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Cutting Boards

CRUZMISL

By CRUZMISL
in Kitchen Consumer

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andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted (edited)

Looks good. I found the description amusing.

Chop fresh vegetables for a chef's salad or slice strips of meat

OH MAN ALL THIS TIME I'VE BEEN BUYING MY VEG CHOPPED AND MY MEAT SLICED

THIS WILL BE SUCH A MONEYSAVER

These blurbs are written by marketers, not chefs. Well, DUH!

Considering what it costs to ship one of these heavy items, this is a significant bargain, in spite of the inane statement.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Dakki

Dakki

Posted
Posted

You have to wonder what kind of people the marketers are.

"Okay, this board can be used to chop vegetables and slice meat. Maybe we should bundle it with a board that can be used to slice cheese and bread?"

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

Norm Matthews

Norm Matthews

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am a firm fan of rubber cutting boards. I have had some in the kitchen for everyday use for 30 years. They don't smell after a fairly short time and I use an electric sander on them about once a year. They have the density of wood and are not bouncy or squishy like you think when someone mentions rubber. They are dishwasher safe, far outlast wood. They are NSF approved. Here are some links

I have heard that the glue used to laminate bamboo is hard on knives and one I have split not long after I got it. I have an Epicurian cutting board but only bring it out when extra space is needed for cutting as when there are three people working at the same time. I don't especially think too highly of it, especially not fond of the price.

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/foodservice/handling/cutting-boards/sani-tuff-all-rubber-cutting-board-12-x-18-x-three-quarter-inch-thick?utm_source=amaz_shop&utm_medium=shp&utm_campaign=Cutting-Boards-amaz_shop&infoParam.campaignId=T9I

http://www.centralrestaurant.com/search.aspx?page=1&keywords=rubber%20cutting%20boards&sort_by_field=Sortrank:DESC&cid=WSPCGOPVVFPR25224&ctt_id=56235332&ctt_adnw=Google&ctt_ch=ps&ctt_entity=kw&ctt_cli=8x19305x340052x2030816&ctt_kw=rubber%20cutting%20board&ctt_adid=6798850936&ctt_nwtype=search&gclid=CPCf8ejYiKoCFcHs7Qod_RCw2A

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=rubber+cutting+boards&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3555528056430935512&sa=X&ei=fP4iTq2pJqi20AHOnJ2mAw&ved=0CGUQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

Edited by Norm Matthews (log)

http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

Dakki

Dakki

Posted
Posted

You should know the one published study (AFAIK) on the subject strongly suggests wood cutting boards are much better from a food safety standpoint.

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

Norm Matthews

Norm Matthews

Posted
Posted

These are my rubber cutting boards. One is on top of the other separated by some rubber shelf liner so air can circulate under both of them. I don't use one over the sink but rather let one overlap the sink so when I have scraps, I just push them off into the sink or a trash bowl in the sink under the cutting board. Likewise the stuff that gets cut is pulled off into a pot or basket either in front or into one in the sink. For me it is fast and efficient. No slippage at all and no serious warpage problems since both are stored flat. They stand up after cleaning on both sides to dry but spend most of the time laying down like you see here. As said before they win no prized for aesthetics but the function far outweighs that issue for me and I am a retired art teacher. LOL

DSCF3263.jpg

DSCF3266.jpg

http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

David A. Goldfarb

David A. Goldfarb

Posted
Posted

Sanituff boards are great, but I suspect that the USDF and NSF ratings are connected with the fact that they can be subject to the cleaning routines of a professional kitchen with regular cleaning with a bleach solution or high-temperature dishwasher. Wood can't take that kind of abuse, but it can kill bacteria by absorbing the water inside their cells.

David A. Goldfarb's Food Photography on flickr

David A. Goldfarb's Academic Work and Writing

andiesenji

andiesenji

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sanituff boards are great, but I suspect that the USDF and NSF ratings are connected with the fact that they can be subject to the cleaning routines of a professional kitchen with regular cleaning with a bleach solution or high-temperature dishwasher. Wood can't take that kind of abuse, but it can kill bacteria by absorbing the water inside their cells.

And for the average home kitchen, with an "average" non-professional cook, they are esthetically pleasing to the eye.

I bought one of the Sani-Tuff cutting boards a few years ago but couldn't stand it in my kitchen or pantry. It had a petroleum smell that really put me off. I use it in the garden shed and I guess the odor gradually diminished.

That being said. I have a lot of butcher block counters and doing light cutting is fine. Occasionally I need to chop something with a bit more force so I have several cutting boards, some quite thick and heavy. Some are wood - one is end grain and is 4 inches thick.

I paid considerably more for one similar to the one in my earlier post and I paid a significant amount for shipping. This thing weighs 28 pounds. Getting free shipping is a bonus.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

  • 3 months later...
HowardLi

HowardLi

Posted
Posted
I'm in the market for a cutting board, and I'm sick of the cheap-o plastic ones I've been using.  However, this is a subject I know nothing about.  Any help would be appreciated, or if this is a repeat topic a link will help!  Thanks!

Buy some good 3/4"UHMWPE boards and cut them so they will fit in the D/W In various positions.(vert Horiz etc.) You can get the material at a commericial rest. supply place. (not cheap.) But infinitly better than wood. After you use em, put them in the D/w and they are clean and ready to go in the drawer...I have 6 or 7 in various sizes and thicknesses, and will never use a wooden board again...

This advice is from someone who builds antique reproduction furniture and can build the "state of the art"wood /bamboo, etc boards very easily..

(UHMWPE, is ultra high molecular weight polyethelene)

Bud

Doesn't the UHMW suffer from scarring like other plastics?

  • 3 months later...
Chris Hennes

Chris Hennes

Posted
Posted

Finally, after having the lumber sitting in the garage for the better part of a year, I finished my new cutting board. End grain maple, finished dimensions are 16.25" x 21.75" x 2.25". The Nakiri sitting on it is 12" in total length, for size reference.

Cutting board.jpg

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted

Yes Chris -magnifico! - I just want to give it a hug and would be scared to make the first cut.

dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

Beautiful board! Are you using one side only? I use oneside for meats and one side for veggies.

For those of you who have wood cutting boards, you can get a carbide wood planer blade/knife as a scraper. makes cleaning and flattening the surface much easier.

dcarch

Chris Hennes

Chris Hennes

Posted
Posted

Great board! What did you decide to treat it with?

Just mineral oil. I thought about doing the mineral oil/wax treatment suggested above, but decided to go the easy route this time around and see how it goes.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

Anonymous Modernist 6707

Anonymous Modernist 6707

Posted
Posted

Hello!

I've promised myself I wouldn't buy any new kitchen equipment until I'm able to afford getting MC, but I really want to practice my knife skills and all I've got is a lousy plastic cutting board from IKEA. I know there's plenty of advice elsewhere about how to choose a cutting board, but I want to know not just what kind of board to invest in, but why.

So my question is, what do I need to take into consideration before buying a cutting board? Types of wood, treatment, size, etc? Does MC cover this question in-depth or should I look to other sources to make an informed decision?

Thanks for reading.

  • 4 weeks later...
weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

End grain boards drink a LOT of oil/wax. Mine needed to be oiled daily for a week or so, a few times a week for many weeks after. Finally it stabilized; now I oil it once a month at most. Be sure to oil it on both sides, especially in the beginning, so you don't encourage it to warp.

Dave at Boardsmith makes the nicest boards I've seen or used.

Very excited with my new board from Dave...

New Board.jpg

So, here's my question: This board wants to suck up a lot of oil. I sent an email to Dave and he suggested:

Apply oil as needed. You can apply too much so a little will go a long way.

I guess I'm confused as to what is too much?

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

  • 5 months later...
Judy Wilson

Judy Wilson

Posted
Posted

at the lab, we use wood cutting boards because wood has natural antibacterial properties. Though some people like plastic because you can bleach them, and also some people color code them (one for meat, one for veggies)....

Judy Wilson

Editorial Assistant

Modernist Cuisine

  • 5 months later...
Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

I'd like to replace the old plastic cutting board that lives in my GF's kitchen, and I was thinking of getting a bamboo board. What are the pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks, of bamboo vs plastic? Thanks!

...Shel

 ... Shel


 

Panaderia Canadiense

Panaderia Canadiense

Posted
Posted

Bamboo, all the way. I have several bamboo boards, and they are my hands-down favourites.

Pros: much easier to keep clean/sterile than plastic, looks a whole lot better, heavier and therefore less prone to go sliding off the countertop while chopping. Can be refinished with a sander and a bit of oil. Does not swell or warp when wet. Heat resistant. Does not mold. Does not seem to accumulate smells/flavours - I can chop onions on bamboo, give it a good wipe, and then chop fruit, and no onion flavour will transfer.

Cons: bamboo fibre is wicked hard on knife edges. If you've got a good steel, no worries. Otherwise your knives will go dull a bit faster on bamboo than any other board.

As for plastic,

Pros: lightweight, cheap, disposable. Kind to knife edges. Can be soaked in bleach with few ill effects.

Cons: much harder to keep clean/sterile unless you're comitted to soaking it in bleach, accumulates knife marks quickly, stains easily, ends up looking really ugly. Melts if you accidentally hit a hot pan with it or (and I found this out the hard way) are working too close to a hot oven. Can accumulate mildew in moist climates. Some boards are so light that they can go sliding off the countertop while chopping (this happens to me more often than I'd like to admit, so it bears mention). Holds on to smells/flavours - I have a dedicated plastic board for garlic, because I simply can't get that smell out of it, not even with repeated bleachings.

Elizabeth Campbell, baking 10,000 feet up at 1° South latitude.

My eG Food Blog (2011) ⋆ My eG Foodblog (2012)

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