Gyuto users: do you reach for slicing or bread knives?

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turknewb

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Hi, I'm new to this forum. Based on respected members' recommendations here on this forum, I've ordered a Fujiwara FKM 240mm gyuto and a 150mm petty recently. Now, I've heard that slicing and bread knives are commonly recommended on top of these two basic knives.. do you guys use slicing and bread knives if you have them or use your gyuto for everything? If I do get slicing and bread knives, I'm thinking about getting Victorinox ones with Fibrox handles due to limited budget. Please let me know your experience/thoughts on using gyuto for slicing/bread cutting applications. Thanks for any 2 cents in advance.
 
I do eat quite a bit of bread and use a budget Victorinox bread knife for it. I think I have spend ~$20 for it and don't have to worry about messing the edge like I would with my gyutos


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Soft breads I use a gyuto, but for hard crusts or grains or nuts I use a bread knife to save the gyuto's edge.
 
I've got several bread knives, but I always default to the cheaper Victorinox..........
 
10.25 Wavy edge bread knife is the best in the Victorinox line. Good for Dagwood sandwich. If not cutting hard crust bread a sharp gyuto is enough.
 
I have two very nice gyutos, but for slicing bread I always reach for my Wustof Classic bread knife. Bought it from Fred Bridge himself at Bridge Hardware in New York, many, many, many years ago. Still going strong.
 
Yeah I have a cheapo Chicago Cutlery bread knife with a walnut handle, paid about $20. I hate using non-serrated blades for cutting through breads and sandwiches, plus as others have said, I'm of the belief it dulls your blade.
 
ive used both the popular tojiro bread knife and forschner bread knives in the past and ive been pretty happy. Of all the gyutos Ive owned takeda cuts bread the best too.
 
Used to have to cut bread for croutons, throw it in a large mixing bowl & season it. Always used sharp carbon gyuto, some people use a bread knife for this because their chef knife is not sharp enough. Actually a lot of serrated knives are made because people do not know how to sharpen.

270mm sharp Gyuto makes clean cut croutons & is faster. Where speed is a factor as it often is in a production kitchen I prefer a gyuto, though a breadknife can make nice croutons.

These days mostly cutting French loaf for fresh garlic bread or cutting sandwich in half still use a gyuto because it does the job, & cutting on my endgrain certainly do not worry about dulling the edge.
 
Thanks for all the responses thus far. What are your opinions on having a separate slicing knife then? My wife and I are both big steak lovers--would you guys find a slicing knife a necessity when it comes to cutting, say medium rare steaks, when entertaining many guests at home--or would a sharp gyuto do the job just as well? My previous kitchen chef knife (dull edge and not maintained well) certainly didn't do slicing well and tended to crush the meat. I would love to be able to cut relatively thin slices for steak salads.

Also, for harder veggies or fruits (potatoes, watermelon etc), do you use a gyuto? All the talk about chipping makes me a little paranoid and makes me wonder if I should get a Victorinox chef's knife or something for those jobs.. at the same time, I feel the gyuto should be a tool not something that needs to be babied..
 
Thanks for all the responses thus far. What are your opinions on having a separate slicing knife then? My wife and I are both big steak lovers--would you guys find a slicing knife a necessity when it comes to cutting, say medium rare steaks, when entertaining many guests at home--or would a sharp gyuto do the job just as well? My previous kitchen chef knife (dull edge and not maintained well) certainly didn't do slicing well and tended to crush the meat. I would love to be able to cut relatively thin slices for steak salads.

Also, for harder veggies or fruits (potatoes, watermelon etc), do you use a gyuto? All the talk about chipping makes me a little paranoid and makes me wonder if I should get a Victorinox chef's knife or something for those jobs.. at the same time, I feel the gyuto should be a tool not something that needs to be babied..
In most cases you're fine with a gyuto for slicing as long as you keep it sharp and avoid bones.

And I definitely use my gyuto for pretty much any veggie or fruit, just with stuff like watermelon and squash and the such you don't want to torque the blade while going through.

I wouldn't say you have to baby most gyuto's, but your technique is going to be key to having to sharpen out chips and rolls all the time. Most J-knives aren't going to stand up to the beating a Western chef's knife will as an in general, but it will be much more precise and keep an edge much longer.
 
I like having a slicer, esp when portioning steaks. To slice individual steaks (ribeyes, Tbones, strips, sirloin) for serving I'll remove any bone with a petty then slice with a 240 suji. Whole tenderloin is a favorite of mine is to serve guests, to portion I'll slice with a 240 or 270 suji.

A gyuto will work for slicing and should be good for the other kitchen tasks you described. As noted above they may not have the torsional strength as the European chef knives. The only chipping issues I've ever had was chopping nuts. Now that task goes to a Henckels chef knife.
 
I use my Konosuke GS gyuto to slice bread. Works like a charm!
 
Soft breads I use a gyuto, but for hard crusts or grains or nuts I use a bread knife to save the gyuto's edge.

Exactly.

In terms of a slicer, I use one every time I'm slicing meat and most of the time I'm slicing denser fish. I almost exclusively work with a gyuto/chef's, but if I need clean cuts through denser, thicker protein (which is a lot) I always grab my slicer. You could probably get by with a 270MM or 240 gyuto for wide thinner cuts of meat, but other than that, there is too much surface area that the meat can grab on to.
 
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