Need both wood and plastic boards?

S

stargawker

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I came across this article that suggested wooden boards for vegetables and plastic for raw meat to prevent contamination.
http://thesweethome.com/reviews/the-best-cutting-boards/

What are your thoughts on this?

I do have two large bamboo boards but only a couple of small plastic ones. I only use the small plastic ones when cutting something small so I really don't usually cut raw meat on the plastic ones.
 
Many professional kitchens follow this standard colour-coding system.

Blue cutting boards: raw fish.
Red cutting boards: raw meat.
Green cutting boards: salad and fruit.
Yellow cutting boards: cooked meat.
Brown cutting boards: vegetable.
White cutting boards: dairy (also for universal if no other board is available.)

Of course you dont need colorcodes but its a handy system.
But you would like to have different cuttingboards for those different foods mentioned here.


Epicurean and Sage make boards of woodfiber, paper and resin. Have a look to these instead of plastic.
 
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At home, I only use wooden boards (end grains).
At work I only use the expensive cork boards, since it's mostly fish, we use softer boards so our knives don't dull as fast.

I will never use plastic boards.
 
Endgrain woodblocks are about as good as it gets imo.

The rubber commercial grade and plastic boards maim knife edges. Restos only use multiple cutting boards to reduce cross contamination risk because they're cheap and easy to clean in a commercial dishwasher with sani chemicals. That's mostly due to the volume of food being processed by multiple people. I feel most home cooks would have more risk with porous surfaced boards of plastic and rubber. Wooden boards just look nicer too!
 
I am careful not to cross contaminate. When preparing supper, I cut up all the veggies first, then cut any meat on the cutting board and it is washed before the next use. That should be sufficient, wouldn't it?
 
Hi Stargawker,
I do it just like you except that if I'm using multiple meats I cut beef, then pork, then chicken last. Of course, when I wash the dishes, I wash silver first, glasses and cups next, plates next, and pans last. Nothing anal here!!!
Tim
 
stargawker said:
I am careful not to cross contaminate. When preparing supper, I cut up all the veggies first, then cut any meat on the cutting board and it is washed before the next use. That should be sufficient, wouldn't it?
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Yep, that works even better! I've always used a small bucket with some cold water and bleach to disinfect, quick wipe, let it dry, then add some mineral oil to it. All good to go for the next run.
 
I use plastic for my raw meat. Just because they are thinner and easier to clean. The wood is for veggies only, and it usually stays on the counter top. I have a medium sized plastic board for meats because its lighter and dishwasher safe. I don't cut raw meat every day, so its no hassle to go get the plastic out of the cabinet when I need it.

I got a cheap plastic board from WalMart just to have one. Later on I might get a nicer one for meats. Also not having to wash the wood board as often keeps is looking good and prevents it from drying out.
 
HwangJino said:
I will never use plastic boards.
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I love this. I endowed the literary voice with a "from my cold dead hands" defiance. Against all odds. Give me endgrain or give me death ;)

And I concur- I would rather use the edge-destroying mostly-glue bamboo boards than plastic onces
 
I have both end grain and plastic. You can't beat the price of plastic boards at IKEA. I use it for 1 month, and throw it away.
End grain is of course the best, but for raw meat and chicken I use plastic. The antibiotic resistant bacteria in some food is insane here in Norway, and I don't want to destroy my end grain with blood, juice and all the bacteria that is in our food.
 
Poly is light to move around and can be sanitized in the dishwasher, but gets lots of grooves and divets that can harbour bacteria.
Wood is naturally antibiotic and self-healing, but can't be dishwashed and the heavier boards are hard to move around.

Both are good for knives.

If you use the dishwasher, poly is safer. If you sink-wash, wood is safer.

Overall I prefer wood for everything. Multiple boards are key, and of course frequent washing.
 
I always use natural wood.

Bamboo isn't really wood any more! The plastics they impregnate it with and even worse the Silica/sand that's in Bamboo is brutal on your edges.

Some use poly boards for chicken and then wash with bleach water.

Woods such as Oak, Maple, Walnut also have natural anti microbial properties to some extend.
 
Another tip for you is never use Olive oil on your wooden boards to make them look nice.
The natural oil can turn rancid and make you poop like a Goose.

Use Mineral oil, just a quick wipe down restores the gloss on your wooden boards.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Another tip for you is never use Olive oil on your wooden boards to make them look nice.
The natural oil can turn rancid and make you poop like a Goose.

Use Mineral oil, just a quick wipe down restores the gloss on your wooden boards.
Click to expand...

Also good on iron cookware, if you live in a humid climate. I store mine dry, because I live in an arid climate. Putting any kind of vegetable oil on an iron pot can result in gummy nasty stinky and the smell goes into the iron (or wood, as you say).
 
I think it'd be wise to have a cutting board specifically for raw meat and the poly boards are easiest to clean (easy to move, can be bleached or dishwashed). Endgrain boards are easieston blades. That's probably why they were suggested, but if all your boards are poly or all are wood, it wont make a big difference to most home cooks. The biggest thing is to have enough boards to keep raw and ready to eat foods separate.
 
The study shows that wood is better than plastic for raw chicken. I don't think I will bother with plastic any more.
 
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