cutting boards?

[mrwatch]

wood, cork, plastic, bamboo, even had some made of scrap Corian. For chef's knives, wood good but harder to clean and sanitize. Cork-very good and kind of pricey. plastic can easily dull the edge. bamboo, I bought a small one and a ceramic knife, and not used it yet. Best for ceramic and says to use olive oil on it. Thoughts?

[eveled]

Wood is best. Don’t go crazy cleaning it, wood sanitizes itself over time. All they need is to rinse juices off under hot water. Dry them off thoroughly. Never soak them. Then oil them once in a while. To be extra safe use a separate one for meat and veggies.

Often times for quick stuff I’ll just use a paper plate.

One of my prized possessions is a 3 inch thick butcher block 3x3.5 feet. I salvaged from a kitchen island that was being demolished. It gets used rarely for processing game.

[cudgee]

As eveled said, and if you want, a spray and wipe with some 99.98% isopropyl or rubbing alcohol if cutting different meats on the same board. These are all the things i do and never had a problem.

[marinaio61]

I used a Maple board for years until it started to split along the glue seams and trap food. I now use a Bamboo board and love it; very gentle on my knives, doesn't have glue seams, doesn't stain but it does retain a bit of odor from strong herbs and veggies like basil, garlic and onion and it cleans up with just a mild scrub. I also have a large poly board for heavy duty meat cutting and chopping but over time the surface develops small cuts that may trap food, requires more scrubbing to sanitize.

[eveled]

The tests I’ve seen when left on the counter the wood boards get cleaner on their own, the plastic and glass got dirtier.

I wouldn’t bring cooked meat back to the same cutting board I used on the raw meat.

[tongueriver]

Some years ago Bernard Levine posted a synopsis of a study done at (I believe) Stanford University which concluded that wooden cutting boards, especially end-grain boards were the safest, but not necessarily the easiest to clean, or at least to look clean. The fibers in the wood suck the life out of wee pathogens. Counter-intuitively, the bugs live the longest on things like stainless steel. Bamboo is wonderful stuff; I am not sure if one can get any oil to do anything but stand on top of bamboo; it is pretty hard stuff (like ebony).

[marinaio61]

Some years ago Bernard Levine posted a synopsis of a study done at (I believe) Stanford University which concluded that wooden cutting boards, especially end-grain boards were the safest, but not necessarily the easiest to clean, or at least to look clean. The fibers in the wood suck the life out of wee pathogens. Counter-intuitively, the bugs live the longest on things like stainless steel. Bamboo is wonderful stuff; I am not sure if one can get any oil to do anything but stand on top of bamboo; it is pretty hard stuff (like ebony).

I have tried both Olive Oil and Mineral Oil on my bamboo board, it looks great until first washing so it isn't penetrating.

[treefarmer]

Years ago the USDA or some gov't. group outlawed wooden butcher blocks in federally inspected meat processing plants. My Father-in-law experienced this and had to replace what he were using with Lexan topped cutting tables. There were, as mentioned, subsequent studies that proved the fact that the wood was more sanitary than the poly-carbonate.
When I'm working up a deer, I now use a piece of 1/4" clear Lexan, 3' X 3', over the kitchen counter I work on. I have a piece of 3/4" white Lexan that I have used for many years and it has become very difficult to clean. I resorted to using a pressure washer to cleanse the knife marks of the blood, etc. The thick commercial Lexan can be resurfaced by sanding.
We have several small cutting boards that are used preparing vegetables and sometimes meats, these are also poly-carbonate.
According to my wife, all the microscopic critters will die on any or all the cutting boards or kitchen counters if subjected to a good wash down with bleach.
Treefarmer

[tongueriver]

In addition to the other smaller more usual cutting boards around the place, I have two sink cut-outs. When contractors lay up a countertop out of Formica/particle board for someone, they often cut out a piece for the double kitchen sink and the result is a scrap usually thrown away. In the fall I use one or both of these out in my back room to process deer and pronghorn. When using a 'cutting' 'board' out of anything but wood, I take care to only actually cut into the surface very rarely if at all. Wood-no problem.

[Mr. Chips]

Those sink cut out cutting boards are one of the main reasons that the world is full of dull knives!
The study done by the university on cutting boards was very conclusive - wood is best!

[eveled]

As I said earlier I use paper plates to cut on a lot and don’t have any trouble cutting thru them. I don’t see how so many cutting boards are so hacked up. Sharp knives don’t take much pressure to cut what you want to.

Yesterday carving the turkey I did something so simple that I never thought of before.

I put the cutting board into a cookie sheet to catch any of the juices from the meat. The turkey in its pan on the left, cookie sheet with cutting board in the center, serving platter on the right.

When I was a kid I had a neighbor who had 4 kids so six people in the household. Their kitchen table was a gorgeous butcher block. I’m guesstimating but I think it was 3x8 feet. It was huge. He had made two benches from a log he ripped in half and added legs to.

In the middle of the table there was always a centerpiece of some sort. The secret was that there was a hole in the table that the centerpiece covered. He was a big scuba diver and fisherman and gardener. When they would eat clams or lobster or were canning tomatoes, they put a trash barrel under the hole and pushed everything to the center of the table to fall into the barrel.

The really interesting part was under the table the butcher block was worn concave the hole was were it finally blew through the other side. Parts of the table were only 1/2 inch thick the edges were 2 inch.

[stumpstalker]

eveled and tongueriver make points that are indeed counter-intuitive, or contrarian, but accord with my experience: My cutting boards, both polyethylene and wood, get the the same usual cleaning with detergent and bleach, but it is the synthetic board that mold prefers.

I have been told that there are natural enzymes in wood that kill bacteria.

[knife7knut]

When I lived in Massachusetts(in another lifetime)we had a kitchen table that was made from an old bowling alley(2 inches thick by whatever the width of an alley is and 8 feet long).We also had a piece of an alley for a cutting board.I believe it was made of strips of maple glued together.Worked great but over time the strips started to separate.
I use a polycarbonate one now and use one side for poultry and the other for meat. Clear Lexan comes in several grades.Optical grade(the type they use for windows in hockey rinks)is great but very expensive. I have large pieces of it a friend of mine scavenged from the dumpster of a hockey rink that was broken. I also have a large piece of 1 1/2 inch Lexan that was once a window in a bank. Supposedly it will stop a .44 Magnum round;I haven't tried it yet.
Lexan II has a hard coating applied to it for scratch resistance.Unfortunately it doesn't work very well.I don't think I would use it for a cutting board.

[stumpstalker]

knife7knut:

Lexan; polycarbonate? That's bulletproof and safety glass stuff.

It must be dulling your kitchen knives fast, as well as preventing cutting down through, rather than cutting down to, the food you are preparing.

Doesn't "do no harm" apply to our knives, as well as ourselves?

[knife7knut]

knife7knut:

Lexan; polycarbonate? That's bulletproof and safety glass stuff.

It must be dulling your kitchen knives fast, as well as preventing cutting down through, rather than cutting down to, the food you are preparing.

Doesn't "do no harm" apply to our knives, as well as ourselves?

I currently use a polycarbonate board(commercially bought;not made)and although it does dull the knives I mostly use now,a quick touch up with my stone and all is well once more.Usually it gets a good workout once a month when we go shopping in bulk. I usually cut up my meats first and then thoroughly wash it and do the poultry last as bacteria seems to rapidly grow on it. After use I spray it with bleach and after a time thoroughly rinse it with HOT water. Not sure how hot it is but I've received a couple of burns from it.

[Montanaman]

All of our kitchen cutlery is high end, we only use wood, wouldn't use anything else. We have an entire counter top made of end cut maple squares.

[treefarmer]

All of our kitchen cutlery is high end, we only use wood, wouldn't use anything else. We have an entire counter top made of end cut maple squares.

Montanaman, I would love to see a picture of your counter top! We are talking about redoing our counters and real butcher block is something we have discussed but have made no effort to explore. It would be so handy to be able to do some meat cutting just on the existing counter top rather than bringing in the Lexan to create a "cutting room" in Miss Joy's kitchen.
Treefarmer

[Montanaman]

Montanaman, I would love to see a picture of your counter top!
Treefarmer

This top was made by my FIL, he is a one armed man(lost his right arm in the Vietnam war) and it was not an easy task. Lots of waste making end cut maple, but it is awesome. It is detachable, so I bring it out to the shop when we slaughter a pig, easily fits half a hog. I keep it up with heat treated walnut oil and a walnut oil paste.

Our island is also a butcher top, heavy use. I don't take as good of care of it, but I clean it daily with a mild cleaner containing essential oils, once a year walnut oil paste. We have quite a few wood cutting boards too, that are used often.

I personally love wood counter tops.

[treefarmer]

Very nice and to have been made by your FIL, very special! You must be a favorite Son-in-law.
Thanks for taking time to show the pictures.
Treefarmer

[FRJ]

Cutting boards. One of the most important tools a cook can have. I have three that I use all the time. I made them.
They are made of Maple. Nothing fancy, just good serviceable cutting boards. My knives love them.
The smaller one is 10" X 17" X 5/8". Next larger is 11" X 16" X 1 1/8". The largest is 21 inches square and 1 3/8" thick.
Nice and heavy. I can't imagine using anything but wood for a cutting board.

Montanamans cutting boards are absolutely beautiful. To have one in end grain is really top shelf, and so big.

[Montanaman]

Thanks treefarmer, my FIL does not have much choice, as I married his only daughter.

Good looking boards, Joe, don't have to be fancy to work. The wood is what is important, IMO. Thanks for sharing.

[cudgee]

Thanks treefarmer, my FIL does not have much choice, as I married his only daughter.

Good looking boards, Joe, don't have to be fancy to work. The wood is what is important, IMO. Thanks for sharing.

When you say the wood is what is important, what do you mean by that?

[Montanaman]

When you say the wood is what is important, what do you mean by that?

The species of wood and how it is cut is important in a quality cutting board. Joe's are maple, which is preferred by many.

[cudgee]

When you say the wood is what is important, what do you mean by that?

The species of wood and how it is cut is important in a quality cutting board. Joe's are maple, which is preferred by many.

Thanks.

[FRJ]

Thanks.

I like maple because it has such close, tight grain and it is readily available.

I wouldn't use a soft wood like pine or fir with resins throughout the grain and it would wear too quickly.
Neither would I use Oak which is very porous.