Let's talk cutting boards. They're one of the most important tools in the kitchen and if you cook regularly, you probably use one every time you cook. Even if you don't cook, the cutting board is still used to cut up fruits and veggies for snacks and often used to make sandwiches, to cut or grate cheese on, and all kinds of other things. Chef and cookbook author Bailey Ruskus says one of the questions she gets asked most often is what type of cutting board she uses. She shared her recommendations on TikTok recently and showed us which ones are the best and which to avoid.
Chef Bai says to stay away from glass and acrylic cutting boards—she didn't even have one to show us! She explains that they are dangerous and will destroy your knives. She also says to avoid plastic and coated wooden cutting boards and explains why they are no-nos. Wood, she says, is the way to go. Listen in as she explains why as well as which brands she recommends. acrylic round plate
While I do own a large wooden cutting board like the IKEA one that Chef Bai recommends, it's bulky and kind of a pain to clean, so most of the time I use a plastic one. Yikes! Guess I won't be using that one anymore even though I can just throw it in the dishwasher when I'm done. And I've had my eye on an acrylic cutting board that I just took out of my Amazon cart; I have a Ninja knife set and the last thing I want to do is damage them as she explained!
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Out of the more than 1,200 that viewers left, the number one question by far was how to care for wooden cutting boards. I'll admit that I think I'm cleaning mine correctly, but I'm not sure that I actually am. I do know that you should never put one in the dishwasher because it will cause cracking, but that's about it. So I did a bit of research to find out the right way to care for a wooden cutting board.
Bon Appetit says that if you take care of a wooden cutting board properly, it can last forever. I think Chef Bai would agree with that because her 6-year-old cutting board still looks like new! Bon Appetit gives this quick overview, "If you’re just pulling out your cutting board to slice a loaf of bread or halve a lemon, there’s really no need to clean; dust off the crumbs and be on your way. But if you have avocado smears or garlic juices marring your board, you’ll want to give it a wash with soapy water."
And when you wash the board, wash the entire board, not just the top where the food was, "Most people wash only the top, and that actually ends up hurting the wood. When wood fibers are hit with moisture, they swell, and if the swelling isn’t uniform, it can warp the board."
After using it to cut meat or to remove stubborn stains or smells, just sprinkle a little coarse salt on your board’s surface. Add some fresh lemon juice and mix it to form a paste. Spread it around and let it sit for a few minutes. Then wash in warm, soapy water.
book hanging stand After cleaning with soapy water, wipe the board down to remove excess water. Stand it on its side so both sides can air dry overnight. Once a month you should oil and wax your board, and you can find out how at CuttingBoard.com. I've never done those steps and my board is fine, but I think I'll start doing it going forward to protect my investment.