Japanese knives and cutting techniques - Japanese cutting techniques

Japanese knives
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In loose succession, we report in our SUSHIYA blog some on the subject of Japanese knives and cutting techniques and thus accompany our advanced sushi course, which will take place for the first time in March 2018.

In loose succession we report in our SUSHIYA blog a lot about the topic of Japanese knives and cutting techniques.

The first part was Japanese knives and cutting techniques - an introduction. The second part was Cutting flavor (and the third was handling Japanese knives). To accompany our sushi courses for beginners and advanced, here is the fourth part of the series.

JAPANESE KNIVES & CUTTING TECHNIQUES - CUTTING FORMS

In Europe, French is still considered the "kitchen language" and so many terms such as Brunoise (small cubes) and Julienne (long thin strips) can be found. In Japanese, you often find many more terms for one thing than in Western countries. For example, there are at least a dozen terms alone to describe different types of rain. 

And since people in Japan are convinced that the flavor is "tickled out" of a product by cutting it, there are also many different shapes. 

But what is so special now? In Western cookbooks, it is simply called "slicing" or "cutting into THIN slices". In Japanese, each cutting technique has its own name, including such figurative ones as

OVERVIEW OF JAPANESE CUTTING TECHNIQUES

Designation

Description

For example for

Kushigatagiriくし形切りLike the tines of a combCabbage, onion, tomato, lemon, persimmon
Rangiri乱切り"Random" cut, but it is not really randomCucumber, carrot, radish
Hangetsugiri半月切りCrescentCucumber, radish, lotus root, carrot
Ichogiriいちょう切りGingko leaf cutRadish, carrot
Sengiri千切りCut into a thousand partsCabbage, ginger, radish, carrot
Tanzakugiri短冊切り"Paper Strips"Radish, carrot
SasagakiささがきBamboo leaf cutGobo, Carrot
Hana Renkon花レンコンLotus root flowerFor lotus roots
Hosogiri細切りJulienne 
Hyoshigigiri拍子木切りrods with square cut, about 1 cm thickRadish
Koguchigiri小口切りThin rondelleLeeks, spring onions
Mijingiriみじん切りFine cut/chopOnions
Nanamegiri斜め切りSlice diagonallyLeeks
Naname Usugiri斜め薄切りCut diagonally into thin slicesLeeks
Sainome-giriさいの目切りCube with sides of approx. 1 cmMiscellaneous vegetables
Sogigiriそぎ切りCut vegetables or meat diagonally 

Then there are the decorative cuts for shiitake, radish and carrots, for example.

Designation

Description

For example for

Hanagiri 花切り Flower shape Mostly carrots
Nejiri Ume ねじ梅 "Plum blossom cut" mostly carrots
Tazune 手綱 Horse reins Konnyaku, Chikuwa

When preparing vegetables such as radishes, potatoes, and the like for "stews" (nabe お鍋), one breaks the edges to prevent them from breaking out during cooking. This is called mentori.

By the way, these cut shapes require a lot of practice. In our restaurant sansaro you often get very finely cut leeks on the appetizers or white radish ("shirage") to sashimi - observe carefully in other "Japanese" restaurants how thickly leeks and radishes are cut there...

Do you really need so many different knives? Maybe not, but in Japan they attach great importance to every detail and so of course they always want to have the best tool. Therefore, the next part is about different knife shapes and their use.

Sharing pleasure in Japanese

SUSHIYA is passionate about Japanese cuisine and culture. In our restaurant sansaro you can encounter the fascinating Japanese cuisine or have it delivered to your home. On our homepage, Facebook and Instragram we always give insights into news and interesting topics.

we are hiring experienced sushi chefs for germany - Reinforcement for the kitchen team at sansaro wanted

ミュンヘンの賑やかな学生街にある寿司和食レストランSUSHIYA sansaroでは調理スタッフ(正社員)を募集しています。 料理長 寿司・和食経験が10年以上(うち継続して日本で5年以上) 毎日の営業で仕込み・調理業務全般以外にも、スタッフの育成、イベント時の特別料理やコース料理の創作、在庫管理など 寿司・調理スタッフ 寿司・和食調理経験(日本で3年以上の修行経験のあるかた) 当店ではお料理、特に寿司にこだわり、ドイツのお客様にクオリティーの高い本格的な日本食を提供するよう調理スタッフが こだわりを徹底して日々向上心を持って取り組んでいます。 ミュンヘンでもっと寿司・和食のスキルを伸ばしたいやる気のある方大歓迎。 ドイツ在住の方、ワーホリなどビザ所有ですぐに働ける方はもちろん日本からの応募もお待ちしています。 語学力は不問です。 ・ビザサポートあり ・住居サポート可 ・週休2日制 ・各種社会保障完備 ・有給休暇あり (年間20日〜)毎年日数が増えていきます。 ・チップ支給 ・美味しい賄い付き

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