Japanese barbecue

Japanese cuisine is okay to me.  I like sushi now and then, a
good tempura or beef teriyaki is fine.  But what does Japan have to do with barbecue?

That’s pretty easy, actually.  In my opinion, Japan has produced the best of 2 things: knives and beef.  Knives aren’t a big American thing; the higher end knives are usually European (German most likely).  Beef is the domain of the US, though, right? 

Wagyu (Kobe) beef is different from the typical american steer in that it has much more marbling than most US cattle.  The marbling is actually unsaturated fats, so it’s not necessarily bad for you, but it adds flavor and produces very tender beef.  It’s true that Kobe beef is beer fed, but this is in the summer, and the intent isn’t to do anything directly to muscle fiber, but to increase the appetite of the animal so that it keeps its weight up. 

I haven’t had a Wagyu steak yet, but I have had Wagyu brisket.  What I found was that that marbling means that less temperature is needed to get to ‘done’.  Cooking a Wagyu to 190 will turn it into roast beef, vs. a good barbecue brisket.  It’s more expensive, but not enough to break you; online, Wagyu brisket can be found for 3.95/lb.  Yes, it’s more than choice brisket, but it’s also much better, I think.

Note: The "Kobe" we get in the US is generally a mix of Japanese cattle there were imported prior to the ban in Japan on exporting the cattle and American cattle.  The marbling is also higher in mono unsaturated fat than typical American beef, so, even though there’s much more marbling, it’s healthier for you!

How are Japanese knives different?  It starts with the fact that the Japanese have for centuries approached knife making differently than Europeans.  While knights in Europe were putting on steel plate armor to protect themselves, other knights found the only way to cut through the plate armor was to have a blade that was strong and had a full tang, which is the metal piece that makes up the blade and goes into the grip.  Without the sword being full length, the weapon would break somewhere when hitting armor.  Also, the blade didn’t have to be razor sharp, as it was hacking more than slicing.


Japanese sword makers made blades that were meant to slice, and had to hold very fine edges.  They folded the steel to add flexibility and strength at the same time.  They’d rather slice through something than hack away at it.

German knives carry a lot of the characteristics of centuries old sword making.  The full tang is touted, was all as the bolster, etc.  The steel is hard, but not flexible, which means when the blade is honed, pieces break off.  This can be seen in an old knife where there is a curve to the edge from sharpening and honing over and over again.  Also, the bolster that goes to the blade edge causes the knife to be sharpened in a convex patter, so the whole blade won’t hit the cutting surface.  The blad has to be sharpened at about 22 degrees, making a sharp, but not really sharp, edge.

The Shun knives I like are made with a VG-10 core, which has a higher Rockwell hardness than steel used in Euro knives.  It’s also more flexible, so honing actually realigns the edge instead of breaking off bits of it each time.  These knives can be honed over and over with no ill effect.  The VG-10 core also allows the edge to be sharpened at a 16 degree angle, making a much sharper edge than European knives can hold.  Because of this, regular knife sharpeners can’t be used, as they’re designed to sharpen at a broader angle.  The blades are then clad on each side with 16 layers of steel, then polished through to the edge.  This gives a damascus looking blade, though it’s not actually folded metal.

The handle varies from other Japanese knives in that it’s not a cylinder.  The knives were originally made for right handed people, as I’m told no chef’s in Japan cut left handed.  Shun now makes left handed models, too, though.  The D shaped handle that Shun uses m
akes the knives easy to control, though.

Shun knives don’t have a full tang, but I’ve never needed that much leverage in kitchen usage.  If ever there were a problem, the knives are fully guaranteed, and I don’t even have to pay to have them sharpened, though they need sharpening less often than my old knives did.  My knives need to be sharpened now, and I’ll just send them to Shun, where they’ll be sharpened and returned at no charge.  When new, these knives are scary sharp!

My favorite knife is the 10" chef’s knife. 
I thought about getting s smaller one, but I really liked the 10", and, now that I’ve used it for the last 18 months, I don’t want a smaller chef’s knife.

Alton Brown become the US spokesperson for the brand after finding out how much he liked them.  He made a suggestion to the company to angle the handles 10 degrees so knuckles wouldn’t hit the cutting board while cutting.  There are now several knives with this ‘Alton’s Angle", including paring, vegetable, utility, santoku and 8" chef’s knives.

If you haven’t tried these and are in the market for knives, go to a store that carries them and try them out side by side with Wusthof or Henckels.  I think most will find they like Shun better.