The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 60

(polyethylene) and wood are the only ones you should consider A glass cutting board is like death to your blade: slow, painful, agonizing death as, stroke after stroke, the perfect edge that you worked so hard to achieve is relentlessly worn away A few years back, if you’d asked a health expert which type to use, they would have said plastic, not wood Plastic is inert and inhospitable to bacteria, they’d say, whereas wood can house dangerous bacteria and transfer them to your food Turns out those health experts were wrong A number of recent airtight studies have shown that wood is actually less likely to be a means of transferring bacteria, due to its natural antimicrobial properties A wooden cutting board can be a death trap for bacteria So long as you give it a scrub and a thorough drying after each use (which, of course, you should with plastic boards as well), it’s a perfectly safe material As for its actual function as a cutting surface, wood also takes home the gold, with some modern plastic boards coming in a close second Wood is very soft, meaning that your knife can make great contact with every stroke, but it also has some self-healing properties—stroke marks will close up and fade away (though with repeated use, your board will become thinner and thinner) I’m lucky enough to have a few large, heavy, butcherblock–style boards, which I received as a gift from an old chef of mine, that exactly fit my prep area The best commercial models I’ve seen are the ones made by Ironwood Gourmet They have a 20-by-14-inch version for about $50 that’ll last you at least half a lifetime Don’t have the dough to spend? A plastic one is not ideal, but it will do just fine The OXO Good Grips 15-by-21-inch version is a quarter of the cost and a great value With a wooden board, you’ll want a small bottle of mineral oil to rub into the surface with a soft cloth or paper towel after each use to prevent staining and enhance its life FEELING SHARP T here is nothing more frustrating than a dull knife Not only does it make prep work a chore and your finished product less attractive, it’s also downright dangerous A dull blade requires more pressure to cut into a food, and it can easily slip off a tough onion skin, for example, and into your finger Ouch Most home cooks should sharpen their knives at least twice a year, much more frequently if they use their knives every day There are three ways to go about it Method 1: Use an Electric Sharpener A goodquality electric sharpener is an option, but I strongly discourage their use First off, they remove a tremendous amount of material from your edge Sharpen your knife a dozen times, and you’ll have lost a good ½ centimeter of width, throwing it off balance and rendering any blade with a bolster (i.e., ... pressure to cut into a food, and it can easily slip off a tough onion skin, for example, and into your finger Ouch Most home cooks should sharpen their knives at least twice a year, much more frequently if they... use their knives every day There are three ways to go about it Method 1: Use an Electric Sharpener A goodquality electric sharpener is an option, but I strongly discourage their use First off, they.. .the dough to spend? A plastic one is not ideal, but it will do just fine The OXO Good Grips 15-by-21-inch version is a quarter of the cost and a great value With