"santoku" news and stories

These are two kitchen knives you can't live without. But, what's the difference between them?

Shun's santoku knife on caramelized onion tart. Photo: Alex Van Buren

Knives. Outside of the full-time food dork world, people -- even foodies -- don't tend to talk about them much.

They have a bad association as, um, dull conversational topics: There's the unwelcome knife salesman banging on the door, or that eternal infomercial ("Only $39.95 in three easy installments!"). I owned a sub-par knife for years, until a friend trained at a local culinary institute basically took it away from me.

I've been shopping ever since with an eagle eye for sales. The santoku style caught my attention for its multiuse blade (note the indentations, which purportedly help keep food from sticking) and stylish look. And when I grabbed a Shun in hand at a local shop -- its base has a slight teardrop shape, perfectly suited to that soft nub between thumb and index finger -- I fell in love.

Add another product to the list of things that have going pink in support of breast cancer awareness. This special edition set of Mundial knives is a ten piece set and includes seven knives, a carving fork, kitchen shears and the wood block holder to keep everything organized. One of the included knives is a granton edge santoku knife, one of the most popular models available, and this is the first Mundial set to include it.

Even though the set was created in honor of the company's partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the charmingly feminine pink color of the set should make it appealing to many for purely aesthetic reasons. In other words, whether you intend to support the cause or not, a girly set of kitchen knives is a nice change from the basic black of most manufacturers.

Source

New York Magazine recently had chef Masayoshi "Masa" Takayama review 10 santoku knives. Takayama is the namesake of the much talked about, high-dollar sushi restaurant Masa in New York City. It follows that he'd be able to give some opinions on Japanese-style chef's knives. At the top of the list was the Shun Classic 6.5" knife (right), which NYM says retails for around $95. At the bottom was the Rachel Ray Füri Coppertail 7", for around $70. (It's worth mentioned that Shun has a line of knives endorsed by Alton Brown.) In between were offerings from J.A. Henkels, Global, OXO and Wüstoff, among others. Masa tested the knives without sharpening them, using them to chop onions, boneless chicken and parsley. He then tested them as he tests his own knives, by seeing how well they cut through a sheet of parchment paper.

[Via Saute Wednesday]