While I know everyone has their preference I've read quite a few sources that favor stainless over carbon in the professional setting. In one book I read by John Juranitch who serviced the textile and meat/poultry industries in North American he was adamant that carbon held no real advantage over stainless attributing the belief to lack of knowledge of proper sharpening. I've also read culinary schools steer their students away from Japanese knives for whatever reason. Regardless I recently brought a small carbon steel knive, swedish carbon, to try out and form my own opinion. One con I've noticed is the carbon has a metallic smell I've not noticed on my stainless and on some foods the smell transfers, not crazy about that.
Hi P_A_S_1,
On reactivity, carbon knives are generally more reactive to food than stainless steel knives. Good quality mono steel carbon knives while still reactive (forming patina) to certain food but it won't affect the taste of the food. Pro sushi chefs use carbon knives because of its excellent sharpness and edge retention qualities. That said, no pro sushi chef would use a carbon knife if it affect the taste of the food especially raw food like sushi/sashimi right?
On maintenance, carbon knives do generally require more maintenance than stainless steel knives but if the chef knows what he is doing, I am sure he wouldn't mine that extra maintenance in return for much better cutting performance. If one spend a lot of time working on the chopping board especially in a fast pace commercial setting, better cutting performance and edge retention translate to faster prep time and less time spent on sharpening. This is important to Japanese cuisine especially in preparing sushi and sashimi where the ingredients are raw and visual part (5 senses) of the food presentation is extremely important. In Japanese cuisine, cleanness of the cut/slice is a real test of the chef's competency and any pro sushi chef worth his salt wouldn't want his plate of sashimi looks like being cut with a saw. It probably won't matter if this is a 10oz steak, noone can't tell whether the meat was cut with a Wushtof or 15 bucks kitchen knife from Target.
If you want a compromise then try "San-Mai" carbon knives like my Hiromoto AS which the carbon steel core is sandwiched (hence "San-Mai") between stainless steel clad, so only the cutting edge of the carbon steel is exposed and slightly less in maintenance. You will get the cutting performance of carbon steel and the ease of maintenance (aesthetic) of stainless steel. That said, I still diligently wipe dry my knives after cleaning.
Also, it is important to remember that carbon knives being carbon knives, they are more delicate because the hardness of the steel make it brittle and more prone to chipping and you wouldn't want to use your 200 dollars hand made J-knife to pry open a can of spam. :laughing:
An artisan made quality knife is something you have to use to appreciate its craftsmanship. Mind you, like custom titanium flashlights (ala SPY, McGizmo et al) after you tried an artisan made knife there will be no turning back, it is all down hill from here.