/ck/ - Food & Cooking

(image is not mine, but my western knives are sharpened at a similar angle)

I know this is a troll thread... but here's perspective from a traditional Japanese cook.

Every traditional Japanese cook in Tokyo from every discipline, whether it's nihonryouri ("jack of all trades" chef), tempura, sushi, soba, unagi -- every single one owns at least 1 double-edged, stainless steel knife. Here are the reasons why:

1. Less maintenance. Especially if you're working in a small restaurant, you're going to have less time to sharpen and polish knives. It takes less effort to use a 8000+ grit to "hone" a gyuto everyday, than it is to do the same with a yanagi.

2. Versatility. There are a few Japanese techniques that can only be done with a single-edged knife, but for the majority of tasks, a gyuto or sujihiki is sufficient. This is even more true for cooks that customize their knife by sharpening it at a "Japanese angle" of 10 degrees or less, at an 8:2 ratio.

Check out this page for a real life example of a traditional cook in Tokyo using a sujihiki for a variety of tasks:

https://temaeitamae.jp/top/t4/0.html

Or check out this video where a Japanese cook (in the west) is using a gyuto to effortlessly fillet a salmon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIneI9-wOuI

3. Some tasks can ONLY be done with a double edged knife. Cutting hard items like kabocha and portioning frozen loins are 2 examples. 20-30 years ago, kabocha might have been cut with a nakiri, but in my years of working in Japanese kitchens, I have never seen a single cook own a nakiri (it's considered a "housewife's knife).

The only kinds of artisans or shokunin I know that would not use a gyuto would be fish mongers in Tsukiji (whom almost exclusively use deba or the unwieldy tuna knives), high specialized sushi chefs that serve ~30 customers a day, or anyone trained in kaiseki cuisine with Kyoto lineage.