Sushi knives?

[SShepherd]

if you have no experience with non-stainless (carbon steel) knives, don't buy any. wait until you fully learn your craft to even consider them.



Most yanagiba's are carbon steel and you'll have to get use to having a non-stainless knife. If you want stainless, take a look at the shun 10.5" Yanagiba. If you want to go traditional (non-stainless) I can make some recommendations.

not to be picky, but you contradicted yourself.

my reason for suggesting the gyuto i did, was;

he's "in training"

pretty low cost for a decent knife

and if he doesn't stay with the job he'll still have a decent knife he can use anywhere.

regardless, stainless or non will work fine. I don't it will take you long in your training to remember to keep your knife and workspace clean, it good practice

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

I am certainly no expert in this area, but one thing I do know is that every sushi/sashimi chef I know of uses knives specifically designed for sushi/sashimi. Standard chef knives don't make the cuts as well. From what I've heard, most of these knives are high carbon steel and ground on one side only.

 

[Eight Trigrams]

Sweet man... thanks for your input. I'm used to taking care of carbon steel in my non-kitchen knives so I'd feel pretty comfortable going traditional. If you want to hit me with those recommendations, feel free.

I've been looking at a Suisin Shironiko Yanagiba in the 270mm length. Yay? Nay? One thing that's got me worried is the bevel. I'm right handed and so for most things the beveled edge should be on the right side, obviously. It seems that if you're thinly slicing a fish fillet that's laying on a cutting board in front of you, lengthwise, you'd want the bevel on the opposite side, wouldn't you?

 

[jimnolimit]

not to be picky, but you contradicted yourself.

my reason for suggesting the gyuto i did, was;

he's "in training"

pretty low cost for a decent knife

and if he doesn't stay with the job he'll still have a decent knife he can use anywhere.

regardless, stainless or non will work fine. I don't it will take you long in your training to remember to keep your knife and workspace clean, it good practice

re-read what i wrote, i didn't contradict myself. most yanagiba's are carbon steel and if he has no experience with non-stainless, that's just one more thing he will have to worry about while learning. a gyuto will work, but he is going to be a sushi chef which will involve alot of delicate slicing. a sujihiki or yanagiba between 270mm-300mm will be better for that.

 

[Eight Trigrams]

not to be picky, but you contradicted yourself.

my reason for suggesting the gyuto i did, was;

he's "in training"

pretty low cost for a decent knife

and if he doesn't stay with the job he'll still have a decent knife he can use anywhere.

regardless, stainless or non will work fine. I don't it will take you long in your training to remember to keep your knife and workspace clean, it good practice

I am certainly no expert in this area, but one thing I do know is that every sushi/sashimi chef I know of uses knives specifically designed for sushi/sashimi. Standard chef knives don't make the cuts as well. From what I've heard, most of these knives are high carbon steel and ground on one side only.

Oh... just to clarify, I'm planning to grab at least 5 knives. A gyoto, deba, petty, santoku and yanagiba. Yeah it'll be spendy I know, but I figure with those I can pretty much accomplish anything I'll need to do on the job. I've already got a sexy-looking gyoto all picked out, so that's squared away. Actually the only two up in the air right now are the yanagiba and the santoku. I was thinking for the latter one of the Shun Classic version with the 7" blade, but if anyone has any other suggestions around that price range I'm all ears.

 

[jimnolimit]

Sweet man... thanks for your input. I'm used to taking care of carbon steel in my non-kitchen knives so I'd feel pretty comfortable going traditional. If you want to hit me with those recommendations, feel free.

I've been looking at a Suisin Shironiko Yanagiba in the 270mm length. Yay? Nay? One thing that's got me worried is the bevel. I'm right handed and so for most things the beveled edge should be on the right side, obviously. It seems that if you're thinly slicing a fish fillet that's laying on a cutting board in front of you, lengthwise, you'd want the bevel on the opposite side, wouldn't you?

for the price range of the Suisin Shironiko Yanagiba, i would take a hard look at the masamoto KK series 270mm yanigiba.

right-handed, slicing bevel down is ok, you'll be fine.

 

[jimnolimit]

Oh... just to clarify, I'm planning to grab at least 5 knives. A gyoto, deba, petty, santoku and yanagiba. Yeah it'll be spendy I know, but I figure with those I can pretty much accomplish anything I'll need to do on the job. I've already got a sexy-looking gyoto all picked out, so that's squared away. Actually the only two up in the air right now are the yanagiba and the santoku. I was thinking for the latter one of the Shun Classic version with the 7" blade, but if anyone has any other suggestions around that price range I'm all ears.

i would wait to get the santoku last.

which gyuto are you looking at? what size?

where are you located?

 

[Eight Trigrams]

for the price range of the Suisin Shironiko Yanagiba, i would take a hard look at the masamoto KK series 270mm yanigiba.

Cool... any particular reason for the suggestion?

i would wait to get the santoku last.

which gyuto are you looking at? what size?

where are you located?

Hiromoto AS 270mm.

Twin Cities. Sushi Mecca of the World, I know.

 

[jimnolimit]

Cool... any particular reason for the suggestion?



Hiromoto AS 270mm.

Twin Cities. Sushi Mecca of the World, I know.

you might find that you don't need a santoku. between a petty, gyuto, deba and yanagiba, you have pretty much all your bases covered. you can always buy a santoku later on.

the hiromoto AS is a very good choice IMO. super blue clad in stainless will give you great performance and still be 90%+ stainless. personally i like my gyuto's in 240mm.

i asked where you are located because if you were located in NYC there is a japanese trading company that has a huge knife showroom.

 

[Eight Trigrams]

you might find that you don't need a santoku. between a petty, gyuto, deba and yanagiba, you have pretty much all your bases covered. you can always buy a santoku later on.

the hiromoto AS is a very good choice IMO. super blue clad in stainless will give you great performance and still be 90%+ stainless. personally i like my gyuto's in 240mm.

i asked where you are located because if you were located in NYC there is a japanese trading company that has a huge knife showroom.

Ah. No, I was referring to your Masamoto suggestion. Also do you know anything about Yoshihiro and Fujiwara yanagibas, good or bad?

 

[SShepherd]

re-read what i wrote, i didn't contradict myself. most yanagiba's are carbon steel and if he has no experience with non-stainless, that's just one more thing he will have to worry about while learning. a gyuto will work, but he is going to be a sushi chef which will involve alot of delicate slicing. a sujihiki or yanagiba between 270mm-300mm will be better for that.

I completly understand the purpose of a yanagi ( I've made a few for a local sushi place)

I unserstand he's just starting out, what are his chances of starting out slicing tuna for nigiri? I guess i'm thinking if they're training him, depending on the place, he's going to be doing alot of prep. But I'm guessing at that point.

 

[SShepherd]

you might find that you don't need a santoku. between a petty, gyuto, deba and yanagiba, you have pretty much all your bases covered. you can always buy a santoku later on.

the hiromoto AS is a very good choice IMO. super blue clad in stainless will give you great performance and still be 90%+ stainless. personally i like my gyuto's in 240mm.

i asked where you are located because if you were located in NYC there is a japanese trading company that has a huge knife showroom.

if you're jumping in that heavy, you might want to think about buying a few stones so you can sharpen them as needed.

 

[jimnolimit]

Ah. No, I was referring to your Masamoto suggestion. Also do you know anything about Yoshihiro and Fujiwara yanagibas, good or bad?

i mistook what you where asking before.

if you are looking to spend in the $200-$250 range for a 270mm yanagiba, as a whole package the masamoto KK is hard to beat. masamoto has an excellent reputation worldwide for making high quality knives. i don't own a masamoto yanagiba but i do own a 240mm gyuto (HC series), the materials and fit/finish are very good.

 

[jimnolimit]

if you're jumping in that heavy, you might want to think about buying a few stones so you can sharpen them as needed.

i totally agree.

IMO, a 1000/6000 combination king stone would be a good budget choice (about $35-$40).

 

[chef grueso]

You should definatly get a japanese yanagi knife, its a special tool designed for cutting raw fish. you can find all sort of quality and prices, but my recomendation is to get a true japanese hand forged one.

www.japanesknife.org

 

[Buck_110]

As for asking the boss... I tried. Twice. He was very vague both times. His response pretty much boiled down to "personal preference". I even asked about the single-bevel chisel grind popular on a lot of Japanese kitchen knives, and he said that some sashimi chefs prefer them, but again, personal preference.

It's not what you've got, but how you use what you have.
The most highly vaunted knives in the world are not going to impart knowledge or experience.

I'm pretty sure Tiger Woods will still shoot birdie golf even if forced to use a set of clubs purchased at a garage sale. Skill is what makes one great, not possessions.

 

[eccvets]

Agree best suggestion so far. Also ask the chefs if they have old knives that they want to sell.

Folks: a Yanagi sashimi knife is far from being simply a "Japanese" kitchen knife. It is specialized for preparation of raw fish and is very long & slender so you can cut the tender fish in one stroke without damaging the flesh. "Kitchen" knives aren't the same thing at all, even if they are "Japanese".

+1, sashimi knife is very different then a chefs knife. make sure the bevel for the chisle grind is on the right (not necessarily right as in direction) side for you! Learning to sharpen a knife to a screaming sharp edge and keeping it will also help you out a lot no matter what knife you get if your prepping shashimi!

When I worked as a food prep in my earlier years, I always kept my own knifes as the ones provided were horribly dull and unsafe at best. I would keep them/transport them in a frosted plastic box that kids used for school to keep their penciles and other writing instruments in.


P.S. I know some chef's buy two or more sets of knifes so they don't gotta constantly be sharpening their knifes every night and to rest the blades between days. I never did any fine cutting so I only had one set.

 

[ameliasolis]

 

[KenHash]

Hi all,

I just happened to stumble upon this site and thought someone out there might be able to help me!

I'm looking to buy a sushi knife and to be honest, I know absolutely nothing about Sushi or Knives :-/

It's a present for my boyfriend you see, he's massively into his sushi (even has a boat to catch his own tuna!) but he's always complaining about the knives he has. My birthday is coming up so I thought perfect! and then I started looking thinking it would be easy..... big mistake!

So far the 2 ones that keep coming up the most are the Shun Pro II Sashimi knife 270mm and the Masamoto KA series Yanagi Sashimi 270mm. Does anyone have these knives so I can get a real review on them? Any better ones out there?

Any help would be massively appreciated!!

Thanking you in advance

This is a 10 year old thread. A new thread might have been better. But let me respond;
Firstly, there is no such thing as a "sushi knife". It is a term often used by people who don't know sushi.
There are 2 knives used to make sushi (edomae type, raw fish/seafood on shari (vinegared rice).)
The first is a Deba, a shorter very thick spined single bevel knive used to break a fish down, remove head, bones, and filet.
The second is a Yanagiba, a long slicer which is sometimes called a "Sashimi knife". Sashimi means raw fish or other ingredients.

The Shun Pro series are VG10 stainless. The Masamoto KA series are Blue Steel No.2 a carbon steel.
Between the two I would go with the Masamoto hands down. I have this knife in 240mm rather than 270mm.
Has served me well some 12 years. You will see this knife used in professional settings in Japan.

Are there other/better ones out there? Yes, tons. It all depends on how much you want to spend and what's important to you.
Type of steel, finish such as Suminagashi or Damascus or Kuriouchi or Tsuchime, all of which are aesthetic and don;t have any
bearing on the performance of the knife.
If Single bevel knives are not his preference, there are double beveled Debas (called Western Deba) and double bevel Yanagis (called Sujihiki).
But if your boyfriend is "massively into sushi" I tend to suspect he will want the single bevels.
Whatever you choose, if he catches his own fish I would strongly recommend a set of a Yanagi and Deba.

 

[fowlintent]

Maybe I'm just a sushi snob....but if I walked into a high end sushi restaurant and the chef was using a Victorionox knife, I would turn around and walk.