Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

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foxycut
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Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by foxycut »

Would like some insight into these two impressive clips:
There's more going on than the standard claw grip technique. What knives are they using? Are there any special properties of their knives?
Last edited by foxycut on Sun Jun 04, 2017 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jeff B
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Jeff B »

What your looking at there is much more about the skill, training and experience of the individual than the particular knife they are using, though it does need to be very sharp. ;)
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by cjmeik »

210 yanagiba, I believe.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by dAviD »

Chef in second video is using a vg-10 version Kikuichi knife. Regular gyuto style maybe a 210mm.

Mark normally stocks the carbon version of this and carries a few other lines from them.

The onion is just practice, the cucumber work is cool but outside of catering or sushi or garnishing is not very practical because of the amount of waste you get off a cucumber....unless you find something else to throw it in.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Ourorboros »

Yeah, that's about developed skill and a sharp, thin knife instead of type and brand of knife. No special properties.

Like that saying - Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by ken123 »

Morimoto does a better job using this technique, but here's another chef doing this procedure on a cucumber:



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Ken
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Chefcallari »

foxycut wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2017 8:24 pm Would like some insight into these two impressive clips:
There's more going on than the standard claw grip technique. What knives are they using? Are there any special properties of their knives?
Lol sorry brother but there is no alloy, iron or quenching process that leads to those skills. Ive been cooking professionally for a little over 10 years and i can tell you Japanese chefs are renowned for there knife skills. YouTube some videos of them peeling diakon radish or cucumber paper thin IN HAND with a 170mm usuba... Lol then find out that that is considered a super BASIC skill that all Japanese sushi chefs learn there first month they train! And that "pointer" grip is how most Japanese chefs are trained to hold a knife as it gives better tip control. But those skills come from many years of practice. Nothing else.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Chefcallari »

ken123 wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:28 pm Morimoto does a better job using this technique, but here's another chef doing this procedure on a cucumber:



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Ken
Lol ive done this for shits... Its actually really cool
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Bob Z »

What knife does he cut the onion with??? seems like some kind of petty but it has a small triangular tip.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by gladius »

Bob Z wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:13 pm What knife does he cut the onion with??? seems like some kind of petty but it has a small triangular tip.
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Bob Z
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Bob Z »

It looks to only be about a 150 if you look at his finger size, and the tip is much smaller than any of my gyuto's. Maybe he sharpened it down like I watched Morimoto do to his daily use knives.
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schools out
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by schools out »

I love Hiroyuki Terada, I recommend everyone subscribe to his YouTube channel. The guy is an excellent chef, but for some unknown reason I love it when his camera man gives him challenges like making a Big Mac into sushi.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by Dev_Zero »

Bob Z wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:13 pm What knife does he cut the onion with??? seems like some kind of petty but it has a small triangular tip.
It's a 210mm Kikuichi warkami gold Sujihiki that has been sharpened to all hell the the last half a decade or so. Long time subscriber of chef Hiro, great channel. He talks about his knives, sharpening, etc in depth in a number of other videos.
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Re: Knife skills analysis: Cucumber and onion

Post by lsboogy »

I ate at NoVe a few times - Hiro is a legend and ran a great (for anywhere) sushi restaurant. Why I went to Phoenix knife house - thought I could just buy skills with the right knives. I have a dozen (probably more) Kikuichi knives and try (I can do the cuke trick easily), but I'm a novice. It's not so much the knife as knowing your knife when you get into things. Learning to sharpen is great, owning very high end knives is great, but those kind of skills come from teaching and practice. I'm not in most decent chef's league for skills, but own knives that are more expensive and sharper than most of them. It's just important to get on the path and go forth - your skills will get better the more you use them. A person like Hiro is more like Michael Jordan - you can hope but some things are inate. My daughter was in the Olympic trials twice (swimming) - never made it, but she was damn food. I'll never have the skills of some chefs no matter how much I spend, but I am on the path and improving - all that matters. I would trade my Kikuichi sword (circa 1550) for those skills - it's like asking to be like Mike - all we can do is be our best - takes practice - you can't buy it. On the other hand, a really good knife is like nothing else in the kitchen - my kohetsu 210 gyuto is becoming more and more my favorite - I do well with it (in my eyes) and it makes me happy every time I use it. Off to do some salmon and asparagus for dinner - boring (easy) but sooo sooo good - my go to meal - we eat it at least twice a week so I'm really good at it. Super moist (go for oily wild salmon) and delicious - pair it with a nice entre deux Myers and you have a great basic meal for less than Big Macs - my daughter understands - one of the best things I ever did was teach her what little knife skills I have and how to cook.
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