Cutting Board Guide Category:
by Peter on July 30, 2010
If you take more care of your cutting board and wash it properly, it will be safer for use and last you a longer time. But for cheap cutting boards and plastic ones, there will be a time when you have to throw them away – when they develop deep cut grooves that can’t be cleaned no matter how long you scrub it!
Machine-wash
You can wash your plastic or composite cutting board in a dishwasher if it is a thick one. Thin and flexible plastic cutting mats may warp if you machine-wash them. Wood and bamboo cutting boards are not dishwasher safe. The dishwasher will damage them.
Hand-wash
If you’re washing by hand, scrub both surfaces thoroughly with hot water and soap. If there are any stains left after rinsing, apply kosher salt or sea salt on the stain while the board is still wet. Leave it to sit for 3 to 4 hours, then rinse off. If that doesn’t do it, apply more salt to the wet board and scrub the stain off. Then wash the board with soapy water again and rinse clean.
Sanitizing
After washing your cutting board, you need to sanitize it. Some experts recommend using a diluted bleach solution but I’d prefer vinegar. Dilute vinegar with water at a 1:5 ratio and coat the board thoroughly with it. Allow it to soak into the board by letting it sit for a few minutes, then rinse off.
Getting rid of odors
You might find a strong odor on your cutting board after cutting garlic, onions or raw meat. It doesn’t go away after washing. Use lemon juice or baking soda to scrub the surfaces of the cutting board, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse off.
Treating wood and bamboo cutting boards
Wood and bamboo cutting boards need to be treated regularly with mineral oil to prevent them from over drying and cracking. New boards need to be treated before first use.
Buy a bottle of food safe or food grade mineral oil from the drugstore, or if you’re feeling munificent, buy the specially labeled treatment oil for butcher blocks like Mystery Oil.
Warming the oil first will make it easier to soak into the cutting board. Pour a little bit of oil on the surface of the cutting board and spread it around to coat the entire board, even the sides and the bottom. The board should feel wet with oil after you do this.
Let the board sit overnight or at least a few hours, then wipe off the excess oil with a clean cloth. Rinse the board and pat dry before use.
Treat your wood or bamboo cutting board at least once a month or more during the drier seasons. If you use and wash the cutting board a lot, you might have to treat it more often too.
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by Peter on July 29, 2010
There are many considerations to be made if you want to find the best cutting board.
Easy to clean
The best cutting board should be very easy to clean, whether by hand or dishwasher. The surface should be smooth and won’t stain easily by some food like tomatoes.
Kind to knives
You don’t want your knives to be dulled by the cutting board after a few uses. However, usually cutting boards that are kind to knives scratches easily, and those that are scratch resistant are less kind to knives. A good compromise would be to get the more expensive end grain wood or bamboo cutting board.
Material and construction
End grain means that the cutting board is made with the wood or bamboo grains facing up. Imagine that you’re looking at a lumber of wood from the cut end. End grain cutting boards will not scratch easily because your knife edge will go between the grains when it comes into contact with the cutting board, and the grains will close up again naturally afterward. This is called self-healing.
End grain cutting boards are very popular among professional chefs but they are very expensive because they are more difficult to make.
There are several types of cutting boards, depending on the material. Click the link to read the differences of each material/type. Just remember that quality-wise, choose polypropylene over polyethylene for plastic, hardwood over softwood, and old bamboo over young bamboo.
Durable / Disposable
This one is a tough decision for some. Wood and bamboo are more durable than plastic, but they need regular oiling, handwash only, and are generally more expensive than plastic. In other words, you can either buy cheap plastic cutting boards and replace them once they’re done for, no maintenance needed, or buy expensive wood or bamboo cutting boards that will last for years and years with more care on your part.
Non-slip
The best cutting board should definitely sit firmly on the countertop when you’re using it. You don’t want to cut a finger!
Large cutting space
Always buy a bigger cutting board than you need for cutting, because you might find that you have to cook for more people for one night and that extra space for placing the cut food while you continue cutting is very much a convenience.
Attractiveness and storage
Some people like to hang up their cutting board on the kitchen wall, some like to keep it on the countertop, and some like it out of the sight once they finished using it. This might not sound important but think of the physical appearance, weight and size of the cutting board when buying a cutting board.
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by Peter on July 28, 2010
There are a few types of cutting boards to consider, and we mainly differentiate the types by the material the cutting board is made of. I strongly suggest that you should buy one of those I’ve listed below, or in other words, don’t buy a cutting board made of glass, stone, ceramic or marble! Those are either not friendly to your kitchen knives or unsafe for your stomach (glass will chip).
There’s a never ending debate on whether wood or plastic cutting board is the best, but they each have their advantages and disadvantages.
Wood
Wood cutting boards are more attractive than plastic, and they are kind to knives. I like wood cutting boards because they don’t scratch as easily as plastic. The quality of wood cutting boards vary depending on the type of wood and construction of the board.
High quality wood cutting boards or chopping blocks can be sanded or refinished after many years of use, to become as good as new again. End grain wood cutting boards are self healing and will last practically forever, if you take care to oil them regularly.
Plastic
Plastic cutting boards are light and easy to handle. Plastic is also dishwasher safe because unlike wood and bamboo cutting boards, plastic can be soaked in water. They can also be scrubbed with harder chemicals while not leaving any chemical residue on the board, therefore it is contended that they are more sanitary. They are not heat resistant though.
Plastic not only scratches easily, but they tend to develop grooves from knife cuts after some time. The grooves can harbor bacteria and make the cutting board difficult to wash, so it is wiser to replace the cutting board with a new one. Fortunately though, plastic cutting boards are way cheaper than wood ones.
Bamboo
Bamboo cutting boards share the same advantages and disadvantages of wood cutting boards; they are attractive, knife-friendly, durable and environment friendly, but not dishwasher safe. Like wood cutting boards, these also need regular oiling.
They are also more eco-friendly than wood cutting boards, because bamboo is a self-renewable resource and grows in six years compared to at least double that time for most trees and about 50 years for maple. There are end grain bamboo cutting boards too. (Don’t know what is end grain? I explained it in my post: How to Choose the Best Cutting Board.)
Composite
Composite cutting boards are made of glued fibers with a smooth laminate surface. They are the most resistant to scratches among all, dishwasher safe but easy to wash anyway, and somewhat heat resistant.
Composite cutting boards are often made to look attractive, thin and lightweight for easy handling. They’re pretty durable too, but the one thing that makes them less popular is that they give off a pungent smell when wet.
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by Peter on July 21, 2010
I’ve wondered about it sometimes, but no doubt even cutting boards have a place online nowadays! Hi there, this is Peter, and I’m going to write all about cutting boards – which are the best cutting boards, how to choose the right cutting board for cooking, how to maintain your cooking board in great condition, and so on.
Why did I write this blog? Well, firstly, I have a great passion for cooking. And while other cooks are all crazy about kitchen knives and ovens and whatnot, I’m very into cutting boards. In fact, I’ve tried cutting boards made of all kinds of materials – wood, bamboo, plastic, and composite.
Each kind of material has its own advantages and disadvantages, and there’s practically a lifelong debate of whether wood cutting boards are better than plastic cutting boards or vice versa. The fans of wood cutting boards argue that wood is a better material because it is self-healing – the shallow cuts will heal on their own, especially cutting boards that are made with end-grain wood. Wood cutting boards are also said to be able to eliminate bacteria naturally.
The other side of the argument swear by the plastic cutting board’s ability to be washed by stronger chemicals that will make it cleaner without retaining residue of chemicals that will contaminate the food. Besides, plastic cutting boards are also dishwasher safe, unlike wood which cannot be soaked in water. And although plastic surfaces are softer and will get grooves from knife edges, plastic cutting boards are a lot cheaper than wood ones and therefore can be replaced easily.
Neither side is winning their argument, I think. I like both materials, for different purposes in the kitchen. But if I can only buy one, I would buy a bamboo cutting board. Bamboo is greener than both wood and plastic. Wood takes more than ten years to grow, while plastic is certainly not environmentally friendly. Bamboo is self renewable and only takes six years to grow.
Bamboo cutting boards also has the advantages of wood cutting boards, and they are generally friendlier on the wallet. Both wood and bamboo cutting boards need higher maintenance than plastic though.
All right, I think I’ll write more on how to choose the best cutting board in another post. There will be cutting board reviews for my top pick cutting boards too.
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