InfiniteBento
Member
Wow, where do I begin?
(Bear in mind that I'm still a relatively young chef. Still, I've got a solid foundation in traditional Japanese cuisine as my mentor was a Nagoya-raised Japanese immigrant. Sushi, sashimi, ramen, yakimono, agemono, etc. So I have some idea of what I'm talking about.)
- First things first: No Korin. Not at this point in your career, anyway. ChefKnivesToGo is what I swear by. Free shipping on orders over $60, and Mark Richmond (the owner/merchant) has way fairer prices than Korin. He also carries Japanese blacksmiths that Korin doesn't.
Secondly, until you give us more details on your tasks, I'm going to draw on my own experience on what you'll need for what. So, with that:
A six-inch chef knife is okay, but if you truly want to be a Japanese chef you'll need a "real" knife. I'm talking a 210mm to 240mm chef knife ("gyuto" style). Don't do stainless, don't do VG-10 or that stuff. Get white steel or blue steel (shirogami or aogami, respectively). Japanese cuisine requires very intricate knifework, so you need a knife which can get a screaming-sharp edge. Blue steel is stronger and maintains its edge better than white steel, but it's also significantly more expensive.
I personally use a Goko 240mm gyuto. It's fucking terrific, it sharpens obscenely fast and it's a very handsome knife.
- However, the three traditional Japanese chef knives -- the "knife set" your mentors are probably talking about -- are the sacred trinity of the deba, usuba and yanagiba. You will eventually need all of these to reach full potential as a Japanese chef.
Bear in mind that in America, most sushi bars sell considerably more maki than nigiri or sashimi. For the sake of maki, a gyuto or a sujihiki are outright superior knives for cutting sushi rolls than a yanagiba, and let no one tell you otherwise.
- Do not get a santoku. This is a knife meant for the home cook, not a professional chef.
I could keep going on, but it'll be a boring wall of text without your input InfiniteBento. Give me a budget and an idea of what you'll be doing. =)
The chefs I work with all use Japanese knives and both them and several other professionally trained chefs in my area recommend them. Settling for cheap alternatives isn't going to fly with my job. We are the only place in all of Orlando that does traditional Japanese sushi. No rolls. No nonsense. So I can't settle for a knife that isn't Korin based on what they said yesterday but I'll sit down with them and discuss it further to see how the alternatives on that site roll with them.
Also, I'm incredibly petite so working with the traditional blade is going to be a bit. First day on the job, they gave me one to use and I demolished my finger with it. All of them agreed that based on my hands being small as fuck too that I should start with other sizes then make my way to traditional blades. So I'm not too worried about getting a traditional knife until later in the game.
I'm not starting from the bottom in the traditional sense of me washing dishes for months then working my way to prep & etc. They're really enthusiastic about my passion for my job and already moved me to prep but they're anxious I get my knives and start on garnishes then they will teach me to butcher their fish & prep all of them for service. Along with the fact that they just volunteered me to intern at another very expensive place around town, which I'll be interning at on Sunday, so I'm thinking of grabbing the set of 3 (Chef's, Parring, & Utility) knives and it'll run me about $350ish.
The chefs I work with are pretty particular about their knifeware so straying from Korin may be difficult but I'm going to scope out Chef Knives To Go and see what their options + pricing are. They all have specific brands they want me to utilize even though its early in the game. However, if I do enough research I may be able to convince though (its 80% unlikely)
When it came to studying, did you attend school for this or are you just hands on in the field? Did you use any material for studying? I need more books and/or films to watch. Just cranked out Jiro Dreams of Sushi (my job is EXACTLY like this. Their price point is about $100 per person. Dinner for 2 is $400. Its all insane)
I need to study as much on Japanese cuisine + French pastry as possible.