What Is A Santoku Knife Used For?
Santoku Knife is a Japanese knife that is widely adopted in the west and worldwide. Santoku Bocho is the full name of Santoku Knife. This name means “three functions,” which are mincing, Dicing, and slicing. Santoku Knife is an expert in these three fields.
Santoku knives have sharp and thin blades. They generally have single bevel edges, but the latest versions used in the west are double beveled. Traditionally they had a single bevel with alternative angles on the blade.
Santoku Knives are handy knives that can simplify your kitchen experience. Here we will discuss santoku knife uses and pros and cons, so stick till the end to learn about these unique traditional knives.
Santoku Knife Vs Chef Knife: Difference Between Chef’s Knife And Santoku Knife?
Santoku knives are often confused with chef’s knives. They resemble the shapes a lot, but they both have different functions. Santoku knives have very thin blades, while chef’s knives are wider. The length of both knives also varies; chef’s knives are longer than santoku knives. Santoku knives are lighter than chef’s knives and have sharper blades. Santoku knives just seem like a smaller form of chef’s knives.
In terms of the uses of both knives, they have a wide range of different actions that they can perform. A chef’s knife is very effective in chopping; it can chop meat and vegetables without any problem. That’s why it’s very popular in the west. On the other hand, santoku knives are suitable for mincing and dicing.
But despite all differences, both knives are often used and pronounced interchangeably.
Different Uses Of Santoku Knife
Is A Santoku Knife Good For Mincing?
Mincing is one of the three specialties of santoku knives. They can mince your vegetables, fruits, and salad content without mashing or crushing them. Usually, if you try to use a regular kitchen knife for mincing juicy stuff, like onions, they extract all the juice. It causes a mess and also damages your vegetables. Instead, if you use the specialist santoku knives, their sharp blade and lightweight can mince the stuff without causing any worries.
Mincing is supposed to be a tough skill, something that only professional chefs can do. But if you use a santoku knife, everyone can be a good enough mincer, even on the first try. It sure sounds too good to be accurate, but santoku knives are really made for doing mincing, so it only makes sense that they are the best tool for it.
Is A Santoku Knife Good For Chopping?
There is no straightforward answer to that question. Santoku knives can do a great job chopping, but only certain things. Because santoku knives are much smaller and lighter, more minor things can be chopped. It can provide absolute precision in chopping vegetables like garlic or green peppers. You can get these vegetables’ desired shape and size with santoku knives.
But when it comes to chopping bigger and more tough things, like meat or raw potatoes, things might not turn out extraordinary if you use a santoku knife. They have a thin blade that can be deformed if used to chop hard stuff.
Bones are absolutely game crashers; they can easily mold your santoku knife if you try to chop them. Any kind of frozen meat has the same response as santoku knives. If you like using your santoku knife and want to keep using it, don’t experiment with everything in your kitchen.
Is a Santoku Knife Good For Dicing?
Santoku Knife is a monster when dicing fine pieces of vegetables. Dicing is a unique skill that can get you a lot of praise or even more shame if not done right. Dicing has such a name because dice refers to the dice-shaped pieces cut into the contents.
Let it be small pieces of meat for some soup or small vegetable crums for the pizza toppings; santoku knives can prove to be a trustworthy alliance. Its thin pointed edge makes it easier to make precise cuts.
Is a Santoku Knife Good For Slicing?
Just like mincing and dicing, slicing is the next specialty of the santoku knives. Though slicing is not a very concerning matter, and you probably won’t have to worry about what knife to use, using a Santoku knife can prove helpful as it doesn’t tire you if you have to slice a lot of stuff.
Using a santoku knife is also less time-consuming than using regular kitchen knives that are not very sharp. And if you have a long thing to slice, keeping your hand straight through it might be more complicated than you think it is; as a santoku knife is much sharper, it just runs through it quickly and in an exquisite line.
Is A Santoku Knife Good For Cutting Meat?
Santoku knives can be used to cut meat, but only the size of the piece of meat should not be longer than your santoku knife. It is just a random measure for the length, but the reason is that santoku knives can not cut huge pieces of meat; it doesn’t make sense cause how are you planning on inserting such a small knife into a huge meat piece.
Chopping and mincing the meat is surprisingly easy with a santoku knife. You don’t need those huge knives from the butcher shop that can surely take someone’s life to mince your meat. You just have to cut your meat into smaller pieces and align them and start throwing random swats of a santoku knife across every direction.
Size And Shape Of A Santoku Knife
Santoku knives have a curved shape with a pointed tip on the front. They don’t have a definite tip like a chef’s knife but rather a square tip. They have a skinny and flat-edged cutting blade. Their sharpness is around 50\50 from both sides, and their flat edge makes a 15° angle from the surface.
Santoku knives are not very big pieces of utensils; their average size is 5″ to 7″ inches, smaller than the bigger version of 6″ to 8″ inches. They are way smaller than the regular kitchen knives, which average around 8″ inches.
Regarding weight, santoku knives are lighter than chef’s knives because of the shorter length and smaller profile altogether. When you see it from the side, you will notice that the blades of santoku knives are also very thin; this also contributes to the lightness of santoku knives.
Conclusion
Santoku knives are of original Japanese origin. They are much smaller and sharper than chef’s knives but still are confused, and both are used interchangeably. Santoku knives are experts in three fields that are mincing, dicing, and slicing. They can also be used for regular cutting of vegetables and fruits regularly.
Mincing meat in your kitchen is a very impressive feature provided by santoku knives. Santoku knives are flat-edged, and the traditional santoku knives used to be single beveled, but now primarily double-beveled santoku knives are often used in the west.
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