Damascus Steels for Japanese Knives
Japanese knives are known as ‘culinary weapons’ similar to those of Samurai’s blades needed to fight the enemies in wars. Japanese food chefs and culinary experts, too, needed their own weapons to slice through thick, dense textured fish from sea and carefully cut and chop the pieces of squid and chubby prawns into perfect sizes. Crafting Japanese delicacies is then a challenging process – one in which requires a whole lot of time, dedication, practice, and even enough understanding of what Japanese food literally is. Before going too deep in this, we will be looking into the characteristics of a Japanese knife and go through the important components that make up a perfect Japanese knife to craft mouth-watering sushi pieces and sashimi dishes.
General Characteristics
A Japanese knife is indeed, completely different from that of a Western knife. A Japanese knife comes in various sizes, lengths, forms, and weighs differently according to the purposes each knife model carries. Each Japanese knife is forged out of an extremely hard steel, one with premium quality, perfect to cut through dense, thick ingredients like bones. Moreover, a Japanese knife owns distinct features that serve its purpose – for instance, a Yanagiba knife made for sashimi dishes, is usually long in length and light in weight to support swift motions of slicing through fresh fish and poultry, excellent cuts of thin seafood pieces, and perfect chops of veggies and fruits. Japanese knives are often forged out of hard stees like those of high prime carbon, Blue steel, White steel, and sometimes, high-end Super Gold steel. As Japanese delicacies like sashimi and sushi also require delicate handling of ingredients and the mastery of the skills of the blades, it is of high importance to first consider which knife type is to be used for certain dishes.
A Japanese knife also comes with a sheath or a knife cover to keep it safe and sound. To prevent unwanted scratches and severe damage from surrounding objects and improper caring, Saya sheaths are common accessories required to keep these delicate, yet exotic Japanese knives safe and ready to be used next time. Japanese knives are as well cutleries that hold strong significance among Japanese food chefs and knife collectors – the illustrations, designs, and textures on the blades represent the traditions of specific cities or stories, further doubling the value they hold. Completely different from Western knives, Japanese knives are forged to be extremely sharp, be either single or double beveled to ease both left and right-handed users, and are durable. Rust and stain resistance are as well two important factors that differentiate Japanese knives from common kitchen knives.
Damascus Steel Knives
Although most knives are forged with common stainless steels, high prime carbon, and other premium-quality steels, Damascus steel knives are rare and special. Damascus steels own distinctive patterns depicting the banding reminiscent of up and down streams or flowing water, reputed to be extremely ‘tough’; it is resistant to shock and the possibilities of shattering into pieces. Its natural strength and blade durability made it among one of the top-tier materials used in the forging of blades for professional-use. As meal preparation processes will also require the cutting of dense and thick ingredients, a Damascus steel knife is most ideal to perform tasks without having to exert immense force onto the blades. Apart from the sleek, beautiful aesthetics Damascus patterns have, its blade hardness and the ability to maintain sharp knife edges under long periods of usage are just undeniably beneficial to knife users. Be it Japanese food or Western cuisine, having a Japanese knife in possession really helps a lot.
