Gyuto / Chef's Knife

Versatile chef’s knife and it is suitable for preparing western cuisine.   It can be used for meat, fish and vegetables. For vegetables, it is used to chop or thrust cut like a **"nakkiri" near the heel, to rock-chop stiffer produce in the belly, and to make fine cuts at the tip. For meat, it is used to saw back and forth for large cuts, to pull cut for softer meats; for a better surface finish, and to push cut for more sinewy meat. There is usually a slope from heel to the tip which causes the wrist to point down and shoulder to raise up to make cuts. General size is 210 mm to 270 mm. 210mm is more of a line knife size and most nimble, 240mm is more of a general purpose size and allows more slicing, and 270mm has more slicing power but is much more cumbersome, being the tallest and longest.

**Nakkiri knife is for vegetable and thin knife. They have a straight blade edge suitable for cutting all the way to the cutting board without the need for a horizontal pull or push. These knives are also much thinner. While the deba bōchō is a heavy blade for easy cutting through thin bones, the blade is not suitable for chopping vegetables, as the thicker blade can break the vegetable slice. The nakiri bōchō and the usuba bōchō have a much thinner blade. This does not help with cutting small bones in fish or meat, but is useful for cutting vegetables.

The cutting edge is angled from both sides. This makes it easier to cut straight slices.