What is a Santoku Knife Used for

If you already bought a Santoku Knife but don’t know what is a santoku knife used for in the kitchen, this article is very helpful to you. The Santoku knife comes from the Japanese and the chef’s knife comes from Asian cuisine. It’s made in such a way that all the food items are cut with one knife without any difficulty.

It is mostly used professionally and in the kitchen because both knives are best for cutting any food item. Both knives are suitable for cutting. santoku vs chef knife both create the ceramic or metal. Most of the professional chefs highly recommended those made of steel for knife’s ability and corrosion prevention. Just as a santoku knife is not a substitute for a chef’s knife, a chef’s knife can’t be a substitute for a santoku knife. But they have some different features that’s why they are not similar.

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What does Santoku Mean?

In the culinary world, the Japanese word santoku means “three virtues” or “three uses” which is mostly used for three tasks such as slicing, dicing, and chopping. The multi-ratio nature of Santoku regularly leads to a comparison of the knife of a west chef. Santoku appeared as a homemade cook in the middle of the 20th century, as a traditional Nakiri vegetable cleaver. Nakiri designed a straight cutting edge and high tall blade. It was inspired by Santoku’s birth.

Santoku Knife vs Chef Knife: Which One is the Best?

Santoku Knife:

Santoku Bochco knives are the full form of santoku knives, but everyone knows them as santoku knives. It is the meat-cutting knives. This is a very thin knife, there is no problem cutting something with it. A Santoku knife isn’t as good or bad as a chef’s knife. Both are different kinds of knives but their cutting techniques are similar. Santoku knives are similar to chef knives in form and function, but they have some different features, that’s why they are not similar. Santoku knives have a rectangular blade, for that this is very helpful to cut all kinds of food items. With it, you can easily get big meat bones, vegetables, and perfect work. With it, you can cut anything thinner. It makes the food environment much more beautiful.

Basic Feature of Santoku knife-

Santoku knife is designed with a wide sheepsfoot blade with no tip and straight cutting edge.
Santoku knife has six or seven inches (15 or 18 cm) in length bland
The features of the Santoku knife Boxer build.
It has a balanced weight for comfort in cutting time.
This type of knife does not use any bolster.
For more refined slicing used a thinner blade
These knives are lighter to hold.
The Santoku knife is smaller than the chef’s knife.

What is a Santoku knife Used for?

Santoku knives have a rectangular blade, for that this is very helpful to cut all kinds of food items. Anyone who has no skills in other knives will become proficient in using the santoku knife so that they can use all types of knives efficiently. Being proficient in the Santoku knife technique means the basic cutting technique of other knives.

A Santoku knife is very straight and you will use your wrists so that you won’t have any difficulty in cutting your food item. Also, don’t put pressure on the board of directors. Santoku knife is an awesome knife for cutting vegetables. It foresighted very thin slices of food creation, that makes the aesthetic of completed dishes.

Best Used for

Simply meat cutting
Very thin cheese slicing
Meat or herbs mincing
Makes seafood & vegetables especially fine slices
Food scoop off a cutting board

The Santoku knife uses lighter and easier to handle and length is slightly shorter than western chef’s knife (Standard Santoku knife length is 8” where standard Chef’s Knife length is 10”)

Chef knife:

In Culinary world, a Chef knife is known as a cooking knife. This knife came from Germany and France. It is required originally to slice and disassemble large beef cuts. Most commonly use a western chef’s knife. German-style knives used a whole cutting edge that more deeply and continuously curves. On the other hand, French-style knives have a straighter edge which curves up to the tip. There is no food that you can’t cut with Chef’s knife. Chef’s knives are all cut into thick pieces, such as meat, vegetables, and chopped nuts.

Basic Feature of Chef Knife-

Chef’s knife has eight inches (20 cm) in length and 1 1⁄2 inches (3.8 cm) in width blade
Carbon steel blades of Chef’s knife are both easier to sharpen than an ordinary stainless steel knife.
It usually holds an edge longer but is vulnerable to rust and stains.
These knives are heavier to hold.
Its blade is designed with a broad blade with a tip and grant on the cutting edge.
This type of knife used a bolster blade for smoothness.

What is a Chef Knife Used for?

At first, a chef knife comes with many uses in kitchen life. The chef knife is specially designed for “pinch grip”. Chef Knife uses a curved blend which makes it ideal for rocking back when you are chopping any food, fruits, vegetables.

Best Used for-

Makes meat fine slices and disjointing
Cut food versatility or complex
Cheese Slicing
Chopping, dicing vegetable and nuts, fruits or meat for aesthetic

Note: these knives do not create a fine slice like a Santoku Knife. For this purpose, I would suggest choosing a Santoku knife. It would be better than a chef knife.

Santoku Knife Characteristics

A santoku knife has a sharp blade, which can cut the food thinly, the blade can cut each food into thin pieces. Santoku knife sharpening is very good. That’s why less spoiled food and this knife is suitable for working perfectly. western knives cut pieces of food very frequently, and take longer to cut than santoku knives. There are many santoku style knife.

1. Size

The Santoku is shorter than a traditional western chef’s knife. Most blades range from 130 to 200mm, or around the length of an average adult’s forearm. The Santoku’s compact size and thin tip make it a good choice for people with smaller hands or for minimizing fatigue and strain when used for longer periods of time. The santoku is smaller than a chef’s knife.

The blade length of 165mm is recommended both for home cooks and for professionals because it is adequate and convenient for the handling of most types of the product while maintaining the blade compact and easy to handle.

2. Shape

Santoku has a flatter cutting edge that is nearly straight from heel to tip, influenced by the Japanese vegetable cleaver Nakiri. A mild curved downward spine leads to its circular point and shapes of the Santoku sheepfoot signature blade. The thin grantons (also called holes, dimples or scallops) of the blade in order to reduce friction and help release food easily when dicing and slicing.

The flat Santoku profile makes it an ideal choice for a simple downward chop and is suitable for tap-cutting or push-cutting techniques; the inadequacy of a curve over its straight edge blade does not allow rock-cutting motions. While many Western chefs are trained to use the rock cutting method. In this method, the Santoku knife is cut more rapidly and efficiently. Every Japanese home almost used Santoku.

3. Blade

The santoku knife is smaller than the chef’s knife blade, which is typically 6 inches long and there is a 7-inch santoku knife. For less experienced chefs it will be easier to work with shorter blade knives.

Many blades of kitchen knives are made from stainless steel. The steel used depends on the type of finishing and manufacturer. Strong high carbon steel V-Gold-10-series produced in japan which prevents corrosion of stainless steel. Western knives tend to be hard, it’s made of steel but the blade of western knives is thick and not suitable for cutting food thin.

4. Edge

The key to any kitchen knife is a truly sharp blade. And the sharpness of the edge is determined by the angle of the bay, the small strip that narrows to make the cutting edge from either side of the blade. Over the years, the more acute edge angles have facilitated cutting, so we checked our blades: We’ve seen our blades: Almost all were 15°, the standard angular of a knife Asian (and the angle of western knives, like our favorite chef’s knife at Victorinox, was increasingly found), but a few were even narrower—the only 10°C.

This design is simply intended to make the knife appear less intimidating and to reduce the possibility of something being unintentionally pierced. It has more metal on the tip than a standard chef’s knife, so we had to push harder when making delicate vertical cuts through onions or dividing whole chickens into sections.

4. Handle of Santoku knife

The handle of a knife may appear insignificant, but it makes a significant difference in how the knife feels in your hand. Control, balance and security all rest on the knife handle composition. Different materials used in these handles look beautiful.

Stainless steel – Probably the longest and healthiest option. In general, these handles add a lot to the knife and can unbalance the knife. When wet, edge steel can become extremely slippery. Look for knives with steel wheels or bends for a secure grip when you think about using this material for your handle.

Plastic– This is an option that supports the budget. Plastic handles are non-absorbent and simple to clean, but also slick and light.

Wood– Wooden handles have a secure grip, but they do necessitate a little extra care. If exposed to water often or poorly cared for, these handles will warp or crack over time.

Composite– It is a plastic and wood composite combination. Chefs consider composite handles to be the finest. They’re simple to maintain and have a safe grip.

When buying for a Santoku knife, consider the handle and blade composition. These are the most important things for better cutting feel for any product.

How to Use a Santoku Knife?

Santoku is the best knife for trimming meat and it is also a fluted knife. Slicing fish, chopping, dicing, or Slicing vegetables, fruits, and nuts. It’s very useful for seafood and vegetables. santoku is the best knife for cutting chicken and the best knife to cut meat. The reason for calling it three uses is that the santoku knife uses cut meat, fish, and vegetables. Now, I will describe it one by one.

Slicing:

Santoku blades – look a lot like Japanese blades. Like a knife – many tie flat knives. Some Japanese knives look flattened the entire length, and most Santokas on this side usually have a small upward curve, like the tip of a knife’s tip.

If you want to use it at the speed of a swing, remember that it is not steep enough. So you can’t work that way. With this knife, you can cut thin or soft foods at a light oscillating speed. You will get many benefits with Santoku knife use.

Dicing:

The Santoku is a knife that works better than other gulls to work perfectly in the dicing kitchen because it is smaller than them, the size of an easily driven blade. These are seven inches long. This knife is much smaller than the western chef’s knife.

The angle of this Santoku knife blade is a ten to fifteen-degree angle. The ability to dice this blade is much greater than that of a wide-bladed knife. This is the Santoku knife’s purpose.

Chopping:

The Santoku knife fabricates for cutting. It used to cut well. This knife can work much faster than other knives. The other knives can’t work so well. Many people want to know when to use santoku vs chef knives. So, in my opinion, the Santoku knife will be much better for you.

Most Popular Brands of Santoku Knife

Since the Japanese Santoku Knife households have been adopted by a number of Japanese and West manufacturers, it has been the common all-rounder knife in the kitchen. The most popular manufacturer brands of Santoku Knife include: