While a Chef’s Knife is often the first choice of many professional chefs, the Santoku Knife has it’s place in the commercial kitchen. The main difference between a santoku knife and a chef’s knife and a santoku knife is that santoku knives are well suited to tasks that require precision cutting and they are particularly good when very think cuts are needed. A chef’s knife is generally not as precise as a santoku knife.
Additionally, a chef must use a different technique when slicing through food with a santoku knife because of the shape of the knife. With a chef’s knife, a back and forth rocking motion is used to cut through food. The curved shape of a chef’s knife promotes this action. When using a Santoku knife, you need to slice through food with a forward and backward motion. These knives are flat on the bottom, so they can’t be rocked back and forth.
The full name of a santoku knife is actually Santoku bocho knives which translates roughly to “three uses.” With the straight edge, the santoku is an ideal tool for slicing, dicing and mincing in the commercial kitchen.
We carry a variety of sizes and styles of Santoku Knives from manufacturers like Mercer Culinary and Winco.
