KAZ

At our sushi bar in KAZ, our chefs reach for Japanese kitchen shears more than almost any other tool besides our knives. These shears are precision instruments forged from high-carbon stainless steel in Seki City, the same region that produced the legendary samurai swords of Japan for over 800 years. After testing more than two … Read more

I have spent the last several years testing Japanese kitchen tools at home and in the test kitchen behind our sushi bistro, and one tool keeps earning a permanent spot in my drawer: a good pair of Japanese poultry shears. The best Japanese poultry shears cut through chicken bones, snip herbs cleanly, and butterfly a … Read more

After testing dozens of fish scalers in our kitchen over the past three years, we’ve learned that the right tool makes all the difference. The best Japanese fish scalers remove scales cleanly without tearing the skin or creating a mess that takes hours to clean up. I remember the first time I tried scaling a … Read more

When it comes to protecting your expensive Japanese knives, a hinoki cutting board is more than just a prep surface. It is an investment in blade longevity. Our team spent three months testing 15 different boards to find the best hinoki cutting boards for , and what we discovered changed how we think about knife … Read more

I’ve spent the last decade working behind sushi counters in Tokyo and Portland, and I can tell you from slicing thousands of pounds of fish that your knife is only as good as what it lands on. After testing 8 of the best Japanese cutting boards side by side for 60 days, I watched my … Read more

I spent three months testing rubber cutting boards in my kitchen, and the difference between a cheap board and a quality one hit me on day one. My Japanese gyuto knife, which I had been sharpening every two weeks on a bamboo board, suddenly held its edge for over a month. That is the promise … Read more

Japanese ginkgo wood (icho) is the surface professional chefs ask for when they want their knife edges to last. The grain is soft, slightly oily, and naturally antibacterial, so it closes around the blade instead of fighting it. After three months of side-by-side testing in our test kitchen, we narrowed the field down to ten … Read more

Last month, I sharpened my 63 HRC gyuto, sliced a tomato on eight different boards, and ended up with one clear winner for Japanese knives. The best end grain cutting boards for Japanese knives are the ones that let your blade slide between vertical wood fibers instead of crushing across them, and after testing these … Read more

Sushi chefs rely on specialized cutting boards that protect razor-sharp yanagiba and deba blades while keeping raw fish preparation hygienic. After 30 days of hands-on testing and comparing 8 top-rated boards at our bistro, I can confirm the best sushi cutting boards all share one trait: a soft, knife-friendly surface that absorbs blade impact instead … Read more

Our team spent the past two months testing the best cutting board oils on real maple, walnut, and bamboo boards in our kitchen. We tried each formula on boards that had dried out, boards fresh from the box, and boards that had seen years of daily chopping. What we learned matters: the wrong oil goes … Read more