Everything You Need to Know About Santoku Knives

When looking for a new kitchen knife, you’ll discover that there are a lot more options than you realized. For kitchen pros and blade geeks, that’s awesome. But, if you start to feel like all of the choices are more frustrating than fantastic, then knife shopping can turn into a real headache.

Not to worry.

At Schmidt Brothers, our goal is to make knife buying simple, affordable, and enjoyable. Ready to get started?

One of the biggest questions we get has to do with the difference between a Chef’s Knife and a Santoku Knife. Are they really that different? Is one better than another?

Here’s the low-down on the often-discussed, rarely-understood Santoku knife…

With a Japanese history, the word “santoku” can literally be translated to English to mean “three virtues” or “three uses”. What are those three uses?

1. Chopping
2. Dicing
3. Mincing

When comparing a Santoku knife with a Chef’s knife, you’ll see that the Santoku features a thinner blade, making it a more refined choice for slicing and other more subtle culinary arts. A lot of chefs choose to use Santoku knives over Chef’s knives because the design is more balanced, making it lighter to hold and easier to work with. When a dish has been prepared with a Santoku knife, you can usually tell because there are details present that other types of knives just can’t create.

If you find yourself doing the following things in your kitchen often, then choosing a Santoku knife is a smart move…

• Cutting meat
• Slicing cheese
• Mincing food, from meat to herbs
• Slicing food, from fruit to nuts
• Transferring food from cutting board to pan or dish
• Creating fine slices for visual presentation, like seafood, salads and garnish

Sound like the right knife for you? Awesome. (We had a feeling it was…) 

Just remember that, as awesome as Santoku knives are, not all will perform the same in the kitchen. In order for a knife to do everything it should (and do it well), then it needs to be made the right way.

At Schmidt Brothers, we take great care when it comes to making our Santoku knives. For starters, we begin with high quality, high carbon German stainless steel to create an ultra sharp edge for seamless cutting and reduced friction. As with all our blades, the bolster of the handle on our Santoku knife features our patented Schmidt Brothers Curve. This curve is what ensures a comfortable grip from start to finish.

Razor sharp, we’ve taken the best of old-world craftsmanship and combined it with an ultra contemporary design so that our Santoku knife really does become your best friend in the kitchen. Relentless in our approach to designing and crafting kitchen knives, you can be confident that your Schmidt Brothers Santoku knife is the best you’ll find. And, because we like you so much, we won’t overcharge you for a brand name. (Even though we think the Schmidt Brothers name is pretty damn cool.)