Talk to me about cutting boards

[kijip]

My husband threw the flat plastic ones (bendy) we had out yesterday. I guess he really hated washing them. I never liked them much myself, they were a random gift from my brother a few years ago. Which is all fine and good except for...I sorta need a cutting surface for I don't know...cooking nearly every meal this family eats. :wink2: We have one tiny thick plastic one...not much larger than an index card. I was not amused when I realized the old "boards" were gone as I went to chop potatoes, garlic, mushrooms, onions, rainbow carrots and squash up this afternoon for the roast beef dinner.

What do you have and like/recommend? What do you avoid? I need 2 because I refuse to cut my strawberries/fruit on the same solid surface as my garlic and onions. We really don't have a huge amount of extra counter space so I need a size that is stowable between uses.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[KHF]

I've recently been "test driving" an Epicurean cutting board. You can get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon.
http://www.epicureancs.com/#welcome.php

So far I've liked it. The surface took a bit of getting used to, the way the knife moves across it (I was used to wood), but I just didn't have the space to store a big wooden board anymore and I can't stand the plastic ones. I just don't even feel like they get really clean.

Anyway, they might be worth a tryout for you. I'm actually getting ready to buy a couple more because they are so thin and easy to store.

[wendibird22]

I like acrylic and glass cutting boards. No worries about bacteria and mildew growing in the cracks and crevices. Plus dishwasher safe.

[o_mom]

Do you handwash or use the dishwasher?

If you handwash, I would look at wood as it is naturally antibacterial where plastic is nearly impossible to clean completely by hand after a few uses. If you are a dishwasher person, then plastic is the easiest. Glass and acrylic are bad for knives (dulls them; most knife manufacturers say not to use them) so I would avoid that. The epicurian one linked above is interesting, but I'm not sure I want something that was soaked in phenolic resins - I'd have to look into that. I would look at one plastic board for meat so you can sanitize in the dishwasher and a couple of wooden ones for everything else.

[egoldber]

Butcherblock wood. We have two, a small one and a large one that lives on the counter all the time. We hvae some of the plastic ones, but I only use them when cutting up a chicken, etc. For chopping and everyday, nothing beats wood.

[billysmommy]

Butcherblock wood. We have two, a small one and a large one that lives on the counter all the time. We hvae some of the plastic ones, but I only use them when cutting up a chicken, etc. For chopping and everyday, nothing beats wood.

:yeahthat:

I love my butcherblock cutting boards. I also have a few endgrain cutting boards that I love ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6089086&&ga_search_query=end+grain+cutting+boards&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=2&order=date_desc&includes

[TwinFoxes]

I like acrylic and glass cutting boards. No worries about bacteria and mildew growing in the cracks and crevices. Plus dishwasher safe.

This is from a NY Times article (the article was mostly about sponges, but I had remembered hearing this about cutting boards)

Professor Cliver's other notable discovery involved cutting boards. "Somewhere along the line, wood got a bad name," Professor Cliver said. Part of the blame, he said, must go to the rubber industry, which assailed wood cutting boards in order to promote hard rubber and plastic. In recent years, it has become conventional wisdom that plastic cutting boards are safer and easier to clean than wood cutting boards. Even the Food and Drug Administration says that plastic is less likely to harbor bacteria and easier to clean.

But in a study Professor Cliver conducted, he found that cellulose in wood absorbs bacteria but will not release it. "We've never been able to get the bacteria down in the wood back up on the knife to contaminate food later," he said.

Plastic absorbs bacteria in a different way. "When a knife cuts into the plastic surface, little cracks radiate out from the cut," Professor Cliver said. The bacteria, he said, "seem to get down in those knife cuts and they hang out. They go dormant. Drying will kill, say, 90 percent of them, but the rest could hang around for weeks."

That being said, we use both plastic and wood. I have a bamboo one I got in Costa Rica that I really like. I have the bendy ones I got as a wedding present (my husband threatens to throw mine away too!) and we have a hard plastic one that's my least favorite. I find that one harder to clean goop off of.

[m448]

I have several plastic ones and two epicurean cutting boards. To save space in our small kitchen I hung those little metal command utensil hooks on the inside part of a cabinet door and hang the medium/small sized cutting boards on them (with a pot holder behind them that stops the clanging).

I've really liked the epicurean and I bought them nearly three years ago. All of the cutting boards go in the dishwasher which is why I avoid wood. I do have three plastic boards though and one is designated for meat (I marked it with a sharpie).

[Veronica's Mommy]

Ooh, Alton Brown just devted a segment on this very topic on "Good Eats" the other day. I wish I could remember what he said, LOL! So sorry, not much help here. :(

[Moneypenny]

I have one plastic one for raw meat that goes in the dishwasher. I have one large wooden one for all veggies and one small wooden one for fruits and cheeses. The small one sits on the counter leaning on the knife block, and the larger ones are in the cupboard down below.

[wendibird22]

Glass and acrylic are bad for knives (dulls them; most knife manufacturers say not to use them) so I would avoid that.

Ours say they won't dull knives and we've been using them for 2yrs and haven't had any dulling of our knives. Maybe we don't use them frequently enough to cause dulling?

[elliput]

I have one wood and two bamboo boards. I really prefer the bamboo over the wood and will eventually replace it. They are stored vertically on the counter using a wire plate rack.

[Laurel]

Those with butcherblock boards- have any cleaning tips?

[EllasMum]

Another vote for bamboo. I replaced my glass one after a friend had a very scary incident with a glass one - they were away on vacation, and when her parents stopped by to bring in their mail, they discovered that the glass cutting board had unexpectedly shattered into millions of pieces. They found some pieces as far away as the living room and their sun room. No one was home, they have no pets, and no one home to potentially pull the cutting board down. BFF was terrified that this could have potentially happened while her two DS were at home, so immediately threw out the glass board. She looked it up online, and apparently it's a not unheard of phenomenon. I threw out mine, too, and replaced it with bamboo. I love the look of the bamboo, and it is holding up great. Even to my cuts-through-tin-cans Ginsu knife. ;)

[vonfirmath]

I love my wood cutting boards. Somewhere I heard the plastic/glass ones can dull knives, so I got used to using wood and now I won't go back.

[happymom]

I use the plastic kind, and have separate ones for meat, veggies, and fruit. I like that they can go in the dishwasher. Truthfully, I would rather glass for sanitary purposes, but I can't stand the sound of the knife on a glass cutting board! Btw, even my large cutting board fits nicely on its side in the cabinet under my sink. It really doesn't take up much room at all.


I was not amused when I realized the old "boards" were gone as I went to chop potatoes, garlic, mushrooms, onions, rainbow carrots and squash up this afternoon for the roast beef dinner.



I know this is OT, but that sounds like a delicious dinner! Care to share your recipe? :tongue5:

[lizzywednesday]

I like acrylic and glass cutting boards. No worries about bacteria and mildew growing in the cracks and crevices. Plus dishwasher safe.

But the trade-off is they dull your knives.

I use nylon ones from Ikea and pop 'em into the dishwasher to clean them. (Am probably due for new ones now.) Ours are kept, standing, in one of our lower cabinets.

If plastic/nylon isn't your thing, go bamboo - it's a renewable resource, doesn't dull your knives and is naturally antibacterial.

To clean your boards by hand, use a tablespoon of bleach to every gallon of hot water used & soak, then scrub.

[almostamom]

My cutting board is made of Corian. I bought it at an arts and crafts fair about 7 years ago, but I know they're available online. I've long since thrown away all the bendy ones I had from Crate and Barrel. I couldn't stand trying to clean them.

Linda

[lowrioh]

I also have a Corian cutting board. My cousin had new countertops installed and it was a left over piece that the manufacturer made into a board. You could probably call a corian installer and see if they sell them.

[miki]

I recently got one of these: http://www.preserveproducts.com/products/papercuttingboard.html But I bought it on sale through Frontier Wholesale otherwise it would have been too spendy for me.

[kijip]

I know this is OT, but that sounds like a delicious dinner! Care to share your recipe? :tongue5:

2-3 pound pound cut of meat, rubbed with garlic and salt and pepper
4 large red potatoes cut into chunks
bunch of rainbow carrots, quartered and then cut in half lengthwise
6 small onions, peeled and quartered
1 small squash, sliced into big pieces
12 large mushrooms, quartered
As many roasted garlic cloves as you like
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
butter

Brown the outside of the meat in a skillet on the stovetop.

Heat up 1/2 cup of red wine and 1/2 cup water in small sauce pan.

Start roasting the harder veggies- carrots and squash. Give them a 20-30ish minute head start on the other food depending on how thick the pieces.

Put all veggies and roasted garlic in pan around the beef roast, pour wine all over meat and veggies, toss in as many butter pats as you like and roast until the meat is cooked to your desired temperature and the veggies are tender. We did still have this for dinner, but I had to have ONE item on the mini board at a time, LOL.

[slworld]

I have one plastic one for raw meat that goes in the dishwasher. I have one large wooden one for all veggies and one small wooden one for fruits and cheeses. The small one sits on the counter leaning on the knife block, and the larger ones are in the cupboard down below.

:yeahthat: We replace the plastic one every few months.

[NancyJ_redo]

We have these http://www.preserveproducts.com/products/cuttingboard.html which I really like. I bought one at Whole Foods and a few more online at drugstore.com by using the 25% from Bing.com.

[smiles33]

We just bought a bamboo one that my husband loves. He has been oiling it after every use as the one review on Amazon mentioned it broke/split. It's the Totally Bamboo Domenica model for $35.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41jgOpxAVML._SL500_AA280_.jpg

[crl]

We have a big wooden one with a lip that goes over the front of the counter and we leave it out all the time. (Ours is from Ikea--something like this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30087148 ) I just wipe it down when I'm going to use it as a cutting board. The rest of the time it's a good landing pad for hot stuff from the oven.

We also have a wooden one that we use for meat--it has a groove to catch the juices/blood. And we have a small plastic one that doesn't get used much. And one of the flexible ones that doesn't get used much.

Catherine

[crl]

Those with butcherblock boards- have any cleaning tips?

Hot, soapy water and occasionally oil with mineral oil. They don't go in the dishwasher (as dh discovered to my chagrin).

Catherine

[happymom]

2-3 pound pound cut of meat, rubbed with garlic and salt and pepper
4 large red potatoes cut into chunks
bunch of rainbow carrots, quartered and then cut in half lengthwise
6 small onions, peeled and quartered
1 small squash, sliced into big pieces
12 large mushrooms, quartered
As many roasted garlic cloves as you like
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
butter

Brown the outside of the meat in a skillet on the stovetop.

Heat up 1/2 cup of red wine and 1/2 cup water in small sauce pan.

Start roasting the harder veggies- carrots and squash. Give them a 20-30ish minute head start on the other food depending on how thick the pieces.

Put all veggies and roasted garlic in pan around the beef roast, pour wine all over meat and veggies, toss in as many butter pats as you like and roast until the meat is cooked to your desired temperature and the veggies are tender. We did still have this for dinner, but I had to have ONE item on the mini board at a time, LOL.

Thanks for posting that! Sounds yummy! Do you roast all the veggies first and then add to the pan with the meat, or only roast the hard veggies first and then add rest of veggies when putting around the meat? Also, what temperature do you cook it at, and is it covered or uncovered?

Thanks again- I'm going to try it!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I LOVE our Pampered Chef ones. We have the S,M and L ones. The recessed rim around the big ones holds the meat juices. The rubber edges grip well on the countertop, and the smaller 2 fit really well in the dishwasher. Our kitchen is tiny, so having the S, M ones in the baking/prep drawer makes life so easy. We have a wood one, but I feel like the PC ones are just easier to deal with - weight and size-wise.

[ahrimie]

i've recently been "test driving" an epicurean cutting board. You can get them at bed, bath and beyond with a 20% off coupon.
http://www.epicureancs.com/#welcome.php



love these!!!!!

[kijip]

Thanks for posting that! Sounds yummy! Do you roast all the veggies first and then add to the pan with the meat, or only roast the hard veggies first and then add rest of veggies when putting around the meat? Also, what temperature do you cook it at, and is it covered or uncovered?

Thanks again- I'm going to try it!

Hard veggies first, by themselves. If it was a BIG roast (say 5-6 pounds) then the hard veggies don't need a head start but for a 2-3 pounder, I find carrots and squash take longer than the meat to really cook. So once the hard veggies have had the head start, everything else gets added, with the roast in the center. I set the oven around 325 for this. I cook the meat to an internal temp of 145-155 for med-rare meat. If you want rare, cook to 140, if you want well done cook to 165-170. That is 20-25 minutes per pound depending on cut and oven for medium rare. I leave everything uncovered but if the veggies are not done when the meat is, I take the meat out and cover the veggies in foil and let them cook a few minutes longer while I let the meat rest.

Hope that helps. Any veggie will work.

[jent]

I've recently been "test driving" an Epicurean cutting board. You can get them at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon.
http://www.epicureancs.com/#welcome.php


I love, love, love my Epicurean cutting board. It makes me happy every time I use it. Highly recommended. Nice and thin, stores easily, and can go in the dishwasher (though I never bother as it cleans up quickly by hand).

[happymom]

Hope that helps. Any veggie will work.

Excellent instructions- that definitely helped. You sound like a cookbook! I'll let you know how it comes out when I try it. Thanks again :)

[ged]

another vote for the epicurean boards. LOVE them...esp the brown ones, i think the black ones show the cut marks too easily

[catsnkid]

I have two plastic Kitchen Aids that I bought at Target a few years ago. One is big, the other is small. I pop them in the dishwasher (which is why I don't like wood).