The Killer Knife

Every chef must have one knife that is their sidekick. Without a proper knife, the cooking experience can be quite an unpleasant one, in my opinion. Think about it, who likes having mushed up tomatoes while you're suppose to slice it OR onions slipping all over the place because your knife doesn't do clean cuts? It's annoying as hell, and not to mention dangerous too. You're more likely to injure yourself with an blunt knife than a sharp knife, so having a sharp knife around is an integral part of cooking.

Before this year, I used knives bought from the the night market back home. It was sharp for a few days but after that it started to get blunt and cutting became a chore. It didn't deter me from cooking of course but it sure was an inconvenience, ya know.
(pic from NYMag)

So anyway, this year, I was presented with one of the Kershaw Shun Stainless steel knives. This beauty is a Shun Santoku 6.5 inch knife. The Damascus style blade is forged "of VG10 "super steel" clad in 16 layers of SUS410 high-carbon stainless steel", which means it's bloody sharp. This Santoku technique originated from Japan where the same technique was used to make samurai swords.

The mark to look for

The Shun Santoku knife can cut off heads of vegetables in one sweep effortlessly. When i first got the knife, i wanted to try it on tomatoes because the only way to know if a knife is truly sharp is by cutting ripe, juicy tomatoes. I just barely touched the tomato with my Shun and it when right through it! I didn't even use any weight to push the knife..the knife just glided gracefully and dangerously through the ripe tomato. Tissue thin were the slices, i kid you not. I was in a daze, like my head was all fluff when i held this mighty knife...LOL! For a moment there, I felt small. After using this knife, it totally killed it for me when I went back to my other knives which were far inferior to the Shun.........

This knife was also featured as the No.1 preferred knife by Chef Masayoshi "Masa" Takayama in NYmag.

My Shun Santoku

I'm used to it now, i chop onions and tomatoes and dice carrots like there is no tomorrow. I even slice meat as thin as the deli places too with this baby. As you know by now, I am in love with this knife...:P

So, If you're into cooking as much as I am, you'll need 3 good knives in your kitchen and you're all set: A chef's knife, a paring knife and a long serrated knife to cut bread and other big things. Since, the Shun Santoku knives are not exactly cheap (i.e. paring knife is about USD45 by itself), i am going to go slow on collecting them.

Now this cleaver looks like the one my mom and grandmas use! :D

And if you're like me, who grew up watching my mom and grandmothers using those huge ass cleavers to chop every damn thing, get a cleaver too. I will get myself a cleaver soonish from Chinatown.