The santoku-bocho is the most usual Japanese kitchen area knife today. While it does not excel at any one particular task, its size and shape make it ideal for a lot of scenarios the daily cook is likely to come across.
The term santoku literally implies "three virtues", however the term more specifically describes the santoku-bochou's promoted capability to manage vegetables, fish, and meat. It is also called bunka-bocho (cultural knife ) or banno-bocho (multipurpose kitchen area knife ).
The nakiri-bocho ("knife for cutting greens "), which resembles a thin cleaver or Chinese chef's knife, was the most popular house kitchen area knife long before the santoku-bocho debuted. For the majority of its documented history, the Japanese dietary plan was mainly seafood, vegetables and rice. therefore the requirement for anything appearing like the long, pointed chef's knife was limited.
Sometime during the course of the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), more meat started appearing in addition to the traditional diet as a result of western influences. Consequently, chef's knives (known in Japan as gyuto, actually "beef knife") came into use in Japan from overseas. Still, it wasn't until the post-WWII economic boom (~ 1950) that ordinary Japanese families started to adopt western-style cooking.
This modification in consuming habits created the demand for an easy to use knife that was likewise appropriate for cutting meat. Go into the santoku-bocho, a happy medium between the brief, rectangular and linearly edged nakiri-bocho and the long, pointed, and curved western chef's knife.
Attributes
In general, the bladed edge of Japanese knives are much flatter than that of western knives. This is since the Japanese design of slicing and dicing involves a horizontal pressing motion as opposed to the round rocking activity you see in cutting board close ups on the Food Network.
The santoku-bocho's was made with non-professional household cooks (i.e., housewives) in mind. The reduced length and heft of the santoku make it simpler to manage in on generally crowdeded Japanese home kitchen countertop than an 8 to 11 inch expert chef's knife. The downward sloping suggestion of the santoku (a "sheepsfoot" tip) is likewise safer for somebody not trained in appropriate knife handling.
Another defining characteristic of the santoku is its cost and accessibility. A suitable santoku can be had for ~ 2000 yen (~$20 USD) at just about any home center or kitchen products keep in Japan.
For an at-home cook trying to find one knife that will deal with the vast bulk of your kitchen area jobs with reasonable effectiveness, a santoku-bocho will do simply great. My mom has been utilizing a ceramic Kyocera santoku nearly daily for the past 15 years. If you can discover a great santoku-bocho for a good cost, absolutely select one up if you do not have one currently.
