Cutting Boards

[Quadlex]

I use some cutting boards from Ikea (Mmm, cheap Swedish junk). They're not the ultra thin sheet boards, but are about 6mm thick.

They warp eventually, and crack, but the original four are still working 9 months later. I use the different colours for different things, and my only beef is that they got oil on them and now it won't come off, as oil is wont to do.

Still, I miss the great big old acrylic cutting boards that used to be all anyone had. A single slab of food-grade plastic, soft and strong. No nubs to make cuts rough, no anti-bacterial bollucks. You can't buy them anywhere anymore, which makes me sad.

 

[Guts]

contact your local hard wood supplier they have good ones already made and are bird like (cheep)...

 

[RPCookin]

I have a half dozen cutting boards, and my favorite is the bamboo one my brother gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It's flat, durable, and gets the job done.

 

[Claire]

My favorite are the white plastic ones because I can toss them in the sink with a bleach solution .... bleach the sink, the cutting boars, maybe a drying rack, or coffee cup or ..... all at once. I have pretty wooden and bamboo ones, and I have those thin ones (that also go into the bleach solution periodically) that I use more as prep bowls. But my two thicker white ones are my favorites.

 

[Turando]

How much bleach do u use in water to clean a cutting board?

 

[Andy M.]

A couple fo tablespoons in a quart of water will do the trick.

 

[GotGarlic]

I cannot imagine trying to clean a large wooden cutting board where raw meat or poultry has been cut.

You don't really have to sanitize it yourself - the nature of the wood destroys the bacteria all on its own. I read one time (although I can't find a reference to it now) that the wood is so dry, the microbes can't survive.

This article describes a study done to test whether wood is safe to use for raw meat: On the Chopping Block, Alaska Science Forum

 

[Andy M.]

I read a study on the Univ. of Wisconsin site. I believe what they said was that the wood slows bacterial growth, not that it kills all bacteria.

 

[GotGarlic]

I read a study on the Univ. of Wisconsin site. I believe what they said was that the wood slows bacterial growth, not that it kills all bacteria.

From the site I linked to above:

"Microbiologists Dean Cliver and Nese Ak were looking for ways to clean wood safely after it had been in contact with food contaminated by bacteria. The first step was to be sure their study boards had appropriately unpleasant microorganisms to be cleaned off. They cultured some known disease-causing bacteria, such as Salmonella, Listeria, and Escherichia coli, and anointed wooden boards with about 10,000 cells of cultured bacteria. That's about 10 times the number of organisms that typically wash off a contaminated chicken carcass.


Within three minutes, 99.9 percent of the bacteria were unrecoverable and presumed dead. By the next morning, the researchers couldn't recover any live bacteria from the wood.


Next, the scientists upped the germ count, inoculating the boards with a million or more bacteria apiece. Then they had enough survivors to work with, but not for long. Within two hours, again 99.9 percent of the bacteria had vanished.


Cliver and Ak tried the same procedures with plastic cutting boards. All the bacteria survived. The organisms even lived through hot water and soap washings in good health and high enough numbers to contaminate clean meat later placed on the plastic."

 

[Andy M.]

That's interesting. Thanks for posting it.

 

[bozzy]

I have this set of cheap plastic flexible boards that came in a pack of 3 with different colors... green, blue and clear. These things are quite thin, but thick enough such that you won't cut through them. They are also cheap enough that you can easily replace them when they wear out.

 

[bullseye]

My board for daily use is rock maple, and sits on four rubber-like feet. It never slips. At other times, I have used plastic boards, and a damp side towel underneath kept them stable. I do the same for the grooved maple board that I use for carving roasts, fowl, etc. If I used non-footed boards of any type on a regular basis, I would definitely try the shelf liner suggestions, but for the few times a year I need it, the towel does just fine.

 

[black chef]

my somewhat expensive bamboo cutting board is now warped, and i have no idea why.

shucks.

 

[bozzy]

my somewhat expensive bamboo cutting board is now warped, and i have no idea why.

shucks.

Did you put it in a dishwasher?

 

[lyndalou]

Don't forget to oil your wooden boards occasionally.

 

[oneoffour]

I have two maple cutting boards one for veggies and one for meat. Never have had a sliding problem just set them on the counter and cut. How sharp is your knife as that is the motion that is lateral and could push the board? I wash them by hand and dry at once. They are at least 10 years old they have not warped. When the surface starts to look worn from the knife cuts I drag the cleaver across the face with the grain of the wood and shave it down. Keep an angle on the cleaver vertical to the wood like a cabinetry scrape is used.

Nobody posted about treating the wood. One way is I rub it with grapeseed oil and cover it with a sheet saran wrap over night. (I do the same with the 16" beechwood salad bowl so it won't dry and crack). The other wood treatment is home made butcher block oil that I rub all over the boards when they start to get that dry weatherd wash bare wood look. To make it buy pharmacy grade mineral oil at the drug store and add it to an equal volume of canning wax melting them together in a double boiler. Pour the hot liquid it into a heat proof sealable container and it cools to a texture of Crisco. Rub it into the wood and the grain glows as if it was given linseed oil.

 

[oneoffour]

LOL lyndalou you posted as I wrote and slipped oiling in ahead of me.

 

[black chef]

Did you put it in a dishwasher?

nope. i'm a country boy from louisiana, and i believe in HAND-WASHING all of my dishes, etc.

my apt came with a dishwasher, and in the 2 yrs i've been here, i have yet to even use it once... cause i hand-wash everything.

i have no clue as to why my board warped, and guess what... i'm on my way to bed, bath & beyond to get another one right now.

BTW, i've noticed that both tyler florence AND giada have these big, dark-colored, heavy-looking chopping boards.

does anyone know the brand name of these boards?

 

[Claire]

I have had problems with cutting boards slipping. Just put a damp cloth under it or one of those silicone pot holders. Unlike some, I cook virtually every day, several times a day, so I love the convenience of the plastic cutting boards, which I can throw into a sink full of water/bleach solution. They aren't as heavy as the beautiful wooden ones, so they do slip. But I can afford a bunch of them, and I just toss them into a sink of bleach solutiion every month or so. Just put a damp cloth under them, or one of those silicone pot holders. By the way, I do NOT have a diswasher at all, so cleaning has a different dimension.

 

[Dartssnake]

John Boos

John Boos Hard Rock Maple and the Rubbermaid shelf-liner...rock solid and easy to clean...as a matter of fact my entire kitchen counter is John Boos Hard Rock Maple.

I bought my block, then found out how affordable the countertop is...LOL

You can glimpse both in the attached files.

If something is worth doing...it's worth overdoing!