How to Use a Bunka - Japanese Kitchen Knife Skills
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
- The bunka, a santoku's cooler cousin, is a super handy multipurpose Japanese knife in your kitchen. It's large enough to cut meat, but small enough to easily mince garlic. The bunka is a super versatile knife, but having some good knife skills really makes the difference! Former chef Mike is here to show you how to use a bunka like a chef.
Yu Kurosaki Senko Bunka
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Seki Kanetsugu Zuiun Bunka
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As a former chef, I can say this is a very good tutorial, very good technique.
Thank you!
I bought a Bunka today as my first Knive because it fitted perfectly for my price and feals great in the Hand. With this Video I learnd to use it correctly even thoe I of couse have to Work on it more. But thank you for your Video. It helped me a lot
I'm happy to hear that, happy new knife day!
I enjoyed your video and I wish I get skilled like you in my cutting technique one day 😉
But I missed the advantage of the Bunka by using the tip. For me the thin tip is very good to fillet a fish or to make fine cuts in the meat. That’s for me a valid reason to use a Bunka instead of a Santoku and makes it to a real all purpose knife😉
All the best from Germany 🇩🇪
Thanks, I constantly need these videos in my feed to keep the bad habits at bay.
We gotchu!
is that a Yu Kurosaki Senko!? hellz yea
Have the Enso 5.5 and just ordered the 7”. Can’t wait for it to show. I’ve got a new Kramer I’ve used twice but still grab this prep knife so much.
Thanks for this, learned way more than I expected! Cheers.
Happy to hear it!
got to say its a whole mood.. most of the time i just grab my chinese cleaver and roughchop all veggies I need in 2 minutes.. got my shizuku bunka on the wall looking al shiny.. but i grab it sometimes for some fancy cutting, i like cutting raw meat with it also.
Thank you Mike for such a great video. Really a great breakdown of technique.
Thanks Grant!
Great video, i got AS Kurosaki Fujin bunka, Shiro Kamo AS bunka and Senko Ei R2 Kurosaki bunka and..........i love them but i need one more stainless :D to my collection ;)
Nice, that's a great collection! I would definitely check out Ryusen or Seki Kanetsugu for a stainless option.
I'm a little late on this but uh... this is a fantastic tutorial on knife use!
I work as a cook and in my prep work i prefer to rock a 210mm kiritsuke, basically just a long bunka. Preforms most tasks extremely well. However, I do keep a 270mm gyoto on hand for certain tasks that the bunka doesn't quite measure up to, e.g. melons.
Been waiting for this one
I recently bought one via a recommendation from a coworker, I love it, and use it often. I just forget the technique from time to time.
That's awesome!
Bunkas are great for making super thin slices. 👊🤩🔪
Love my Masakage Yuki Bunka I got from Kevin & Knifewear over a decade ago. Beautiful in both form and function.
That's a gorgeous knife!
I find it interesting that your shortest Bunka blades are 165 mm, but the one I have my eye on is 150 mm ! Hopefully, the shorter length still works as nicely for me as yours does for you in this video !
Hey, shorter is totally fine! I use a 135mm Ko-bunka a lot, and while it can't handle large jobs, it's pretty versatile and handy!
@@KnifewearKnives Cool, thanks for sharing that !
@KnifewearKnives And thanks for taking a moment to reply. Oddly enough, I discovered the same company, for the same series of knives, has an 8 in. (203mm) Kiritsuke that also resembles more a longer bladed Bunka. But, it's not available where I kive ! I'll have to try and get it, or at least physically check it out when un the States next. But, it seems it could be my ideal high-end Chef's Knife.
Really enjoyed your video. You mention it's a great sized knife but never mention it's actual size.
Thanks for the info. I think this knife is the one of the Japanese knives that appeals to me the most.
Ah, sorry about that! They're typically 165mm.
Great tips !!!
I think I will get a bunka as my first knife
Santoku with k-tip = Bunka
Gyuto with k-tip = Kiritsuke
You can do ANY these cuts with a well balanced high quality SHARP knife regardless of the style of knife. My favorite knife is a Shibata Kotetsu which just happens to be a bunka. But it is razor blade sharp, beautifully balanced and thin which makes cutting meat and veggies effortless. It's also a $350 knife. You get what you pay for.
Love the shirt where did you buy that at
Right here!
knifewear.com/products/kawaii-but-deadly-ringer-t-shirt?variant=43282196365486
@@KnifewearKnives cool thank you should have looked in the description I feel dumb now for asking :)
Great vid. I'll point non-chef customers of mine I make gyuto and bunka for whom have not learned accurate knife skills.
Nice Yu Kurosaki senko!
Thanks!
Question: Always great stuff, but you were holding the knife on the handle for a lot of the video and said that you could, is that for getting more force? maybe getting your knife holding fingers out of the way of the vertical climbing food pieces? I thought you're not supposed to hold the handle like a handle. Thanks!
Good question! It comes down to preference. Mike likes to hold it further back for rocking cuts, but he's also used to much larger knives. Many of us choke up more on the blade as choking up gives you a bit more force when needed.
There isn't really a 'right way' to hold a knife. The preferred grip is a pinch grip for most chef knife lengths and purposes, but depending on what you're cutting and what knife you use it changes (from personal experience).
For example, when I'm slicing meats no matter which knife I'm using I do the yanagiba-style where you pinch and extend my index finger on the spine for more control.
When I need more length I hold more of the handle to really utilise all of the edge.
When I cut something dense and heavy I use a hammer grip (hand like a fist) on the handle and even push down on the spine with my other hand.
When I need to 'shorten' a longer knife for delicate work I pinch very high towards the tip of the knife
etc...
You just gotta learn how to use your knife properly until it becomes an extension of the hand. Use recipes, techniques, videos as guidelines, and the more you cook the more you intuitively use your knife.
I thought the same thing … he initially "taught" the audience the pinch grip, but only used it part of the time. I prefer larger knives too, particularly a 240mm gyuto, and whether I use that, a 10 1/2" chef, or a Chinese cleaver, I'm pretty much always using a pinch grip.
Best all purpose knife imho.
With high tinsel strength I'm normally a push cutter and obviously works well for that. Short enough for control, tall enough for clearance, well designed tip for precision work.
Santoku and most Nakiri knives are too short with many times zero clearance for your knuckles...
A taller Nakiri are good too. ( normally Japanese style with the wa handle style )
Really great video on technique, and I'm sure it'll help a lot of folks! I understand that what I'm about to say is *very* pedantic, but given all of the Japanese knives you have, the books on Japanese knives, and the shirt, I think it's something that might matter to you. You're using English pronunciation and stress on Japanese words, so the pronunciations are incorrect. Japanese doesn't have a "buh" sound, so it's not a "buhnka", it's a "boonka". Also, "santoku" doesn't have an emphasis of "san-TO-ku", all syllables are stressed equally. Likewise, it is not a "ki-ri-TSU-ki", but rather is pronounced with a generally more equal stress of "ki-ri-tsu-ki" (perhaps a slight emphasis on the "ri").
He’s an American. Not a nation known for attention to pronunciation. 😂
@@wigzillaplayz1134 I'm also an American. There are plenty of people everywhere in all nations, backgrounds, and languages who do not know the nuances of pronunciation in a language not their own. It's not really accurate or wise to generalize a specific nation's entire populace on something that equally applies to every other population in every other nation. The reverse of this situation (Japanese people using Japanese pronunciation and stress on foreign words) is literally enshrined into the language, so it's hardly unique.
I have a small (160mm) kritsuke gyuto... is that the same thing?
Very similar!
Only problem with watching them here vidoes is, that i already have great knifes and getting a new one will just gather dust on my knife holder.
Dumb question. Is the Bunka a double bevel 50/50? Or 90/10? Cheers
Most of them are 50/50 including this guy!
I heard you mention hakata as another name for a bunka. Aren't they a member of the bunka family that traditionally has a flatter cutting edge and a is little longer, around say 180mm or so?
Yup, absolutely! There's not necessarily a strict definition, Hakata is just a regional variation and the name Hakata is sometimes used interchangeably with kiritsuke to indicate a slanted tip on other knife shapes.
Am I correct in assuming that the Global Classic 5.5" Vegetable Knife GS-5 would be classified as a bunka?
Hey Bill, it's sort of halfway between a bunka, and the Japanese vegetable knife known as a nakiri: knifewear.com/collections/nakiri
@@KnifewearKnives I had been calling it a nakiri; that's why I asked. Good instructional video. Subscribed.
Funny, i got the exact same knife💞
That's awesome!
is a 5.5inch bunka too small?
Not at all! It'll struggle with things like watermelon but if you want to do things like onions and garlic, it's awesome!
so is a bunka just a "kiritsuki" version of a santoku?
Sorta yeah! The Bunka and Santoku both originate from makers cutting the tips off of nakiris, some makers would round them out, some would leave them angled and call it a Bunka or Hakata.
Great video...but you dont pronounce the se in brunoise brun-wah
So its just basically a chef's knife?
My bunka knife has mosty replaced the chef knife for me
Bunkas rock!
I had a bunka i thought it looked cool i got santoku and gave bunka away santoku does everything bunka can do plus a bunch of other stuff
what other stuff
Santoku great for rocking or push cutting can only push cut with bunka
@@mikehawkins9114 depends purely on the profile, there's super flat bunkas and bunkas with curves, same with santokus
@@hunter-tm2kl it seems unnecessary to have santoku and bunka in kit. I have yu kurosaki fujin santoku cant take it out of kit
@@mikehawkins9114 I'm just saying they're interchangable lol I'm not telling you to go buy one
Any tall (~55mm) 180-190mm bunkas? haha
Definitely! Check out this bad boy knifewear.com/products/sakai-takayuki-togashi-shirogami-kurouchi-tall-bunka-180mm?variant=43248502210734
And this one
knifewear.com/products/kisuke-manaka-shirogami-2-honwarikomi-kurouchi-tsuchime-bunka-165mm?variant=40740240031918
The horizontal cut does nothing! Count the peaces.
My bank account doesn't thank you, in 2 months I spent 650 euros in kitchen knives... 😭😭😭💶💶💶
Oh no, I'm sorry! Also, welcome to the club...
I love you guys, but you all gotta ask your Japanese staff how to pronounce these names.
It's "boounka", not "bungka".
And it means "culture". No one knows where this name came from.
My Japanese definitely isn't the best! According to my colleagues, the term became popular in the 50s as Japan rebuilt post-war. It means culture, but was used colloquially to reference anything of western influence. A lot of cities built bunka apartments, which referred to apartment buildings similar to those in the west.
@@KnifewearKnives Huh... now that is rather interesting... rather cultural...
Nice info but your pronunciation of bunka is horrible.