There are several different types of Japanese cutlery. Most
often than not, you will find in a Japanese kitchen the following: deba-bocho
(to fillet fish), nakiro-bocho (to cut vegetables), and tako-biki
hocho (to slice sashimi).
In serving food, presentation or plating is important. This
makes the food served more tempting to look at. Japanese people know this very
well and that is made obvious them having different types of kitchen knives. Almost
all Japanese foods have vegetables either as garnish or part of the ingredients
and Japanese know how to cut their veggies beautifully.
Here are some techniques in cutting veggies using a vegetable
knife:
Sengiri (Julienne) – Peel the vegetable first (carrot for
example) then cut it into 3-inches length. Cut it lengthwise thinly like wafers.
Stack all wafers then cut into fine julienne.
Katsuramuki – This is a strand of daikon that you usually find
sitting under your sashimi. They are not machine made but by hands of professional
cooks. The art of cutting vegetables into this very thin sheets is called
katsuramuki. Here are the steps in making a katsuramuki: Cut the vegetable into
5 or 6 inches length then peel the skin and discard it. Peel the skin for the
second time but this time, make it into a much thinner sheet. This is the part that
you are going to use. The resulting sheet should be so thin that you could almost
see through it.
Flowers and decorative shapes – To make a sakuna flower from
a carrot, cut five even grooves in lengthwise. Slice and place in an
arrangement.
At japanny.com, we offer Sakai Takayuki VG10. It is a
33 layer folded Damascus steel vegetable knife. It has a double-edged blade
length of 160mm and is stain-resistant.
