I have this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Knife-Skills-Essential-Important/dp/1584796677/
It is for knife skills.
I noticed Jacques Pépin pulls out at least:
- A French chef’s knife
- A cheap Santoku
- A Deba (Japanese chef’s knife)
- A sashimi knife
I may have seen a Nakiri or Usuba in there but I only got a glimpse for a few frames and I think it may have been the sashimi knife.
There are no resources available on kitchen knife technique with the santoku as a primary. Odd, since Westerners have become fascinated with the santoku over the French and German chef’s knives. It’s either a fad or a shift, but I see a lot of chatter about “Should I try a santoku?” “Get a cheap one, you’ll love it or hate it.” “I never use my chef’s knife anymore!” going on. I don’t know why, because there are a lot of technical differences in technique, and attempting to directly apply French/German chef’s knife technique to the santoku will quickly make you hate it.
The one difference I see cited is you use more of an up and down chopping motion, as the knife doesn’t rock. Watching Pépin, I can see that he uses a sliding motion. A santoku does not rock much–some have an exaggerated curve, most are mainly flat except at the tip, and many cheap American santoku are simply flat with a sheepsfoot tip. Pépin rapidly slices mint, mushrooms, and the like not by using a simple up and down chopping motion (as has been expressed on online resources), but by using this motion with a slight draw forward, slice slice slice instead of just smash smash smash with your hopefully-sharp-enough blade.
Even a razor sharp blade will simply compress skin if pressed (I should know, I play with blades sharp enough to explode a hair at a touch) until enough force is added; but if barely touching and drawn they will slice completely through the skin. Moving the blade with a slight draw was not a technique I’d seen before–and this is exactly what I’m looking for.
Pépin is amusing, by the way. He somehow does rock the santoku when he really wants to–notably to chop up garlic, which is some kind of miracle (watch him do it once or twice, the knife becomes a blur for a few seconds and then you have finely chopped garlic). Often he just uses a Deba or French chef’s knife for that, but truth be told the man has every kind of knife and will simply grab one if he doesn’t need something particular–sashimi knife when fish shows up sure, but then any kind of generic chef’s knife for something that requires a chef’s knife.
Ah well, ramble ramble ramble. I’ve been touching up my knife skills lately. It’s fun to be able to just zip through some food in a few seconds. Chop chop chop chop chop I’ve got a chiffonette of mint leaves ready in two seconds, throw some honey on the greek yogurt and a few walnuts and lemon zest and toss the mint on there, I has yogurt!