We’re all familiar with the western style boning knife. This one by German Wustof is 5 inches long, machine-forged from 2 mm thick stock. and double edged. It’s a classic because it is light and nimble and very well designed to break down and debone poultry. The Japanese boning knife is called a garasuki. This one is 7 inches long, hand forged by Kenji Togashi from 6 mm thick stock and single edged. It is a heavy knife and, as it is flat on one side and edged on the other, is wickedly sharp and cuts straight. Note in comparison, that while the blade shapes are different, the cutting tips of both knives are narrow and pointed making it easy to follow the bone and cut off the meat. I prefer the Wustof since I grew up with it and still find it best for deboning cooked poultry. But the garasuki, new to me, works wonderfully on raw meat. I use it to finely cut medallions of pork, beef and fish, to debone raw chicken and to pound and trim chicken breasts with the its broad backside.
