Can we talk cutting boards? Great. Because I see so many houses that seem to think if you have one nice butcher block cutting board, or even a cheap wood board from Wal-Mart, you’re all set. The truth is those boards are perfect for cutting vegetables. They are faster than the plastic boards and you don’t have to worry about bacteria if they’re properly kept and cleaned. I grew up with only one cutting board, and more often than not we’d just cut on the counter (gasp!). Don’t worry, we also had cheap knives until I convinced my dad to buy my mom some Wusthoff Trident knives.
Plastic boards are fantastic. They have a lower propensity for harboring bacteria when cutting meats, especially poultry and pork. And yes they do eventually get scratched up and require replacing, but they’re so damn cheap there’s just no excuse to be missing these necessary items from your kitchen collection. I currently have a set that is color coded for types of food (blue for fish, red for meat, yellow for poultry, green for vegetables, etc).
The Index Chopping Boards have added a nifty little storage idea in the form of folder like tabs. The different boards sit in a container with a tab sticking out the top with an image of what the board should be used for. You’ll never get mixed up again when reaching for a board to cut up a chicken on. I’m not a fan of the closed container for most kitchen utensils, and this is no exception. My “good knives” only go on a magnetic knife rack. I hate the idea of all that gunk in a knife block swimming around my blades. Aside from the enclosed design “flaw” of the container for these cutting boards they are a nice way of keeping your kitchen from becoming a cross contamination breeding ground for illness.
At $79 the price a little steep, and I imagine most of that price is going to the container. You’d be better off buying a cheap set of polypropylene cutting boards that come in an open sleeve. Still…I love those tabs.
Saturday, 9. August 2008
I love the file tabs! the price… not so much.