Shun Santoku knife - scales on blade(Granton-like) or not ? r/o
I am on the market for a Shun knife and I notice the posts below, which were helpful. I saw on Amazon that there is the one with the scales on the blade and one without. What is the purpose of the scales and does it matter which one I get? I would value your opinion.
Supposedly the scales help with not having food "stick" to the side of the knife when you are chopping it. I use both a regular Santoku by Wustof Grand Prix and a scaled one, and I can't tell the difference. I think it might make more of a difference if I were doing lots of fine slicing and dicing such as in Asian preps.
I'm buying one for my daughter for Christmas. Just today I was reading an article in July/August Cooks Illustrated in which they rated Santoku knives. They had a little box about the grooves and also said that in performance they couldn't really tell the difference between the same model knife with and without the grooves. They recommended not bothering to spend the extra money to get the grooves.
I got her the Wusthof Grand Prix, as much to match her other knives. They rated it 3rd, right after the Shun.
The scales on any kind of knife, usually a slicer, create air pockets between the cutter and the cuttee. The pockets are supposed to reduce the drag of the blade, making finer, more even slices easier to make. You see them all the time in buffet lines, especially at the Roast stations. I havent noticed any difference on sticky things like cheeses, and theyre seemingly unnecessary for oily things like smoked salmon. They do, though, make slicing Roast Beef, turkey, and the like effortless.