Now that sushi is all the rage and Japanese style knives have become chichi, does anyone know about the chichi sushi knife of them all, brand name of Joyce Chen. Imagine my surprise when I asked the Japanese sushi guy at the supermarket if I could look at his knife. I was expectiong some esoteric, handmade Japanese job, but......it was a Joyce Chen. It looked good and felt very good in the hand, but these these run about 30 bucks. Anyone have any thing to report, good or bad, about these single bevel knives?
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Joyce Chen sushi knife
- Thread starter ichor
- Start date
MelancholyMutt
Doggy Style
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2002
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Hello ichor,
I used to manage one of the restaurants in a chain of one of NYC's prominent Japanese restaurant groups.
In any case, what you have here in NYC as well as other cities with a large sushi restaurant concentration are travelling salesmen who bring with them a large selection of both Japanese and Chinese made chisel grind sushi knives that sell for anywhere between $60 and $300. These are generally very well made of high carbon steel and are sharpened so well that dropping a hair on the edge would probably split the hair in half. The goal of the sushi knife is to be able to cut a range of things without mushing the food or leaving a jagged or stick edge. Remember that the hardest thing to cut cleanly is the mushy, sticky rice.
On the next level are the knives you would find at the asian supermarkets. These run from $20 to $60 and are generally poor quality and needs a few hours on a waterstone before you can cut a few rolls with it. I suspect that Joyce Chen is a marketing company that resells something in between the two ranges I've just stated. Outside of the asian communities on the east and west coast, you use what you get your hands on.
On a side note, most Sushi chefs tend to be Chinese, and in NYC, an increasing number of highly skilled sushi chefs are Latino.
I used to manage one of the restaurants in a chain of one of NYC's prominent Japanese restaurant groups.
In any case, what you have here in NYC as well as other cities with a large sushi restaurant concentration are travelling salesmen who bring with them a large selection of both Japanese and Chinese made chisel grind sushi knives that sell for anywhere between $60 and $300. These are generally very well made of high carbon steel and are sharpened so well that dropping a hair on the edge would probably split the hair in half. The goal of the sushi knife is to be able to cut a range of things without mushing the food or leaving a jagged or stick edge. Remember that the hardest thing to cut cleanly is the mushy, sticky rice.
On the next level are the knives you would find at the asian supermarkets. These run from $20 to $60 and are generally poor quality and needs a few hours on a waterstone before you can cut a few rolls with it. I suspect that Joyce Chen is a marketing company that resells something in between the two ranges I've just stated. Outside of the asian communities on the east and west coast, you use what you get your hands on.
On a side note, most Sushi chefs tend to be Chinese, and in NYC, an increasing number of highly skilled sushi chefs are Latino.