What is a chef knife?
What kind of knife is a chef knife in the first place?
Chef knife is said to be a recommended kitchen knife for cooking lovers.
In Japan, “Santoku knives” are widely used as universal knives, but there is also the question of whether it makes sense to choose a chef’s knife.
When you actually use it and compare it, the feeling of cutting is quite different.
Difference between Chef’s knife and Santoku knife
By the way, the difference between a chef’s knife and a Santoku knife lies in the shape and cutting method.
The chef’s knife is long and draws a large curve toward the blade edge, while the Santoku knife has a shape with a blade that is almost straight.
Both of these two knives have their own history, and when you look them up, the differences and characteristics become apparent. It’s pretty interesting.
Details are introduced in the following article, but in brief:
- Not particular about cooking → Santoku knives
- Cooking lover → Chef’s knife
If you’re still wondering which one to choose, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at the differences between the two.
Chef’s knife is not a knife dedicated to meat cutting
In Japanese, Chef’s Knife is written as “牛刀”，“牛”is meaning beef. From the name, many people think of it as a kitchen knife for cutting meat in Japan, but in reality, it cuts not only meat but also vegetables and fish.
In other words, it is used as a universal knife something like Santoku knife.
However, as long as the shapes are different, of course, depending on the ingredients, there will be scenes that are easy to use and scenes that are difficult to use.
For example, Chef knives are harder to cut vegetables than Santoku knives.
It is important to understand that and choose the one that suits your purpose.
Reading for more:
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Is Chef’s Knife a special knife for cutting meat? Is it true that it is difficult to cut vegetables?
Chef’s knife has the following recommended merits
Here, Let’s briefly confirm the characteristics of the chef’s knife.
Make sure you know what you are looking for.
Characteristics of the Chef knife
If you raise the characteristics of the chef’s knife, it will be compared with the Santoku knife.
There are the following major differences:
- Large size (8 inch as usual)
- The cutting edge is sharp and it is easy to do detailed work
- Curved shape toward the cutting edge
Benefits of using a chef’s knife
The advantage of using a chef’s knife is that the food are cut cleanly.
Since the blade length is long, even large ingredients can be cut off a few times. Thanks to this, the cross-section of the food becomes very smooth.
Especially when cutting meat, you can see the difference. The taste is completely different.
Slicing cuts make a difference.
Also, because the cutting edge is sharp, it is good at detailed work.
Once you get used to this, Santoku knives will not be enough.
How to choose a chef’s knife
From here, let’s see how to choose a chef’s knife.
There are different types of chef’s knives, so we would like to summarize the points to distinguish them.
Let’s focus on two points.
Choose the size of the chef’s knife
The first is size.
Although it depends on the kitchen knife brand, most of the knives are 7 inch to 8 inch in size .
However, 7 inch is the length that Santoku knives also have, so if you choose a chef’s knife, we recommend that you make it 8 inch
There are two or three sizes of the same product, but it’s okay to buy the largest size.
Kitchen knives are long and not difficult to use, so unless your kitchen is small, choose a longer size.
Reading for more:
Select the material of the chef’s knife
The second is the material.
The material of the chef knife is mainly ” stainless steel ” or ” steel “.
However, many products are made of stainless steel. If you choose stainless steel for the chef’s knife, there will be no mistake. If you want a high-end stainless steel knife, we recommend Damascus steel chef knife, a special processed stainless steel knife, which is sharper and rust resistant than a normal stainless steel knife.
We don’t recommend you to use a steel chef’s knife unless you are very particular about it. A kitchen knife for professional cooks.
The characteristics of the material are summarized in detail in the following article. This is where you are concerned when choosing a Japanese kitchen knife.
Recommended home-use chef’s knife for beginners
Laser Damascus Pattern Stainless Steel Knife
https://www.wholesalebestknives.com/laser-damascus-pattern-stainless-steel-knife/
This knife is made of High quality Stainless steel with Exquisite laser Damascus blade pattern. Pakka wood handle is strong, ultra-durable, and fairly water-resistant.
[Amazon Best Seller] Japanese VG10 Damascus 8 Inch Chef Knife
https://www.wholesalebestknives.com/japanese-vg10-damascus-8-inch-chef-knife/
This is a versatile professional kitchen Damascus knife that can be used to chop, slice, and dice vegetables, fruits, and meat. It is made of Premium Japanese 67-layer Damascus Stainless Steel, which ensures exceptional strength, durability, and stain resistance. The edge is hand polished to approximately 15° per side. Whether you are a left-hander or a right-hander, you can easily use it. A double-bevel blade is easy for sharpening.
Recommended chef’s knife for cooking lovers
8 inch Hammer Marks Damascus chef knife with round G10 handle
https://www.wholesalebestknives.com/8-inch-damascus-chef-knife-g10-handle/
This 67 layers Damascus steel chef knife ensures exceptional strength, durability, and stain resistance. A ruthlessly sharp scalpel-like edge is hand-finished to a mirror polish within a staggering 8-12°degree angle per side. The handle is military grade with life-long durability. Hand polished. The ergonomic handle shape is engineered for superior control, agility, and comfort.
7 inch 110 Layer Damascus Steel Butcher Knife
https://www.wholesalebestknives.com/7-inch-110-layer-damascus-steel-butcher-knife/
The blade core is made of ultra-hard stainless steel. The 110 layers steel contains a lot of carbon and has an unprecedented hardness of approximately 63 Rockwell. Powdered steel is used because it ensures a high degree of purity and exceptionally sharp cutting edge. The handle goes under a special manufacturing process called stabilization and during which the wood is combined with blue epoxy resin. The stabilization process solidifies the handle, protects from water, and provides better durability than traditional wood.
