Sealing Butcher Block Counters/Wood Cutting Boards

[Lesley C]

I have these wicked butcher block counters in my kitchen, which now look like crap because they were never sealed properly. The man who sold them to me said they didn't have to be sealed when I bought them but since then the areas hard hit by water (around the coffee maker and the sink) have warped a bit and turned black.

I have a friend who just installed such counters and asked me for advice on how to seal them. I'm thinking mineral oil. I've seen some chefs use three coats of vegetable oil.

Any ideas?

[Stone]

I had a butcher block island that I tried to seal with a lemon oil (recommended by Restoration Hardware). The first time I sliced a bunch of lemons for margaritas I got ugly black stains.

[Fat Guy]

Food-safe mineral oil (available at many drug stores) is recommended if you plan to do any work directly on the surface, which you shouldn't. I have mostly Corian in my kitchen but I do have one wood surface and I just went ahead and sprayed on four coats of matte finish polyurethane. This keeps it beautiful and safe from moisture, and since I always use cutting boards there's no hazard from the poly.

[researchgal]

It sounds like this is unfinished wood, not prefinished? Assuming so, then you'll need to condition it periodically with a thick coat of mineral oil, let it soak in for several hours then wipe off the excess. Do this periodically, especially when it's new to make sure the wood stays moist, and don't use vegetable oil as it will turn rancid. You also have to keep butcher block very clean and can't let substances and spills sit for too long on it without staining.

I don't know about sealing it, or about getting stains out...sorry

[Fat Guy]

Here are some basic directions for restoring butcher block:

http://doityourself.com/wood/restorebutcherblock.htm

[Lesley C]

Wow, great advice. I'll pass it along to my friend and run out to get some oil, acid and sandpaper for my counters. I never work directly on the counters; I always use small, plastic IKEA cutting boards I can later pop into the dishwasher.

Anyone out there thinking about butcher block counters read this advice. If you neglect those babies for 5 minutes they look just awful.

Hollywood, I'll consider the zinc for my next kitchen renovation along with a sealed steel floor.

[Lesley C]

Check it out:

http://www.paintedhouse.com/mainframes/Abo...on_kitchen.html

[rozrapp]

Until we renovated our kitchen five years ago, all my counters were butcher block, and I had them for about 25 years. The installer did not apply any kind of sealer -- polyurethane or otherwise -- but did finish them with a coating of oil. When I asked him how I should maintain them, he said that to remove the dirt that was bound to get into the wood, I should sprinkle some cleanser (like Ajax) over the surface, wet a fine steel wool pad and scrub. After the dirt was removed and the counters were washed down and clean, he said that I should apply a coat of just plain old vegetable oil (salad oil). And that's basically what I would do every so often, and when I was finished, the counters always looked like new again. (I never cut anything directly on them.) The only area where I had a problem with the wood going black was in the two corners of the sink near the backsplash where the wood got splashed constantly with too much water. But that didn't happen until many years down the road. All in all, I was always very happy with my butcher block counters. But I have to admit that I really, really love my granite. And the very first time I placed a piping hot pan directly on the surface without a heat-resistant pad -- which I could never do with the butcher block -- I was truly in heaven!

P.S. When the butcher block counters were removed, the construction guys cut some of them up for me, andso I have several really terrific cutting boards in various sizes.

[Fat Guy]

Yes, it's amazing what a ripoff cutting boards are. If you can find old pieces of butcher block and someone with a table saw you're all set. Just a couple of weeks ago I walked by a construction site on the Upper East Side of Manhattan -- they were renovating a townhouse -- and there must have been 20 feet of unusually thick (maybe 2") end-grain butcher block material being discarded. I almost grabbed a big piece of it but it was damn heavy and I had a little too far to walk. I also saved my old marble countertop material and look forward to having it cut into a reallly nice pastry/chocolate work surface once I meet somebody with the right kind of saw.

[steverino]

Being a furniture maker, I have made several beautiful cutting boards -

hard maple, but my question is, how do you E-Gullet people take care of them, keep them "sanitary" etc.

I see many chefs on TV using them to prep chicken, beef, etc.

What is your clean - up? Bleach?

I currently use them primarily for veggies, and use "plastic" for meats-

any suggestions?

Thanx,

Steve

[nightscotsman]

Here's an article that might answer some, if not all of your questions: clicks-ahoy. Here's an excerpt on wood vs. plastic:

• Research has shown that bacteria, such as the salmonella often found on raw chicken, will thrive and multiply if not removed from plastic boards (because germs that cause food poisoning can hide out in the knife-scarred nooks and crannies that develop on the surface of a plastic cutting board). Hand scrubbing with hot water and soap can clear microbes from the surface of new or used wooden cutting boards and new plastic ones, but knife-scared plastic boards are resistant to decontamination by hand washing.
  On wood boards, whether they are new or have been used for years, the bacteria dies off within 3 minutes. Researchers theorize that the porous surface of the wood surface of the wooden boards deprives the bacteria of water, causing them to die.The Meat and Poultry Hotline recommends that consumers use plastic or glass surfaces for cutting raw meat and poultry. However, wooden cutting boards used "exclusively" for raw meat and poultry are acceptable. Use a different board for cutting other foods such as produce and bread. This will prevent bacteria from a meat or poultry from contaminating another food.
  

I have to say that I use plastic boards for everything because I find them easier to maintain, cheaper, and less bulky.

[Jinmyo]

I always use wooden boards and blocks. The scoring that plastic gets creeps me out.

When working with chicken I'll usually put some layers of paper towel and or parchment paper down, do the deed, crumple up the paper and spritz with a bleach solution then rinse with lemon water.

[Dave the Cook]

Jinmyo--Using paper towels or parchment paper sounds like false security. Seems to me the bleach/lemon juice would do the trick. Don't you end up scoring right through the paper?

Steverino--I use plastic, even though I have a beautiful maple board. When the plastic boards get moderately scored, I replace them. They've become a consumable along the lines of sheet pans--new ones every six months or so.

To answer your question directly, I would not use bleach on a wooden board, because I would be afraid of drying it out. Tell me that's not a concern, and I might switch back. And since I can't put them in the dishwasher, I quit using them when bacterial contamination became a widespread concern. Having looked at the link nightscotsman provided, I would reconsider this practice, except for one thing: I've been spoiled by the lightness of plastic boards. It will be tough (and expensive, since, to assuage the concerns of She Who Must Be Obeyed, I would need at least two) to revert to the wood boards.

Keep in mind that TV chefs do not have to lift, clean, seal and store the heavier wooden boards. Nor do TV chefs have to pay for them. Bastards.

[Nick]

I've had the same hard maple cutting board for going on forty years. I've cut plenty of chicken and fish on it with no problem. Whenever I get done, I wipe it off with a paper towel. When I do the dishes, I scrub it down (sort of) with the back side of one of those sponges that has the "scrubby" thing on one side. Then I "rinse" it with a sponge that's had the soap squeezed out of it and is pretty much just clean water.

I wouldn't have a plastic cutting board in my house.

[stefanyb]

Crate and Barrel has a pack of six colorful very thin plastic cutting boards . They are shaped similar to placemats and can be easily lifted after you have cut up your whatever and carried with your food over to the pot or any other place. They are flexible because they are so thin. I think they're great for what they are.They can be scrubbed or submerged in boiling water or anything else you may wish to do to them to sanitize. Eventually they do get cutting marks but since six cost something like $12 they can be transformed into some other use or disposed of.

I also have a thick plastic white cutting board that I run through the dishwasher on sterile whenever I'm finished with it. Thats easy enough.

[Jinmyo]

Jinmyo--Using paper towels or parchment paper sounds like false security. Seems to me the bleach/lemon juice would do the trick. Don't you end up scoring right through the paper?

Not really as I often have the chicken in my hands as I bone it. The paper is for what I am not working on right then to rest on. Or for when I spatchcock it or am boning out leg and thigh for stuffing. The paper is to collect moisture, if there is any or bits of kidney and such still attached.

The paper is extra security and makes clean-up fast and precise. I might be doing ten or twelve chickens and there can be a lot of stuff around.

ediot:

Guess.

[mixmaster b]

Steverino-

I have a lovely cutting board and a salad bowl that I hope last forever. I use a product called Clapham's Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish on them once in a while and they are just beautiful afterwards. (I know I can give them a good scrub in hot soapy h2o when needed, because this stuff is so great.) If you are interested, here is the info:

http://www.claphams.com/salad_us_r.html

How great to be able to make them yourself.

Dave the Cook, if you decide to go back to wood, consider Ikea. They have some rather wonderful, thick wood boards/blocks--big enough to leave on the counter as a butcher block. I got mine 5+ years ago for 25 bucks and it is still in great shape. I think they still carry them.

[Peter B Wolf]

I will not "modernize"! Wooden Boards, and only wooden boards were and still are for me. I use the same Maple wood board for the last 35 years. Good size too: 24x18x3 inches thick. Cleaning gets done with 'boiling water and Salsoda ( Salsoda, also known as washing soda, its hydrated form (Na2CO3.10H2O), is a white crystalline solid used as a domestic cleanser and water softener. Good scrubbing works wonders.

[phaelon56]

Not mentioned but should go without saying - oil the hell out of you board periodically with mineral oil. Pour some on top, spread ti around with a small bit of paper towl, let it soak for awhile (20 minutes or so) ands apply a bit more if it's all soaked in. Then when you wipe up the excess be sure to rub in what's left if you're using the board promptly or better yet, leave a light fil and let it soak in overnight. I do the paper towel wipe and plastic scrubber routine that a previous poster mentioned and mine is still fine after years of use. I have plastic boards but use them only for stuff that's really bloody.

[FoodMan]

I use plastic for all raw meats and wood for everything else.

To clean I just scrub with warm soapy water.

I have a question of my own:

What is mineral oil? Is it only used to keep the wood from drying or is there another reason for it?

FM

[Double 0]

I've always used a wooden board(I flirted with ploastic, but it dulls your knives terribly). I do use those extra thin plastic "covers" that you can find at Trader Joes. They cover the board nicely and are cheap enough to throw away(1.50). They also go in the dishwasher with no ill effects. I recently say one use plastic "covers" at Shoprite.

[nightscotsman]

I've always used a wooden board(I flirted with ploastic, but it dulls your knives terribly). I do use those extra thin plastic "covers" that you can find at Trader Joes. They cover the board nicely and are cheap enough to throw away(1.50). They also go in the dishwasher with no ill effects. I recently say one use plastic "covers" at Shoprite.

I'm afraid I don't see the point of using a wooden cutting board if you're just going to cover it with plastic anyway. How is this different from using a plastic cutting board other than being cheap enough to throw away?

[phaelon56]

Mineral oil is available in any pharmacy - you can drink a few tablespoons of it for some sort of a really mild laxative effect. It is the only inexpensive and readily available oil I'm familiar with that is appropriate for oiling the wooden surfaces of cutting boards. The reason is simple - it is inert froma chemical standpoint and will not turn rancid as vegetable oil will. It also imparts no taste whatsoever. Treating the board with this oil will prevent it from absorbing liquids. A board that is regularly and properly oiled will repel liquids - they actually sit on the durface of the oil impregnated wood and can be easily wiped off. When you've oiled it enough time over a period of years it will use less and less for each application because the wood becomes saturated. I'm still using a cutting board that was recycled from an old 60's style portable dishwasher, back when they put real 2" thick maple cutting boards on top. I got it for free, had it cut wiht a bandsaw to fit the tiny counter next to the sink in my aprtment and have been using it ever since (about 10-15 years). It still looks fantastic and works well.

[chefb]

I dont know if its bad for wooden boards but I salt mine when its damp for a while then wash the salt off with soapy water. The salt draws out the moisture and bacteria.

[steverino]

Thanks, everyone!

nightscotsman - thanks for the links - vinegar proves itself to be an amazing thing once again!

"Not just fer cookin', but cleenin' too!"

Steve