Get yourself a knife block or a custom-made knife holder that will keep your blade safe and secure.