Meet the Milk Street Limited Edition Premium Small Nakiri, the heirloom companion piece to our full-scale vegetable knife. In Japan, nakiris come in all shapes and sizes to accommodate a variety of hands and chopping styles. Small nakiris, called ko-nakiri, are perfect for those who prefer using small knives or for the cook who wants a reliable knife that stands in for a paring knife or prep tool. Like its big brother, the Small Nakiri is the perfect tool for vegetable prep. Super thin, lightweight and razor sharp, it’s a nimble knife made for slicing and dicing. It’ll precisely slice razor-thin ribbons of shallots, carrot coins or garlic cloves and turn a fluffy pile of herbs into confetti.
The AUS8 steel blade (a standard for the highest quality) is roughly 4.5 inches long (just a little longer than most paring knives), so it feels just right for all the usual prep. It’s tall, though—1.75 inches—so that it has all the benefits of a big knife: Never bang your knuckles on the cutting board, easily chop through big veggies and scoop up foods like a bench scraper to dump into the pot. The blade is embossed with a traditional “Tsuchime,” or pear skin, finish, so ingredients stick minimally while you work. And our signature lock-in handle is slightly scaled down for the smaller blade but every bit as comfortable and secure, regardless of hand size. It’s made from warm cocobolo wood with natural oils, which will stand up to repeated washing, and finished with a mosaic pin, a traditional flourish for high-end Japanese knives.