The most essential knife for the kitchen which no chef can be without

The gyutos meaning is “Cow sword” in Japan as gyu means “Beef” and to means “Sword” this is also known as a Chef’s knife or French knife. It is the one and first knife all chef’s/cooks needs in their kitchen. When buying your first gyuto you have to consider how and what will be built around your first knife as it will do the majority of the work in your kitchen. 

Gyutos like chef’s knives go from 150mm up to 370mm which is massive, when starting out go for something in the range of 180mm to 210mm depending on the size of your hands. Later you can go for a larger chef’s knife like a 260mm to 280mm which can be used for larger jobs like cabbages, large dicing and meat cuts like beef sirloins and fillets.

Sakai Takayuki non-stick coating VG10 “Kurokage” knives are finished with fluorine resin giving a mate black finish to the blade. In addition to this the blade has been hammered to give it texture that prevents further foods sticking to the blade and encourages the no stick function. The core blade is VG10 with a rockwell hardness of around 60 -61 which is typical in most Sakai Takayuki VG10 ranges. Handles are more traditional Japanese Octagonal Wenge wood with a Buffalo horn ferrule and give these knives a very light feel in the hand.