Octaveman

Relevance = Fun tidbit of information on the very Bob's Big Boy that is the subject of this thread.

Last weekend we had friends over for a Thai dinner ending with sticky rice w/ mango. I used the recipe posted at Importfoods.com and saw a link to a Thai mango peeler. THIS will be on my want list for this Xmas as my OXO peeler hacked away at it. Third item down.... http://importfood.com/thai_knives.html

I'm kinda wondering why people get so excited to new ways/places to drink beer/wine. Are you THAT much of a drinker that you have to have a glass in your hand at all times? Do you feel naked without a glass in your hand or something? Or is it just the novelty of something new? Good god, I hope it's the latter.

makes sense to me.

not sure Kill it See my July 5 post above. I probably wouldn't go beyond 1500. Walnut is a great dark board color. I actually have a walnut board on order as I speak.

I equate a celebs name or face on any packaging the same as that "As Seen On TV" logo. Huge red flag right there. Never ever will buy anything a celeb is paid for use of their likeness. Chances are they've never even used the product either.

I was just about to say this. My grandmother did this all the time as I grew up and I loved it. I carry on the torch quite often. Sometimes I use rice vinegar instead as it's got a mellower flavor.

Hey Slamdunk, the HD is a good knife and many have one or used to own one. I fall in the latter category though because I had a not so good experience with the gyuto I bought. Chipped super easily is what it boiled down to and it caused me to treat it with kid gloves. I've also heard other stories of peoples knives with the same problem. As a result, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend it. These of course are most likely isolated instances but I feel there are better knives out there for the money. In no particular order... Yoshikane Japanwoodworker.com Review by highly respected reviewer Togiharu G-1 Molybdenum 270mm sold at Korin Fantastic review by respected reviewer Kikuichi stainless steel gyuto Sold here This is a great SS knife from a company with a 700+ year history. Hattori FH JKC.com Speaks for itself. Contoured linen micarta handle, solid VG10 blade, excellent geometry. Ryusen Blazen JCK.com Fantastic knife with great geometry. Strong, clean cutter. Hiromoto AS JCK.com Great stainless clad knife with a blue super carbon steel core.

Matt, you actually did what most people do who are used to Euro knives...they get the shorter knife thinking the weight would be more in line with their experiences. Japanese knives are lighter in general than any Euro knife but a carbon steel knife without the cladding is lighter still. There are carbon steel knives that have an iron cladding and those would be much heavier but are mostly made this way in hand-made knives like Watanabe for example. Vaughn, yes there is a standard but it depends on the knife. Western style is always the length of the edge from heel to tip. With traditional Japanese knives there is a notch right in front of the ferrule called a Machi. For those knives that have this Machi, the measurement starts there and goes to the tip. Yanagiba and Usuba for example have a Machi. Deba, Nakiri, Gyuto or other western styled knives do not have a machi so it's measure from heel to tip. Here's a pic for a better visual.

Yes, a CX line is going to be made sometime next year. The prototypes were in the VG10 so unfortunately the CX wasn't tested. It will be when the time comes. The CX, as awesome as it is, is more of a pain in the ass than the VG10. The VG10 won't stay sharp longer than the CX but the good thing is that it's easier to sharpen it. The CX is hardened to HRC 67-68 and while the benefits of longer duration of sharpness and a strong, STRONG blade are wonderful it is not easy to sharpen at all when the time comes. This VG10 really is a good steel as Hattori does something with it to distinguish itself from the others most likely during the heat treat. Difficult to know really as trade secrets are hard to come by. I know many chefs who use these knives and speak very very highly of them. I agree with you in that the profile of this Honesuki is unique and personally I feel the slight curve does wonders in actual practice.

The Hattori FH honesuki will be out likely near the end of the year. This knife is well worth the wait (see pic of prototype). It is essentially single beveled with a very wide front bevel but if memory serves me correclty, it has a small back bevel...essentially 90/10 with the unique front side bevel. I use a traditional deba for my chickens and actually like the wide bevel on the front. It's up to you to wait for this baby or get a Tojiro DP for cheap and use that until these come available. The garasuki is the same design as the honesuki but larger, thicker and heavier. In other words, it is a beast. 180mm is the usual size for these and unless you're breaking down LARGE pieces of meat, it would be to big for your standard chicken taker aparter IMHO. I've found that for me 165mm is ideal for breaking down chickens.

That's what I was thinking.

Hiromoto AS without hesitation. Superior Super Blue (Aogomi Super) carbon steel core surrounded by stainless steel. About 5mm from the edge is carbon steel so it will form a patina. It could also rust if you let it sit wet or dirty until after you're done eating. Clean and dry thoroughly and you'll be fine with no need for oiling. I've never oiled any carbon knife I own. The AS is truely an awesome knife. The Hattori FH would be my stainless steel recommendation. A great option for stainless and much better than your other two choices. Contoured handle made from linen micarta so it won't shrink or swell like many wood handles often do. Solid VG10...not your ordinary VG10 either...some kind of mutant strain forged/quenched by Hattori himself. A little known fact, the current steel that Nenox uses is going to be replaced with this steel. Actually, the length question is a good one. I always recommend the 270mm when someone says their looking for a 10" knife. Comes down to usable edge when you're using a pinch grip with your knife. You'll lose 30mm of edge because nobody likes to cut stuff up right underneath your fingers.

Nice board

Yes, a Sujihiki is a western style slicer and is double beveled. I don't have one. When I want thin slices, I make sure my Takeda is freshly sharpened/touched up and use that. I've never found a need for a sujihiki because I don't do a lot of slicing and when I do I just use a gyuto. I've used my yanagi for slicing but the food is usually raw and I cut the way it's intended. There is a clockwise rotation issue when cutting from the right side with a yanagi. It can be learned to overcome but takes practice. Go to an asian grocery store and spend $15 for a yanagi and try it out if you're not sure what to get. I'm not sure either if a left-handed yanagi is the answer. They are also 50-100% more than a right-handed yanagi so a high price to pay for experimentation.

Thanks Jamie, it was lots of fun beating the hell out of it too. I made mine cold since that's the only way I've had it in restaurants. Warm or hot would be nice too.

Yep, sounds like you like it. It can tackle rib bones too. It would be very tough to keep it at 90/10 but you can easily maintain it at a lesser degree. Use the penny trick to establish a good angle on both sides. Lay 2 pennies on the stone and lay the right side down with the spines edge on top of them. That's the angle for the right/front side. Now lay the spine on the left or back side except use 3 pennies instead of two. That's the angle to sharpen the left/back side. You will have a secondary bevel of about 3-4mm wide going along the front edge and a bevel of about 1-2mm going along the back-side edge. Same basic idea as the example on the right. Piece of cake. The more you sharpen the easier it will become. Cheers, Bob

Cool, glad you like your knives so far. The Honesuki is damn near single beveled, more like 80/20 or 90/10 but it is double beveled in the true sense of the word. It clearly is not a single beveled knife like all traditional Japanese knives are. Look at a pic of a deba or yanagiba or usuba. They all have chisel grinds. THAT's a single beveled knife and very different from any western style. Let use know what you think too. It took me very liitle time to get used to it and it's stiffness but it's a great knife. I actually use a deba for my chicken work and like it better than a honesuki but that's just me.

Yes, that is a common misconception and one that I had too but it's actually the opposite for many traditional knives. The beveled side is what is layed against the food and the flat side is the side that the slice falls from. A right handed Yanagiba for example has the bevel on the right side as you hold it but most cuts for sashimi are made so the slice falls to the left...the flat side. You can certainly use a single beveled knife for slicing with the slice falling to the right or beveled side. I know many people that use a Yanagiba as a slicer to slice roasts, chicken, turkey, etc. Also when you want super thin slices like chicken/beef for Chinese food. Another specialized use for an already specialized knife.

I mince a shallot or garlic the same way I do an onion. As Bruce said, it's better to do the horizontal cuts first. Make even horizontal slices then just as even vertical slices. Then with the root on the left (for a right-hander) start making slices across (from top to bottom as you hold it) to mince/dice. You should get nice little 1/4" squares.

All western style Japanese knives are double beveled (not edged). Thats what makes them western style. Only traditional Japanese knives are single beveled or chisel ground. You can get them custom made to be one way or the other if you'd like but really there's not much point to it unless you have a lot of disposable income. The chisel grinds purpose is to get super sharp to do detailed cuts required by Japanese food. It was developed for this purpose and this purpose only. There are 100's of styles of Japanese knives, all single beveled and all for a specific purpose. It boggles the mind. Most western styled Japanese knives come with a 70/30 or 80/20 grind to closely mimic this traditionalism and built into these double beveled blades. While different from a standard 50/50 grind there is very little to no noticable difference in actual usage. I mean, the thickness of the blade behind the edge is about 1mm so chances are you won't be able to tell the difference between a 70/30 grind or 50/50 grind. We're talking a very minute difference. Sharpening it will also not make a big difference. You can either keep it at 70/30 or change it to 50/50...it's your knife. Hope this helped clarify a bit.

Well, depending on what knife you get it may only come one way. What knife are you planning on buying?

You got the Tojiro DP? You probably just got a dull tip. The one thing with Japanese knives is that they generally do not come screaming sharp out of the box (OOTB). This happens all the way up and down the price spectrum unfortunately. This isn;'t to say they are dull, just not as sharp as they could be. Matter of fact, most people feel their knife is super sharp OOTB when in reality it could get a LOT sharper. This kind of blows people away to think about the potential. Basically, their reasoning is that the new owner will put his own edge on the knife to make it his/hers. Some knives of the same brand are sharper than others as I've heard some people say WOW THIS IS SHARP and others say WOW THIS EDGE SUCKS. Also there are some brands spend a bit more time on the edge than others too it just depends on who has a history of making the edges super sharp. But with a touch up on the stones, everything will be good.

Made my first Larb the other day. Being the first time and not really reading the entire 22 pages of this thread, I just did a basic one from a recipe on the Importfoods.com website. I noticed after reading here that I roasted/toasted the rice incorrectly and as a result spent WAY too much time grinding it to a powder. It's an awesome powder though. The overall volume of ingedients Sort of went ignored as I just went mostly by what tasted good to me. I couldn't load all of my pics so here are a few of them I could upload. Minced up my own chicken breast Minced up the mint Final dish

Just because La Jolla or San Diego as a whole has for example, Persian restaurants (or insert your own choice), it's possible they may have never eatin the food...right? Rather than trying to find a particular cuisine that La Jolla doesn't have why not find out what they've never eatin before. I would also think quality of food would be more of a deciding factor that choice of cusine. As a steak lover, I'm always up for eating a good steak regardless of where I live or vacation. Local places are more attractive for dining than chains. Do they like Fondu? That's always a fun choice if you have a good place where you live.