Ever since high school, I have always had a fascination with Japan; studying the language for 7 years really got me interested in the culture. As I have mentioned in other posts, Japan still stands as one of my favourite countries - if you haven't visited yet, certainly do yourself a favour and get on to it!
In more recent years, as I have become - let's face it - older (!), my interests in life in general have gradually changed, as one might expect. I've never been much of a cook, but have always had a vested interest in food, and as I have aged, my interest in eating the food has slowly been equally matched with preparing it. And as my work took me to Japan several times over the past few years, I found myself captivated with the dedicated concentration and pride with which Japanese chefs (particularly sushi chefs) prepared their dishes. And the one aspect that caught my attention the most was the ease with which they could slice through raw fish with almost no effort, which got me thinking that it was time to update my kitchen knives with something a little more fancy!
While in Japan, I did discuss with my translator about Japanese knives and where I might buy some, but he wasn't too sure. I did look around a bit, but it's the sort of thing you really need to know where to go (and how to talk to them when you got there - suffice it to say they don't teach you chef-specific language in high school Japanese!).
But as it happens, a friend's partner is a chef, so I asked her for some advice one day back at home. She informed me that, when it comes to good quality knives, you can't go past a Shun (for those unfamiliar with the brand or with the Japanese language, the 'u' is pronounced like a short "oo", rather than the "a" sound in the English word 'shun'; think of the noise you might make if someone punched you in the stomach and knocked the wind out of you - "Oo!").
I eventually settled on the Shun Premier 6-piece Knife Block set, which included a 20cm Chef's Knife, 20cm Carving Knife, 15cm Utility Knife, 8.5cm Paring Knife and a pair of Kitchen Shears, all presented in a beautiful wooden block with the Shun logo emblazoned at the front. I picked this up for about 50% retail price (working from memory here - it was AU$549, retailing at over AU$1000).
When they arrived, I could not have been happier with my purchase. Beautifully shiny along the dimpled blade (the dimples designed to stop things sticking to the surface as you cut), razor sharp edges and pleasingly aesthetic wooden handles. And the wooden block in which they can be stored was of fantastic solid construction, with holes cut specifically for the knives in this set.
Before they'd even arrived, I had decided of my own volition (i.e. not influenced by any number of YouTube videos that I only found existed later) that I wanted to do a simple drop test over the blade and compare the cutting ability to my old Wiltshire kitchen knives. Now, don't get me wrong - my Wiltshire set has served me very well for 6 years and they most certainly get the job done. But in recent years, they have become steadily more "rough" in the way they cut, tending to rip their way through rather than cut. Granted, I could have sharpened them, but they still lack the smooth razor edge of the Shun blades. Wiltshire make a great set of affordable knives for anyone just moving out of home, or living on a budget. I opted to spoil myself!
In the video below, I have taken a firm, ripe tomato and first dropped it from about 10-15cm over the Wiltshire. As you can see, the knife does not even penetrate half way through the fruit. Swapping over to the Shun Chef's Knife, I dropped from roughly the same height - I have used the same tomato but from the other side, so maybe there's cause for a slight bias here... nevertheless, the tomato is easily and perfectly cleaved in two halves by the superior blade.
The intended purpose of each knife of course does not limit what it can be used to achieve. Each blade is simply shaped to make certain jobs easier. The Chef's Knife is aimed at tackling the large chopping jobs, like dicing onions or herbs. The Carving Knife (which has basically spent the last few months hibernating in the block) is, as the name suggests, intended to carve up large meats. I will have to roast a whole turkey at some point just so I can test it out! The Utility Knife is for all those little jobs, like topping-and-tailing fruit and veg, and is generally an all-round performer. And finally, the Paring Knife is intended for stripping skin and fat off cuts of meat. I have found this one very useful for cleaning up chicken thighs and breasts; it slices beautifully on shallow angles, allowing the skin to be peeled away.
I am writing this post almost 6 months after the initial purchase (with more than a little bit of insistence from my wife!). Recently, I added to my Shun collection by purchasing a whetstone and honing steel - because even the sharpest blades need to be refined from time to time.
As yet, I have only used it once, and only on the Utility Knife. This knife is smaller and therefore easier to handle on small jobs, so it has seen the most use since I got the set. As you would expect, this has resulted in a gradual dulling of the blade. But after running it a few times over the whetstone (which comes with both 1000 and 6000 grit), the performance noticeably improved back to near-new sharpness.
In preparation to write this post, I thought it was warranted to run the above test again, since the knives have now seen a few months' use in the kitchen. I didn't have tomatoes handy this time as I'd been growing cherry tomatoes through the summer, and they were a bit small (and soft) for the test to work. However, I had also grown some nice Lebanese cucumbers, and so I repeated the test using one of those. This time, I have filmed it with my DSLR (the first one was done on iPhone) from directly above - and with commentary!
So there we have it - I am definitely a convert to good quality kitchen knives now that I have seen what they can do. All I need now is to develop some form of kitchen skills so as to make use of the knives!
I kid - I'm not that bad!
The intended purpose of each knife of course does not limit what it can be used to achieve. Each blade is simply shaped to make certain jobs easier. The Chef's Knife is aimed at tackling the large chopping jobs, like dicing onions or herbs. The Carving Knife (which has basically spent the last few months hibernating in the block) is, as the name suggests, intended to carve up large meats. I will have to roast a whole turkey at some point just so I can test it out! The Utility Knife is for all those little jobs, like topping-and-tailing fruit and veg, and is generally an all-round performer. And finally, the Paring Knife is intended for stripping skin and fat off cuts of meat. I have found this one very useful for cleaning up chicken thighs and breasts; it slices beautifully on shallow angles, allowing the skin to be peeled away.
I am writing this post almost 6 months after the initial purchase (with more than a little bit of insistence from my wife!). Recently, I added to my Shun collection by purchasing a whetstone and honing steel - because even the sharpest blades need to be refined from time to time.
As yet, I have only used it once, and only on the Utility Knife. This knife is smaller and therefore easier to handle on small jobs, so it has seen the most use since I got the set. As you would expect, this has resulted in a gradual dulling of the blade. But after running it a few times over the whetstone (which comes with both 1000 and 6000 grit), the performance noticeably improved back to near-new sharpness.
In preparation to write this post, I thought it was warranted to run the above test again, since the knives have now seen a few months' use in the kitchen. I didn't have tomatoes handy this time as I'd been growing cherry tomatoes through the summer, and they were a bit small (and soft) for the test to work. However, I had also grown some nice Lebanese cucumbers, and so I repeated the test using one of those. This time, I have filmed it with my DSLR (the first one was done on iPhone) from directly above - and with commentary!
So there we have it - I am definitely a convert to good quality kitchen knives now that I have seen what they can do. All I need now is to develop some form of kitchen skills so as to make use of the knives!
I kid - I'm not that bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment