BROOKLYN WEATHER

Around the House: Find the Best Cutting Board for Every Job

Around the House: Find the Best Cutting Board for Every Job

By Yehudit Garmaise

Every cook knows that great meals start by pulling out a cutting board on which to chop onions, garlic, and vegetables. While we might not give much thought to the types of cutting boards we use, different types of cutting boards are best for different types of food prep.

Lightweight polypropylene cutting boards made by OXO, Faberware, or other brands are a cinch to clean, easy to grab out of cabinets, easily slip into dishwashers, and they remain free of lasting odors. Some of the lightweight plastic boards provide a grooved perimeter that catches drips and prevents unnecessary messes.

The useful lightweight polypropylene cutting boards also work well as lightweight trivets on dining tables and counters to protect them from hot serving dishes.

Material Kitchen also offers a recommended miniature option for compact, plastic boards in pretty colors, such as pink and light blue, for when cutting jobs are small and should not require bigger boards to be dirtied.

In addition, children love to have their own “kid-size” cutting boards for when they are helping out in the kitchen.

Sturdy Wooden Cutting Boards: are heavier and bulkier than boards made of lightweight plastic, but remain the favorite cutting surfaces of many chefs who carve meat on a regular basis. Boos Boards, which Martha Stewart calls, “the industry standard for serious home cooks” are made of beautiful cherry wood and are perfect for everything from chopping herbs and vegetables to carving roasts, chickens, and turkeys.

What lovers of wooden boards love about them the most is that they do not tend to move around, as plastic boards do, while meat and poultry are getting carved and sliced.

Unlike plastic boards, wooden cutting boards should only be washed by hand and may get stained or hold onto germs over time in the grooves left by knife marks.

To best care for wooden cutting boards, cooks should wash them thoroughly and regularly wipe them down with mineral oil to keep them from cracking and warping.

Bamboo Cutting Boards are the favorite of one home cook who told BoroPark24 that they “show fewer marks from knife cuts than other boards and clean up quite easily.” 

Also on Amazon, Brew City Engraving will laser engrave their bamboo cutting boards, which come in many tones, with names or initials.

Epicurean cutting boards are made from Richlite, which is a material that is comprised of hundreds of sheets of paper that are fused together with pressure and heat to form a solid board.

Blimi loves her two epicurean cutting boards: one small and one large, because they easily fit in dishwashers and also have “rubber feet” on both sides that prevent the boards from slipping while chopping and cutting.

Also, the epicurean boards feature a “juice groove” around the board’s perimeter that protects any liquids from falling onto the counter and making a mess.

Thin, flexible plastic cutting mats made by Cooking Light and other brands may seem flimsy, but they are surprisingly durable, and grips ensure that the mats do not move around while you chop. The mats’ ultra-lightweight, flexible material allows cooks to form a funnel to easily pour the contents into mixing bowls or into hot pans. The plastic mats are also good for small cutting jobs, when you don’t want to pull out a heavy cutting board, or for children who are helping to prepare meals.

Marble or Granite slabs are what expert bakers use to roll out and cut their doughs, which require cold, perfectly smooth surfaces.

“No matter how hot your oven or cooktops, marble surfaces stay cool state: perfect for kneading the right dough to make those delicious fondants and sweets,” says knc granite.com. “Moreover, marble and granite feature unquestionably smooth surfaces that help you to knead bread and form your cakes and pastries.”


Readers Write: You Can Bank on It
  • Mar 14 2023
  • |
  • 9:45 AM

Photo Gallery: Melavah Malke By Uvos Ibunim of the Freiman Shul in Boro Park
  • Mar 14 2023
  • |
  • 8:38 AM

Be in the know

receive BoroPark24’s news & updates on whatsapp

 Start Now