Asian style knifes

[Dogman]

When I was in the culinary industry people either worked with German or Japanese style knives.

I'm a big German fan since German knives are big, bulky, and strong.

Japanese knives are thin, flexible (sometimes), light, and precise. They can sometimes snap and break when cutting something thick and hard. One of my co-worker's knife snapped in half while cutting a large wheel of hard jack cheese. That would never happen with a German knife.

I prefer German since the added weight gives you more force.

Brand-wise if you want a good Asian style knife I'd recommend Globals. They were used by more cooks and chefs than any other Japanese knife, at least in the circles I kept.


For German-style I'd recommend Messermeister. Those were the hottest knives overall when I was cooking. This is what one of mine looks like. Buy it here.




Personally I can't comment much on Chinese knives (like cleavers.) I think they are more-or-less gimmicks like chop-sticks. That's my opinion though.

Stick to a tried and true Chef's knife that's 6 to 9" long, preferably 8". I'm speaking from professional experience by the way. I've cooked for years in the industry and many of my co-workers have become celebrities in the culinary world. I left to run my current business.


If you want the best of the best Asian-style I'd buy this:
http://www.amazon.com/Global-G-2-inc.../dp/B00005OL44

I have several examples of knifes made in solingen germany that makes me think they do make some great knifes, some are stainless and others are carbon steel, I like the carbon steel ones better.

Have several eye brand plus a few others that I like the hell out of.

But I do digress that different knifes and knife styles have been developed for different uses and styles of cooking in different parts of the world. I as all of us have used the wrong knife cutting the right things when cooking. There is no one knife design that will do it all well as one designed for the task at hand.

Heavy cutting requires a heaver knife and the weight of the knife becomes important along with toughness. But on the other end of the scale lighter, thinner knifes can easily do what a heavy knife may have trouble with.

These Japanese knifes round out my kitchen knifes for heavy cutting to paper thin slicing, depending on what I want for my meals, and give me much more versatility in my slicing and dicing, plus first impression is these jap knifes have some very good steel in them, but time will tell.

Your friend cutting cheese with a thin knife was a fool, only idiots try that the cheese wants to stick to the blade and creates mondo drag and stress on the blade if cutting into large chunks.

Besides I would rather spend my money on a good Timex rather than a Rolex watch when they do the same thing just as well. The same goes with my knifes, good steel is good steel depending on the mix and grade and I would rather pay for that steel without paying for the brand/name when it is the same steel alloy used.