"cutting board" news and stories

No more slipping and sliding -- save yourself a trip to the emergency room by learning how to properly secure that cutting board.

Unlike plastic cutting boards, wooden cutting boards need to be dealt with differently to preserve their quality. Find out quick and easy ways to clean and to remove stains from wooden cutting boards.

When I'm in the kitchen, my cutting board is one of my best friends. I use a large, sharp knife and quickly (but carefully) chop my way through my onions, celery, potatoes or peppers. However, I have a good friend who prefers to ignore the cutting board for everything of the large job, instead using her fingers and a small paring knife to make fruit slices, potato wedges and carrot rings.

I tend to think of that 'in hand' slicing as a kitchen technique that comes from an earlier era. I can imagine my Auntie Tunkel standing in her tiny rowhouse kitchen, slicing root vegetables directly into a roasting pan, using a callused thumb to catch the blade on the other side of the turnip or rutabaga. My own mother is somewhere in between, having used the same old cutting board for so many years that she's worn it thin in the middle, nothing like my own hurried smash and chop.

Are you a cutting board devotee or an in hand slicer?

This is rather nifty.

We've all used regular cutting boards - wood, plastic - that just sit on our counters. And then there are the really thin ones that roll up and bend so we can push stuff into pans and bowls. But this new one from Bed, Bath & Beyond actually has a handle, and you squeeze the handle to create a chute, which makes dropping food a lot easier. They come in black and white.

Lately, I've had this obsession with cutting boards, whether it's a giant butcher-type block, those colorful silicone mats that are meant to keep food separated for safety reasons, or the "green" cutting boards made of sustainable bamboo.

These wooden cutting boards made from acacia have been laser-engraved with different illustrations that are matched to the grain of the wood on the individual board. That means no two boards are the same! Prior to the engraving process, the designers determine the ideal position for any of the 6 different illustrations, which are a diver, skiing, fishing, the man on the moon, a gardener, and a motorcyclist.

The boards are available from Charles and Marie, $38 for a large board, $20 for a small board.