Why do Santoku knifes have holes in them?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “whats a santoku knife used for“
About Eva
Written by: Eva
Published on:
Why do Santoku knifes have holes in them?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “whats a santoku knife used for“
About Eva
The holes serve no real purpose or are a bid to reduce friction to help food release from the knife. Here is a high-end santoku.
Food release comes primarily from the edge geometry of the knife. A convex grind helps food release. Thinner knives don’t have much thickness to work with to achieve a significant convex so can have more food stiction problems.
The dimples and holes in lower end santoku don’t do much to aid food release. They can help, however, if the food is something like a smoked salmon fillet to reduce drag to avoid damaging the texture of the fish, although I find this still doesn’t justify the problems caused by the holes or dimples. Knives become difficult to sharpen once the edge reaches the holes or dimples.
Amazon Basics 14-Piece Kitchen Knife Block Set, High-Carbon
I’ve never seen a santoku with holes; only scallops ; but either way the purpose is to reduce the surface area of the knife in direct contact with the material being cut, thus reducing friction and drag as you slice. This is especially important when cutting raw meat & fish and cheese, as those tend to stick to the blade and require more force to slice.
This knife is meant for cutting cheese. The cutaway reduces friction while leaving the knife more rigid and maneuverable than just a thin strip of blade would be. The scalloping on a santoku knife follows a similar principle.
In most applications this is achieved by just making the blade thinner. But the santoku (literally “three virtues” or “three purposes” in Japanese) is intended to be an all-around kitchen knife, so it has a deeper blade profile for cutting and manipulating vegetables, and (often but not always) scalloping on the blade to make cutting raw meat easier.
Wanbasion Black Stainless Steel Knife Set, Sharp Kitchen Knife