Santoku

What does santoku mean?

Santoku (三徳) is Japanese for "three virtues" or "three uses". It is usually explained as the three foods it handles, meat, fish and vegetables, or the three cuts, slicing, dicing and mincing. It was designed as a single knife for a home kitchen, and became popular in Japan in the decades after the Second World War.

What does a santoku look like?

A santoku has a straight or very gently curved edge and a spine that curves down to meet it at the tip, sometimes called a sheepsfoot shape. The blade is tall, which keeps your knuckles off the board and lets you scoop food up. Most are 16.5–18 cm long.

Santoku vs chef's knife

Both are good all-rounders. A santoku suits people who chop in short strokes, or who find a long blade unwieldy.

Why do some santoku knives have dimples?

The oval hollows ground along some blades are called a Granton edge (in German, Kullenschliff). They leave small air pockets that help sticky foods such as potato fall away. The effect is modest, and a well-ground blade without them works just as well.

How do you use a santoku?

Use a push cut: start with the tip, push forward and down through the food, then lift. Or chop straight up and down. The flat edge doesn't rock well, so avoid rocking cuts. Don't use it on bone or frozen food: the thin edge can chip.

Making a santoku

A santoku is a common choice on two-day kitchen knife courses. The challenge is grinding the tall, thin blade evenly. Steels such as AEB-L, 14C28N or a fine carbon steel suit it well.