Pro tip: ditch the chef's knife for a yanagiba on sashimi prep

Last week during a busy Friday night service at The Grotto in Portland, I had to slice 40 pounds of salmon for our nigiri platter. My usual chef's knife kept tearing the skin and leaving ragged edges. I grabbed the yanagiba my old sous chef Kazu gave me 3 years ago and ran it through the fish in one clean pull. The difference was night and day, cleaner cuts and half the time. Has anyone else switched knives for a specific task and seen a big jump in speed?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_ross166d ago

Not sure I buy this as a universal tip. A yanagiba is great for sashimi, but for prepping 40 pounds of fish during a rush, you're a lot faster with a chef's knife since you can also break down the fillets and clean up bones without switching tools. Stick with what handles the whole job unless you're doing strictly surface-level slicing.

robert2486d ago

You know what, I used to be one of those guys who swore by a yanagiba for everything... thought it made me look more like a real sushi chef or something. But last summer I helped my buddy break down a 50 pound tuna for a backyard BBQ and I grabbed my chef's knife out of habit halfway through. It just felt faster and I didn't have to keep switching blades every time I hit a bone or a joint. Honestly you changed my mind on this one... I'll stick with my chef's knife for the heavy lifting from now on.