Handcrafted Japanese Knife Giveaway!
{Update: Giveaway has closed, the winner is Monica O’Sullivan!} The last time we asked my mother to bring a kitchenware item back from Japan, it was “just” a Yakitori charcoal grilling station. “It’s only 10 kg (20 lb)!” my sister cajoled. “C’mon mum!” We were only joking. Though perhaps not excessively heavy, it’s about 1 m / 3 feet long and given she was also manhandling her ski gear, we didn’t actually think she would lug one back for us. But she did. Boy was she peeved when my sister, brother and I burst into peals of laughter when we saw that she actually brought one back for us! (In our defence, we have made a great effort to have regular Yakitori gatherings since then, during which we always relive the story, sniggering mightily as we do so). This time, my Japanese kitchenware item request was a little smaller. Though still a bit disgruntled (“You were just here! Why didn’t you get it yourself!!!”, my mother messaged grumpily), bringing back a Japanese hand crafted knife to give away for my readers was a much easier task! 😂
I had hoped to incorporate this giveaway into a relevant recipe – think chopped salad or the like – but patience has never been my biggest virtue and thus it shall reside in a totally irrelevant recipe, one that doesn’t even use a knife at all. A great knife is your greatest asset in the kitchen. A sharper knife does not mean greater risk of cutting yourself, it means less risk because you don’t need to worry about slippage. If I had $500 to spend on a kitchen item, it would be on one great knife. And that’s what I’m giving away today – a beautiful, Japanese, handcrafted knife and a stone sharpener from my favourite knife shop in Tokyo. Scroll down to enter! {Update: Giveaway has closed, the winner is Monica O’Sullivan!} And here’s a little preview of how sharp the knife is. 🙂
GIVEAWAY HAS FINISHED, the winner is Monica O’Sullivan! A great knife is the single most important tool in the kitchen. When you use a razor sharp, beautifully balanced knife, you’ll chop faster, more confidently and with more control. Being of Japanese heritage, I’m thoroughly biased but I truly think that Japanese knives are the best in the world. The pursuit of excellence is so prevalent in the Japanese culture, the country that left the culinary world in awe when it knocked Paris off the top spot in the first year that Michelin visited the city back in 2007. Tokyo alone has a mind blowing 226 Michelin star restaurants, light years ahead of Paris in 2nd place with 94 Michelin star restaurants. Precision, pride, technology, and generations of expertise are what makes Japanese knife masters exceptional at what they do. And I am so excited to be giving away a handcrafted Japanese Chef’s Knife plus a sharpening stone purchased at my favourite knife store in Tokyo. Valued at over $500, this is the exact same Chef’s knife that is my single most used kitchen tool. I love it. I’m obsessed with it. And you’ll be obsessed with it too. 🙂 TO ENTER: Just leave a comment below telling me you want this knife!! Make sure you include your email address so I can contact you if when you win. Sorry to do it this prehistoric way, but I can’t figure out how to use one of those fancy Giveaway forms! OPEN TO: Everyone, everyone in this big wide world! GIVEAWAY CLOSES 3pm Friday 23rd March 2018, AEDT. Winner will be randomly selected and will be announced in the recipe post published on that day, on or around 4pm, and contacted by email. PS Don’t worry, I’ll get my mum to translate the stone sharpener instructions into English for you! Can’t promise other languages – though she is learning Italian….. GIVEAWAY HAS FINISHED, the winner is Monica O’Sullivan! ** This Japanese Knife Giveaway was originally in this Baked Chicken Breast recipe post. As the giveaway has closed, the details of the giveaway have been moved to a separate post to avoid cluttering the recipe post with irrelevant details. Entries for the giveaway are in the Baked Chicken Breast recipe. **
