Cutting boards: utility vs beauty

[WadePatton]

I have a wonderful piece of teak and a full-sized butcher block (not "installed" yet). The teak was a "moving out" gift from Mom about a hundred years ago. (pic to be added). The butcher block is even older-i'm making extensions for the legs and planing the top a bit...just difficult dealing with the mass.

And i've been looking at restaurant supply boards for something larger.

THEN some damn thread about cheapass razors led me to the reenactor shaving path---which led to:




and it's hand made and all...i guess i'll do some woodworking one of these days. if i had tt's money i'd done got me on the order for that one.

my second-fave cutting board was seen at a friends house--a simple "slice" from an osage orange (bodock). endgrain rulz.

whatchallgot/want?

the oak/walnut jobbie (145): Badger & Blade - B&B LE Handmade End Grain Cutting Board Group Buy

[robin3mj]

Got my wife one of these from Vermont Butcher Block a couple years back.
20" x 20" and I think 2" high. Endgrain, with her name burned into 1 corner.

lg_maple_bb1_large.jpeg
Vermont Butcher Block

The company was recommended by someone on the Vsalon, and was a great suggestion.
David was easy to work with, and we've gone back to them for wedding gifts for a few people since.

[randonneur]

the oak/walnut jobbie (145)

Oak is a terrible material for a cutting board - the open pores in the grain are a real PIA to keep clean. walnut on the other hand...

I got myself a nice end grain (it does rule) walnut/maple block from the boardsmith. Same type of thing, all hand made one at a time in North Carolina. I love it.

BS49-2.jpg

[WadePatton]

endgrain rules...until i cut/polish a solid slab. maple likely, unless i inset some bois de arc. i'll let my woodyworky pals help as they don't live so far aways as all my bikey worky pals.

another thing on the 5-year plan...dammit.

[Shinomaster]

I have a beautiful birds eye maple cutting board by Ed Wohl, but I always reach for this. Easy to lift and clean. Epicurean Kitchen Series 18 by 13-Inch Kitchen Cutting Board, Natural: Amazon.com: Kitchen & Dining

[Too Tall]

Hillbilly, can't you saw up some of those maples and make something?????

I've got a cuttingboard and have had it for about 15 yrs. We were cruising thru the county fair and admired one wood workers cutting boards. He had two for "sale" haha they were wildly overpriced because, I'm sure, he wanted to keep them as demo pieces. One was a 3 or 4" thick X 2' X 1.5' Ash board nicely finished. The other was a similar curly maple board. Crazy prices. Anywho, on the way out of his tent I said "if you ever decide to sell the maple one let me know"....10 mins. later his wife comes screaming after me with Mr. by the ear giving him holy he!! for not making the sale. Ouch, I paid what it was worth...not his price...sheesh.

W.P. I have a large hard rock maple end grain up kitchen table that mom abandoned ages ago. That is going to become a built in when we re-do the kitchen. You busy? ;)

[rec head]

Those are faaaancy! I use a couple of big plastic ones for most stuff but have a pretty sweet teak one my cousin made for when I want to show off. Its too small for most meal prep though.

I have a bunch of maple left over from a project are those boards all just glued together with wood glue?

[jitahs]

Five feet of function:

BoosBlock%u00252BKitchen%2BWork%2BTable%2Bwith%2B2%2BShelves.jpg

[RIHans]

Five feet of function:

BoosBlock%u00252BKitchen%2BWork%2BTable%2Bwith%2B2%2BShelves.jpg

Yeah, the counter-top bling is nice to look at, along side the fancy pepper grinder.

How do you put that thing in the dishwasher and sanitize it?

Plastic color coded utility cutting boards rule in the professional cooking world.

Keep your bacteria at your house.

[jitahs]

Yeah, the counter-top bling is nice to look at, along side the fancy pepper grinder.

How do you put that thing in the dishwasher and sanitize it?

Plastic color coded utility cutting boards rule in the professional cooking world.

Keep your bacteria at your house.

Oy harsh.

Poultry gets its own board that sits over a marble countertop. Raw meat same.
All veggies get prepped on the table, bread and fruit sliced. I don't need to put my mise into little containers, just prep slide and stack. Pick it up with a knife when ready to go. Cooked meat generally gets sliced on the plate or on another board.

Apprenticed with some pros in a very fastidious kitchen, they did the same. Bleached the table every night, sanded it down every 8 months.

For home use around 20 yrs. I've never gotten sick from my own cooking nor have countless others who've eaten from it. I ain't worried about me; it's always the other guy.

Otoh I'm currently recovering from a bug I picked up from a restaurant. It's about disciplined practice either way and the quality of your purveyors.

Man this board is too much sometimes.

[RIHans]

Cooking on a professional level has a different set of rules.

You make a mistake, you make a couple of people sick.

I make a mistake, I make 50-100 people sick.

I'm sure you are looking out, but the new NSF is plastic boards.

Wooden boards are nice and solid, not sanitary.

[jitahs]

Cooking on a professional level has a different set of rules.

You make a mistake, you make a couple of people sick.

I make a mistake, I make 50-100m people sick.

No, I get it. We did 50-100+ covers a night. 100 million?

[rec head]

Cooking on a professional level has a different set of rules.

You make a mistake, you make a couple of people sick.

I make a mistake, I make 50-100 people sick.

I'm sure you are looking out, but the new NSF is plastic boards.

Wooden boards are nice and solid, not sanitary.

I'm no authority but I've heard that many people view wood as less sanitary than plastic but there's no proof.

[RIHans]

to belabor the point...

your hardwood cutting board, is cool in your house.

Get a NSF cutting board for your house if you care,,,put it on top of the wood block,

Into the soapy sink, or the dishwasher.

I am laboring the hot soapy thing...it needs laboring. Hot soapy H2O,

[maunahaole]

I agree with Hans on this one. I like a pedestrian plastic board that can get shoved into the dishwasher or nuked with lots of hot water (we have solar and 150 degrees mid-day is typical) and soap to kill off all the creepy crawlies. They are cheap and easy to store and you can always reach for a clean one if you have doubts about the one that you are using.

[jitahs]

You can get botchilism from a carbon frame, y'know.

[devlin]

Stop licking your bike then!

[mumbleypeg]

I have an end grain maple wood block. I use the plastic cutting...sheets? On top of it.....I remodeled my kitchen in march...it is amazing what can get fetishized. I started looking at butcher blocks and was tripping on how nice some are. I decided to spend money on new knives and go utilitarian on cutting surfaces.

[WayneJ]

When in France with Tootsie, I bought a neat cutting board for a friend.
It was from the open market in Aups and made from Olivewood.
I liked it because it was irregular in shape, had a very interesting burl-like grain and was small enough to put in my checked luggage.

Great for cutting up baguettes for dipping in olive oil.

Looks just like one of these:

[WadePatton]

I agree with Hans on this one. I like a pedestrian plastic board that can get shoved into the dishwasher or nuked with lots of hot water (we have solar and 150 degrees mid-day is typical) and soap to kill off all the creepy crawlies. They are cheap and easy to store and you can always reach for a clean one if you have doubts about the one that you are using.

Fukc NSF, there is/are/were bazillions of people eating a bazillon things _NOT_ NSF and they're not sick. As said, there's no proof that you can't clean wooden things.

Kitchen cleanliness is a matter of methods and practices MUCH more than materials.

I've seen plenty of full SS/plastic NSF and local ordinance permitted/approved PROFESSIONAL kitchens full of crud and crap, and no sickness. HUGE potential for it, but none even when working nasty.

LIFE is full of creepy crawlies, YOU have creepy crawlies upon you this moment, WE can't all be sanitized at all times. Nor should we be.

Sanitization isn't always healthy you know. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/Ev...itzgeraldk.pdf

YOU want a separate thread for Food Safety? go for it.

This one is about pretty cutting boards and wooden things that WE simple folks are going to keep using like our ggg-ma's did 600 years ago. IF wooden shit in the kitchen was going to end the species...

yeah and the only time i've been food-poisoned was from a commercial NSF kitchen. it's the practices not the materials.

__________________

wooden boards of multiple pieces are assembled with dowels and food-safe adhesives, rubbed with food-safe oils. and are _never_ subjected to the hell-hole of a dishwasher if you want to keep it from developing great cracks in which crickets may take up residence...mmm crickets.



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