Jon Savage

Outstanding idea- need to try this sooner rather than later

My cast Iron pans and my knives.

OK I lied. Broke out the deba today to debone and butcher a big hunk of BlueFin my wife scored today (she works in Fish Harbor). It too was a pleasure to use and capable of remarkably precise, even delicate, cuts. The yanigiba sahshimified™ the tuna effortlessly. The Usuba was of course involved in the Daikon and Gobo Salad. I love these knives.

A few more words about these now that I've had a few days to play with them. Been using the Usuba daily; my skills are progressing slowly but that's no fault of the knife. Broke out the deba today to debone and butcher a big hunk of BlueFin my wife scored today (she works in Fish Harbor). It too was a pleasure to use and capable of remarkably precise, even delicate, cuts. The yanigiba sahshimified the tuna effortlessly. This all is still using the factory edges - I suspect even better times are in store once I work the knives on the stones a bit. IMHO these knives are a steal.

Eat 'em. I would anyway.

Thanks Hiroyuki, those links are helpful. in particular is amazing. This will be a fun experiment. You've got a beautiful Nakiri (to my eye it looks more like an Usuba re: the single beveled edge). I'm aware that katsuramuki is a basic skill but one that is quite alien to one more used to western knives and skills. I won't touch my Deba until I can manage a few core Usuba skills first (silly perhaps but I really want to learn these knives one at a time). I *could* cut daikon planks thin enough to produce passable ken but that would be no fun! The katsuramuki technique also produces less waste once mastered. Nice article linked to from Hiroyuki's blog.

Tonight's Katsuramuki session with Usuba vs. Daikon was better- I'm not there yet but things are feeling like something's about to click. Part of my issue is having hands and fingers so close to a blade that sharp. Definitely not a recommended activity after a martini or two. Thanks _John for the link. I don't think this will be a fast process either. Good thing we like Daikon; a years worth of discarded experiments is sure to challenge my creativity!

The Japanese knife thread over here is starting to diverge into discussing resources around learning traditional techniques. I'm acutely interested in delving deeper into this topic and thought this might be a good place to ask. I currently have an Usuba, Deba and Yanagiba. Armed with these and a copy of Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes I hope to become proficient (over time of course). I'm finding Katsuramuki to be a terrifically difficult method; one step at a time I guess.

Itasan is indeed awesome. He makes it look so easy.

Barring that the book I referenced upthread is a good start IMHO $20 well spent. Or a separate Japanese knife skills course might be even better, since the existing course seems to contain a unified body of knowledge covering the major French knife techniques. I'd be interested to read a Japanese knife skills course and follow along. Meanwhile, here's a great series of demos I found demonstrating Japanese fish butchering-- http://www.suisan.n-nourin.jp/oh/osakana/e...okery/main.html ← Those demos are a great find. Thanks! I received the knives from EE today- thanks Bob for the nudge. They are sharp right out of the box and the reverse on each knife shows evidence that someone took the time to flatten the backs.

Can do although there would have to be threads re: "Japanese Knife Techniques for the inept", "Single Bevel Knife Sharpening" and "waterstones - what was I thinking?" to do this any degree of justice. Good times....

Interesting first episode and a mostly promising bunch. Looking forward to how this season unfolds.

Chris is dead right on this. Exactly how I prep ginger (though I do use a microplane later sometimes) . Ginger is cheap.

Have had the Gekko nakiri since Monday. No vegetable is safe from me! The knife is a pleasure to use; the factory edge acceptable although I'll be putting some time in this weekend on it. I'm very pleased with it and just prepped an enormous amount of veg for our stir fry tonight. This knife blows through prep accurately and lightning fast. Well worth the $98- My wife also loves the gekko santoku that I ordered in error initially. Good times. PS it is easy on the eye too

I ordered the ones from EE just now. This will be fun.

I'm leaning towards 180 mm, I have a throw away SS deba that size that I've managed to significantly improve while practicing on the stones. Definitely want carbon steel.

OK Bob - I'll probably go there real soon now. --edit I think your wife has one of these how did that work out?

Absolutely which is also why I'd rather not go towards high end knives at this time, I know I'm going to have to develop a higher skill level with the waterstones than needed for my western style Japanese knives. I don't think I'll manage to ruin any knives in the process but acknowledge the possibility that some risk of that is part of the learning curve. What I'm looking for is other suggestions beyond the ones at Epicurian Edge. All of the Debas I saw at jck were well north of $200 which is more than I care to risk until my sharpening skills have become more developed.

Western yo-deba or Japanese wa-deba, single or double beveled? ← A Yo Deba is really just a fat, brutish chef's knife. It's not for any traditional Japanese techniques. A Wa Deba is traditional and for butchering and filleting fish, although it's also sometimes used to mince herbs and to to a few non-fish butchering tasks. You can get a great one for under $80 at Epicurian Edge. It's their house brand, called (confusingly) Hon Kasumi (it's not a hon kasumi style knife). I've heard from pros who use this knife butchering in restaurants ... it gets a big thumbs up. ← Thanks Paul - I linked to that one in my initial post. At under $80 it certainly does seem to be well priced

Western yo-deba or Japanese wa-deba, single or double beveled? ← Traditional single beveled wa-deba

With a copy of Japanese Kitchen Knives: Essential Techniques and Recipes arriving in my mailbox today I'm going to be looking into purchasing some traditional Japanese knives to compliment the Petty, Gyuto and Nakiri I already have. I definately will need a Deba and a Yanagiba - possibly an Usuba as well anthough some Usuba tasks can certainly be accomplished with the Nakiri. These seem to be fairly well regarded by some on KF but I'm hoping as always that Bob and others on EG will have some good ideas. I don't need to buy them all at once and would like to keep under $150 each (seems like a challenge for a Deba). Thanks

Finally ordered the Gekko from jck - Chris' picture put me over the edge. I already have several knives from jck. I reckon this will be a welcome addition. --note to self need to buy another magnetic knife strip.

Painful on so many levels.

For those Long Beach/OC types who feel unloved Kogi will be in Long Beach again this Thursday at the Queen Mary. I'll be there! Thursday: Roja 12PM-3PM@5900 Wilshire - 5900 Wilshire Blvd 6PM-9PM@Queen Mary in Long Beach - Front of ship, parking lot B2

I first heard about kogibbq when reading an article in the IHT when in Europe last February. Great concept but not going to spend an hour or more in traffic just to grab a taco. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago today; I was just about to plate our dinner when I saw a tweet from kogi stating that they would be arriving in Long Beach shortly. Many bad words were said since we live in long beach. No Kogi for us that night. Fortunately they tweeted last thursday (in the AM) that Long Beach was again on the agenda - 1800 @ the Queen Mary. I called my wife to let her know that kogi was on the menu for that night's dinner. We arrived at the Queen Mary's parking lot around 1730, already a nascent line forming. The truck was delayed and finally about 1/2 hour late the object of our desire arrived. (video). Of course the line we were in was not the real line and the parking police made the truck move to its customary spot. The same spot where there were already another 50 or so kogiphiles already lined up. So much for the plum spot in line. Ridiculous right? Chasing after a roach coach with a twist. Guess we are easily amused. The real line: After a few minutes to set up things got under way: The line was remarkably cheerful with just a couple of malcontents (thankfully). The truck had 4 guys working in it, one taking the orders with the remaining 3 just hammering out the food from a space smaller than most office cubicles. That alone was a thing of beauty to watch. We ordered 2 beef short rib tacos, 1 ea spicy pork and spicy chicken + 1ea beef short rib and spicy pork burrito. The Kimchi Quesadilla was also ordered. We enjoyed the food on a nice grassy spot: The food was incredibly good. I usually avoid fusion like the plague but that is perhaps because I've rarely encountered well executed fusion before. Tacos were $2 each, other items all priced @ $5. Word on the street is that the sliders and Kogi dogs(!) are also excellent but we'll have to wait for next time. This my friends is a taco truck worth chasing! An hour later the line was a bit better but still substantial: Neat concept; hope their success continues.