Author: sushiChefAdmin

Can a knife be the perfect gift?

There’s an old superstition in which it’s bad luck to give a knife as a gift. Say you’ve found the perfect knife to gift to a friend or family member, but maybe you or the recipient are extremely superstitious. If this is the case, don’t worry! We’ll discuss the different ways in which you can overcome these negative connotations surround giving a knife as a gift.

Can a knife be the perfect gift?

As you may probably know, it is sometimes very difficult to find a suitable gift for a friend or family member, especially if they’re somebody that has everything they need. Choosing a gift for someone can be an extremely tough and time-consuming task, as you need to find something that is either thoughtful, useful, or a combination of both so the recipient will feel appreciated and thankful every time they use or see the gift. The gift also needs to be affordable and within your budget, but not appear too cheap as well.

If you’re in this situation, why not consider a kitchen knife? A kitchen knife, or any knife for that matter, is a timeless and useful gift. Knives or knife sets can be customized in many different ways, engraved, and made to fit either left or right-handed users. There are knives built for a wide range of activities to be used by all sorts of people including cooking lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, survivalists, and DIYers. Because of the versatility of knives, you can give them as gifts for any occasion, including birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, or promotions. Before you do, however, be mindful that some people view gifting knives as something that brings extremely bad luck.

Cultural aspects of knife-giving

For superstitious people, gifting a knife represents the severing of the friendship between the giver and recipient. The only way around this is to attach a coin of symbolic value to the knife.

If a coin is attached to the knife by the giver, the coin must be promptly removed by the recipient and returned to the giver as a symbolic payment. This transaction prevents the relationship from severing, as the knife is seen as purchased, which releases the giver from the negativities that might occur as a result of receiving the knife for free.

Global superstition?

Knife-gifting superstitions exist around the world and isn’t a cultural phenomenon. Europeans and Japanese people both believe that gifting a knife represents the severing of a relationship, and they also believe gifting a watch as meaning that time is running out.

Giving a knife as a wedding gift is considered extremely bad luck because it represents the cutting of the marriage ties. Similarly, pocketknives should only be handed to someone if it’s been properly secured, as it’s believed that it may cause an argument. If there’s been a death in the family, another superstition insists that knives should only be used when needed and must be carefully handled.

If you’re considering buying a knife for someone you know as a gift and this superstition makes you hesitant, there are things you can try to help ease your doubts. First, you can try keeping a knife in a jar of water by the front and back doors of a home. This is believed to help ward off evil spirits. The spirits are afraid of their reflections in water and on the knives’ surface. You can also attach a coin to the knife as we mentioned above. Both tricks can help you get around this troubling superstition.

Why do Japanese knives make great gifts?

For centuries, Japanese blacksmith has been experimenting and making some of the world’s best swords and cutlery out of steel. Throughout the ages, the Japanese have been known for crafting the best saws, swords, knives, and chisels. Today, Japanese craftsmen still employ the ancient crafting techniques similar to what was done centuries ago, however they’re not able to combine with knowledge with modern technology to create some of the most beautiful and versatile cutting instruments in the world. Their ability to manipulate steel is something that is unrivalled. The beauty of Japanese knives is that they still feature traditional Japanese wooden handles, as well as a tapered tang that fits in a hole which is burned into the wooden handle. They’re also tempered to a higher Rockwell hardness than most Western knives, and this enables Japanese knives to have superior edge sharpness and better edge retention. All this combined with the unique and traditional Japanese designs make Japanese knives a perfect gift idea, and you’ll be sure your recipient will be wowed by it.

How to Prevent Carbon Steel Knives from Rusting

When compared to stainless steel, carbon steel knives are sharper, easier to sharpen, and are great at maintaining a sharp edge. One downside of these knives, however, is that they require more maintenance than stainless steel knives and are prone to rust if they’re not maintained properly.

Over time, steel will change color as it oxidizes and reacts with the moisture and air around it. You’ll often see steel knives take on shades of blue, grey, and black. This is normal and is called a patina. Patina is good for your knife and actually helps your knife in its battle against rust. It’s a natural protective layer on carbon steels that protects the blade from oxidation and gives it a rough look. If your knife starts turning red, yellow, or orange, then your knife is rusting, and you’ll need to clean it as soon as possible.

To prevent rusting, it’s recommended that you wash and dry your knife after every use. Another way to help keep your knife rust free is to apply blade oil to it regularly. Blade oil helps keep off the ambient moisture in the air when your knife is in storage. Best of all, this oil doesn’t affect the performance of your knife at all when you use it to cut acidic foods.

While patina is a form of corrosion and common on knives that have aged, there are ways to force an early patina onto carbon steel to give your knife an early edge in the fight against rust.

How to force a patina on your carbon steel?

To force an early patina on your carbon steel, you’ll need to pick up the material below:

  • Pre-ground instant coffee (i.e. Folgers, Nescafe, inexpensive generic store brands). The less expensive, the better.
  • A coffee brewing machine to brew the instant coffee
  • Something tall and slender with a cavity, such as a flower vase. XL To-Go Coffee Cups work as well
  • Your carbon steel knife
  • A small sponge or dish cloth

Step 1: Brew the instant coffee

Take your instant coffee and brew it. Brew the strongest pot of coffee possible, then chill it. Before we perform this process, the coffee will need to be cold.

Step 2: Submerge your blade in the coffee

Next, take your flower vase, or anything tall and skinny in general, and place the small sponge or dish cloth at the bottom. Put your knife, tip down, into the vase gently, then pour in the chilled coffee until it covers the entire length of the blade. Make sure to only submerge the blade in coffee, and not the handle. Leave the knife in the coffee for at least 6-8 hours. Overnight is ideal, however knives left in the coffee for at least 24 hours will create the most striking effect.

Step 3: Remove the blade

After 6 to 24 hours have passed, remove the knife from the coffee. Wipe it down with a damp cloth and thoroughly dry it. You’ll see now that your knife has undergone an incredible transformation and features a beautiful looking patina. It’ll now also be much easier to maintain and will be much more resistant to rust than before. Despite the protective patina, also make sure to wipe down the blade after every use and keep it clean and dry always.

Step 4: Honing the knife

Coffee-induced patinas aren’t as acidic as vinegar or lemon patinas, but they’re still acidic enough to have reduced some of the polish on your cutting edge. You should always hone and strop before the last (optional) step.

Step 5: (Optional)

Coffee has a strong smell, and as the blade has been left in coffee for up to 24 hours, you’ll want to get rid of some of that smell. To do this, we recommend cutting up yellow onions which will help pull out some of the coffee fragrance.

While forcing a patina helps your knife in its battle against rust, be mindful that it will permanently alter the look of your knife, including the finish. If you like the way your knife looks now, we’d suggest letting the patina form naturally over time.

Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Pakka Handle 6.0-Inch Chef Knife Review

Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Pakka Handle 6.0-Inch Chef KnifeChefs are as passionate about their kitchen knives as motor car mechanics are about their socket sets or violinists about their violins. All of these people need quality tools in their chosen careers to work efficiently and productively and to deliver quality work. The Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Pakka Handle 6.0-Inch Chef Knife is just such a kitchen tool that should gladden the heart of any chef. This knife’s blade is manufactured from ceramic zirconia and so presents a different alternative to kitchen knives with metal blades. If you are in search of the best chef knife around, could the Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Knife perhaps be it?

Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Pakka Handle 6.0-Inch Chef Knife Features and Specifications

  • It measures 11.5″ x 0.7″ x 1.2″
  • It weighs approximately 3.5 ounces
  • It is a specially designed 6″ chef knife for constant chopping, slicing and dicing
  • It is manufactured by high tech blade construction process with a hardness comparable to diamond
  • It is an ultra sharp and long-life blade
  • It is stain and rust proof
  • It has moisture resistant and triple riveted Pakka wood handles
  • It works well on different cutting surfaces including wood and plastic

What Makes a Chef’s Knife with a Ceramic Blade So Special?

A ceramic knife’s blade is manufactured from a very hard and tough ceramic material; in the case of the Kyocera Kyotop Damascus, the material used is called zirconia, which is actually zirconium dioxide. These types of ceramic knives are generally manufactured by means of dry pressing zirconia powder and then firing it through solid-state sintering. The resulting knife blade is sharpened by way of grinding the blade edges with a diamond-dust-coated grinding wheel. Zirconia is very hard and as such, a ceramic blade’s extremely hard edge hardly ever requires any sharpening, and ceramic Knives produced by Kyocera are generally ideal for common purposes that require top-notch edge retention or resistance against wear.

What Makes the Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Knife Special?

The Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Knife with its 6-inch ceramic blade forms part of Kyocera’s premium cutlery line which features chef’s knives with spectacular Damascus-look blades. Not only does this knife possess an already hard ceramic blade comparable to the hardness of a diamond, but Kyocera’s manufacturing process in Japan actually includes a further high-tech process to enhance the density of the state-of-the-art ceramic material. In this process, the blades are fired again under high pressure and also temperature within a sealed chamber, which results in what is called a Hot Isostatic Pressed (or HIP) blade, which provides greater resistance against wear than the standard ceramic knife. The final result is an ultra-sharp, long-life blade which holds its edge for a considerably longer time period than steel.

Other benefits of this chef’s knife are that it doesn’t convey any kind of metallic taste or smell and furthermore, it is also both stain proof and also rust proof, while the knife works just as well on both wood as well as plastic cutting surfaces. The Pakka wood handles with three rivets are moisture resistant and the knife can additionally simply be hand washed and hand dried.

How Does the Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Knife Handle?

Most users report that the Kyocera Kyotop Damascus Knife is extremely sharp and that it would just glide effortlessly through meat and vegetables much like a knife would slice through warm butter.

Other reports state that the knife feels light and well-balanced in the hand and one user actually mentioned that the knife feels like a natural extension of his own hand. Since the ceramic blades are lighter than steel blades, users should find that their hand motions with this knife would be quicker with due to working with a lighter weight.

What Happens If The Knife Would Need Sharpening?

Usually, the knife could soldier on for many years without the need of sharpening, provided that the user does not use it to hack at bones, or use it to twist or perhaps pry anything, or to cut on any kind of cutting surface except for a wooden cutting board. And with proper care, one should easily get a lifetime of use out of it.

However, in some instances the knife might get a few detectible nicks in its blade over a period of time, which are actually too small to see but which one can definitely feel if you run your fingernail alongside the knife’s edge. While these ceramic chef knifes will remain sharp for years to come, ultimately all of these tiny chips and abrasions will eventually dull the blade, to such a point that it will have to be re-sharpened. However, unlike a knife with a steel blade, a knife with a ceramic blade is not a knife you can sharpen yourself.

About Japanese Chef Knives

Japanese knives are loved for the capabilities, the professionalism they carry in the features that come along with them. Professional Japanese knives like Yanagiba, are required by Itamaes or head chefs to perform various skills of slicing, cutting, filleting and boning. With this, Japanese knives are always popular among culinary experts.

Nothing comes close to the superior cutting quality, durability and functionality of Japanese Chef Knives.

As Japanese delicacies like vivid-colored Salmon sashimi and Ebi sushi require the mastery of the blades, how one utilizes Japanese knives greatly affect the final results. As most dishes require the authentic, traditional techniques of filleting fresh, fine selection of ingredients, it is highly recommended for professionals and even beginners to search for just the best selection of Japanese Chef knives.

Features of Japanese Chef Knives

Made from the finest steel materials found in Japan, Japanese chef knives are a growing obsession for professional chefs around the world looking to increase the quality of the food they serve in terms of consistency of cutting, speed, and sharpness.

Since the Food Network has started showing professional chefs creating dishes of the top possible quality, modern housewives and anyone interested in producing a finer quality food product are in desire of achieving the same results with that of professional chefs.

Listed below are the 4 Japanese chef knives that every kitchen should have, investing in just these 4 knives would give you everything you need in your kitchen, and would probably last you long enough that you would need to hand them down to your children.
Paring Knife – High-quality paring knives are great for all-purpose kitchen cutting activities like de-veining shrimps or removing seeds from jalapeños, or cutting small garnishes. With a total length of 180 mm, blade thickness of 1.5 mm, and weight of 55 grams, this is a very light and easy-to-use paring knife for you.

Petty Knife

Medium size all-around cutting knife with overall length ranging from 225 mm – 260 mm. With blade thickness of 1.5 mm and weight ranging from 70grams – 80 grams, this knife could come in handy in cutting lightweight and soft vegetables like string beans and onions and other medium-size vegetables and garnishes.

Boning Knife

Boning knives of Misono cutlery brand are the best when it comes to boning poultry, meat and fish. Usually a pointed, narrow-bladed knife, boning knife is 275 mm long, with a blade thickness of 3 mm and weighs 190 grams. Easy to use and to maneuver in instances where utmost delicacy is required.

Santoku And Gyuto Knife

General-purpose knives used for cutting bigger and sturdier vegetables and anything else like potatoes, cabbages, and fish. The Gyuto knife is the Japanese equivalent of a traditional western chef knife, and the Santoku knife is slightly smaller, with a more narrow blade. It is often preferred by people with smaller hands.

With prices that are significantly low, but with superior quality to other hand-crafted knives, Japanese chef knives are simply the best in the world. Save hundreds of dollars by buying these great professional-level kitchen knives instead of expensive but low-quality kitchen knives.

History of Sushi

The beginning of Sushi

The history of sushi is an interesting tale. While sushi has been around for a long period of time, it has evolved from what was originally a simple dish to what it is today in its present form. The first mention of sushi was in China during the second century A.D., when it was used as a way of preserving food. The fish were placed in rice and allowed to ferment, which kept the fish edible for longer periods of time. When ready to eat, the rice would be thrown away, leaving the fermented fish.

For centuries, this method of preserving fish would spread throughout China, and by the seventh century, it would make its way to Japan where seafood has historically been a staple dish. The Japanese would take this concept one step further, and began to eat the rice along with the fish. Originally, sushi was prepared in the same as it is today, however during the early 17th century, Matsumoto Yoshiichi of Edo (present-day Tokyo), began seasoning the rice with rice wine vinegar to give it extra taste and began selling this new type of sushi. This new way of creating sushi allowed the dish to be eaten immediately.

The Evolution of Sushi

In the early 19th century, a Japanese man from Edo (former name of Tokyo) named Hanaya Yohei began changing the way sushi was produced and presented. Instead of wrapping fish in rice, he placed a piece of fresh fish on top of an oblong shaped piece of seasoned rice. Today, we call this style of sushi and presentation ‘nigiri’ meaning finger sushi, or ‘edomae’. This is now the common way of eating Japanese sushi. During the early 19th century, sushi was served from stalls on the street and was meant to be a snack or a quick on-the-go meal. This type of ‘fast food’ sushi proved to be wildly popular, and soon stalls would pop up all over the country selling sushi. The aftermath of the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 would also help fuel the rapid rise of street sushi stalls throughout Japan, as many people lost their homes and jobs and moved away from Tokyo.

After World War 2, street sushi stalls were shut down for hygiene and sanitary reasons and were moved indoors. This move indoors meant formal restaurant seating was added, and changed sushi from an on-the-go, fast food experience to a unique, sophisticated, true dining experience. Sushi would spread across the globe with the promotion of seafood, and Western cultures, who were always eager to try something new, would quickly adopt this unusual way of serving fish.

Modern Sushi

The history of sushi spans over 1800 years, and its current iteration is one of the world’s most famous and beloved foods. Once uniquely Japanese, sushi has truly evolved into something that is now beyond traditional Japanese cuisine. Western influences have sprouted new styles of sushi such as the Philly Roll and California Roll, and many restaurants also create elaborate rolls to offer even more variety on their menus. It’s not often that a cultural food can take the world by storm and also influence foods from countries around the world, however sushi has done exactly that. The demand for sushi is increasing, and sushi continues to evolve in many different ways. The history of sushi is far from over.

Today, sushi can be a quick, on-the-go meal or a high-end dining experience. In Japan, sushi bars can be found in a train station, on the street, and in shopping malls. In North America, sushi packs are available in almost all supermarkets and almost every shopping mall food court has a sushi stand. There are also sushi restaurants everywhere that can range from affordable, to high-end luxurious experiences. You can see how versatile sushi is!

How to Clean Your Knives – the RIGHT Way!

As a Japanese knife is highly essential in the making of culinary delicacies, specifically authentic dishes like sashimi and sushi, learning upon how to properly care for them and clean them is important to all users. Even for knife collectors, caring for these traditionally forged knives is indeed a must.

Before we go about how to cleaning your knife set the right way, let’s talk about the WRONGS– or what NOT to do…

DO NOT WASH YOUR KNIVES IN THE DISHWASHER.

Do you like your knives? Did you pay a lot of money for them? Do you like their clean, sharp edge? Do you like the way your knives reflect the light while you use them? The way their blades cut through food with hardly any effort? If you like any or all of those things, don’t put your knives in the dishwasher! If you like rusty, dull, ugly, useless knives then toss in your dishwasher. No dishwashers!

DON’T SOAK YOUR KNIVES IN HOT WATER.

Don’t fill up your sink with soapy water and dump your knives in. This is a good way to damage the edges (knives banging into other knives, into the sink, etc…) It’s also a good way to cut yourself (reaching into a soapy sink and grabbing for incredibly sharp knives is probably only slightly dumber than stinking your hand into a bucket of piranhas) If your knives have wooden handles, the water can warp the wood and make handle have a wobbly hold on the blade.

Ok, enough with the don’t, on to the do’s…

Immediately after you’re done using your knife rinse the blade with warm soapy water. Do not soak, but make that the soapy water gets on every part of the blade that could have come in contact with food. Any food residue left on the blade could damage the knife, and if you have been cutting foods like raw meat or fish, your knife could be carrying dangerous germs if not cleaned properly.

Rinse all the soap off with more warm water – soapy food does not taste good! Soap residue could damage your knife if left on the blade!

Get a Soft bristle brush – not a brillo pad, not a sponge, not a washcloth. Put your freshly washed knife down on the counter, and use that brush to brush your blade clean. If necessary, wash in warm soapy water again.

Hand-dry your knives. The faster you dry them, there is a less chance for rust or corrosion to take place. Fold a towel several times so that you’re sure you won’t cut yourself and then use that to dry the knife.

Store your knives in a dry, secure area where they won’t get splashed with anything, and can’t be knocked over by accident.
Now you have no more excuses! Keep those knives clean and rust free!