Cutting boards: Plastic or wood?

G

Griffon

Joined
Mar 25, 1999
Messages
514
Apart from the hygiene question, which I'm not sure is quite settled, which type of cutting board do you prefer in the kitchen?

Does one kind seem to be kinder to the knives' edges than the other?
<img src="http://www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/knives/.1x1knives.gif" alt="" height=0 width=0>
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Urban Fredriksson
www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/
Latest update: Calypso Jr Lightweight

"I've always been fascinated by Scandinavian knives [...] they're simple, in an advanced way".
- Bob Loveless

[This message has been edited by Griffon (edited 09-01-2000).]
 
I prefer the cutting boards with a nylon like makeup. I've not damaged my knife edges on them (although maybe they will lose their armhair shaving ability faster) and these cutting boards can go in the dishwasher. I have not noticed any particles of nylon like substance comming off either.

bob
 
To me, the hygiene question is settled - Wood, being porous, is able to absorb and hold both bacteria and cleaning chemicals - blecch. Plastics like Lexan are much cleaner. Wood cutting boards and counters are nearly extinct in commercial kitchens.

As for knifing, IMHO, it's easier for your edge to penetrate the surface of wood, leaving you vulnerable to edge damage if you move the knife in non-linear fashion.

I do think that knives dull faster on hard plastic, though.

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AKTI Member #A000832

"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, the bear eats you."
 
The hygiene question isn't as settled as you might think. Wood has certain intrinsic disinfectant qualities. The trouble is that intrinsic qualities are not enough and you really need to use chemical disinfectants and/or high heat to properly clean food preparation surfaces. The answer is "plastic".

I use fairly soft cutting boards and expect to cut into them. I don't worry about edge damage, I've never had any. You need to disinfect these after cutting raw chicken etc. I use scalding hot running tap water, disinfectant and a scrub brush for routine cleaning. Periodically you need to use bleach to keep them looking good. Bleach is a good disinfectant, but hard on the lungs.

Another trick I like is to use soft plastic cafeteria trays to cut in. The edges on these keep liquids from dripping off the sides and keep chopped vegetables from straying. They nest together compactly for storage. They are made to tolerate high temperature cleaning and disinfecting. If you get a half dozen of these at a restaurant supply store you'll find a million uses for them.


[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 09-01-2000).]
 
I vote for synthetic (nylon, plastic, etc.). Especially for cutting raw meats which may contain salmonella, triconosis, and other harmful bacteria. Easy to rinse down with a weak bleach solution for disinfecting.

Wood will do fine for chopping vegetables, cooked meats, whatever.

I dislike marble and especially tempered glass cutting boards for chopping and cutting purposes.

It's good to have two cutting boards anyways. One for raw meats, and one for other.

Full Tang Clan -- a.k.a. the other "Iron Chef" -- has spoken.
 
ALWAYS plastic or teflon or whatever they make them from for samonella-prone meats like chicken or hamburger. I have a thin roll-up plastic cutting sheet from Mountain Co-op for picnics, camping, etc.
 
One of the better ideas I've ever had was to buy about ten of those soft nylon/plastic cutting boards. They're so cheap you can afford a stack of 'em. This way, you don't have to keep rinsing your cutting board off. Besides, rinsing isn't good enough for some of those bugs. Each time I need a clean board, I just grab a clean one. When I'm done, they all go in the dishwasher for a through cleaning.

You can use these things a serving tray for meat and cheese for casual entertaining too.
I had to crop some photographs yesterday, and I used one. It was just perfect.

Wood is very attractive, but nice wood boards are expensive. I like the convenience I've found in having a stack of clean cutting boards handy and in just putting 'em through the dishwasher when they're dirty.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
I have a wood board that I picked up in Spain on a business trip almost 15 years ago, it still works fine, a plastic board which I'll guess is high density polyethylene, and another wood board which looks like it has been plasticized or something. Cutting boards aren't the only thing to worry about when dealing with bad bugs as there are the knives used, hands, pans/plates, countertop, sink, and sponge/rag used to clean the countertop and everything else. Cleaning a cutting board is just a small part of cleaning up after meat/fish/poultry. I'm guessing that most people don't steam clean and scrub down all the counters, floor, etc., with a bleach solution, like I use to do when I worked in kitchens, so it's almost a moot point on plastic vs wood cutting boards. We've been using an antibacterial dishsoap for awhile now and just make an effort to keep things clean.
 
My favorite cutting board is scrap corriene countertop material. You can sometimes get it at cabinet shops for free or very low cost. I also use it for knife handles. Works great for kitchen knives. You can even texture it like jigged bone, dye it with leather dye and it actually resembles bone. It wears well, too. Great stuff!

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M.Ogg

"It's better to be thought a fool and remain silent, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
 
Every study from the health department and AMA and everyone else for the last 10 years have said that wood is the best choice for not spreading disease and bacteria. No matter what your choice, clean it with lots of hot water and soap.

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It is not the fall that kills you. It is the realization that "yes, you did something that stupid."
 
I like wood---a high quality wooden cutting board goes hand in hand with a high quality piece of kitchen cutlery.

Here is how to solve the problem with bacteria (aside from regular cleaning)---use one side for meat and the other for vegetables and things that you may not cook. I don't think you will have much problem from veges spreading bacteria, and the meat side will be used on things that are going to be cooked anyway.

Matt
 
In deference to bfm, wood is not an approved FDA or USDA food contact surface! The antibacterial properties of "some" woods is a fact, but not to the extent that you can defeat a puddle of raw chicken juice standing on one! I don't care what local boards of health and The Ladies Home Journal say, don't use wood! Use teflon or High Density Polyethylene. These can be put in your dishwasher, which is the easiest way to clean and disinfect them. Dishwashing compound (a form of caustic, very high pH)and the heat of your hot water booster on modern automatic dishwashers is responsible for a complete kill of pathogens. If you hand wash, put a tablespoon of laundry bleach in with your sink of hot, sudsy water.

Lexan, glass, metal etc. are easy to clean but anything that can sharpen a knife can dull it. These things take a toll on your edge in a very short time.

bowler1, I couldn't tell from your post what you were proposing. What I hope you did not mean was that you could cut up raw meat on one side of the board, immediately flip it over and cut up vegetables on the other side without sanitizing it. The flipping process could allow raw meat juices to drip to the other side and mix with your vegetables.

The best idea identified by Gollnick is to have several teflon or HD Poly. boards available and just place each dirty one in the dishwasher as you use it.

Many of the ideas listed above are the reason people still get food poisoning. More food poisoning occurs at home than anywhere else, still!

Bruce L. Woodbury
MS, Food Science (Meat Science)
Professional Member, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)
 
I had a few friends over to watch movies over the weekend and I wanted to offer some cheese and sausage. Since it was a very casual situation, I just used one of my plastic boards to serve on. One of the fellows who came over is an amateur wood worker. He dropped by today with a wonderful wood frame he made for my plastic boards. It's nicely finished mahogany around the edges which show and then just simple pine in the bottom where the plastic board goes. Because it's very little mahogany, just around the edges, he said it costs very little to make. Now, my cheap plastic board looks very dressy. But, when all is said and done, you just lift that plastic board out of the frame and run it through the dishwasher. So, I am very pleased.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
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