Recommended Cutting Boards?

[JoshuaSonOfNun]

Bought some cheap plastic cutting boards at Costco because the larger ones were a pain to wash in the kitchen sink which is your typical 16X14 double sink with a garbage disposal.

Never again. Felt like cutting on ceramic.

Even the cheap 15x20 inch plastic one I got at Sam's is significantly better.

I do have a 24x18 inch end grain one in which I never cut meat on.

I heard the Sanituff boards are pretty good.

[Jeff B]

...I do have a 24x18 inch end grain one in which I never cut meat on...

I've cut meat on mine for years with never a problem. Keep it oiled/buttered and little if any juices soak in and wood has excellent bacteria killing qualities from everything I've read. Your more likely to get food poisoning from lettuce than a cutting board that was used for meat.
I wipe my board with a soapy rag then a clean damp rag and rarely do anything else other than condition it and it's never been a problem. I will never understand people that buy expensive boards and then are afraid to use them for most stuff. Wood is all our elders used for decades and it didn't hurt us.

[ButlerHoosierChef]

I have an old meat butcher block from my great grandfathers old meat store. I definitely am looking forward to restoring and refinishing it. That thing weighs hundreds of pounds. Cut meat on it for decades never any problems. I use an end grain cutting board for just about everything. I am wanting to try those rubber cutting boards mentioned on here.

[JoshuaSonOfNun]

...I do have a 24x18 inch end grain one in which I never cut meat on...

I've cut meat on mine for years with never a problem. Keep it oiled/buttered and little if any juices soak in and wood has excellent bacteria killing qualities from everything I've read. Your more likely to get food poisoning from lettuce than a cutting board that was used for meat.
I wipe my board with a soapy rag then a clean damp rag and rarely do anything else other than condition it and it's never been a problem. I will never understand people that buy expensive boards and then are afraid to use them for most stuff. Wood is all our elders used for decades and it didn't hurt us.

Interesting!

I was more concerned about cross contamination as if I cut a raw chicken on it and decided to do a salad on the same board afterwards.

That soapy rag sounds good though.

[mauichef]

Just about to spring for a long wanted HiSoft or Asahi.
I don't like using my wood board for fish or poultry.
Just can't decide between them.

[old onion]

Just about to spring for a long wanted HiSoft or Asahi.
I don't like using my wood board for fish or poultry.
Just can't decide between them.

Ray,
I have a HiSoft from Korin that I use for all my meats and fish.It cleans up easily and really kind to my knives.I don't know anything about the Asahi boards.Without double checking,I think Korin handles them as well.

[OgerBash]

I have to second the hisoft. I use it for everything. My end grain cutting board sits in the cabinet because the hisoft is so easy to clean. I don't know what the Asahi board could do better for the extra money.

Just about to spring for a long wanted HiSoft or Asahi.
I don't like using my wood board for fish or poultry.
Just can't decide between them.

Ray,
I have a HiSoft from Korin that I use for all my meats and fish.It cleans up easily and really kind to my knives.I don't know anything about the Asahi boards.Without double checking,I think Korin handles them as well.

[mauichef]

Just ordered a 33" one. Thanks for the recommendations guys.
Sorry for the hiJack Joshua...hope this gives you an idea of what to buy too

[JoshuaSonOfNun]

It's cool, those rubber cutting boards are pretty interesting!

[nakneker]

I bought one of the walnut end grain boards Mark offers here. Love it! Use it for everything non meat. Now I just checked out the HiSoft boards on Korin, I’m gonna follow Maui and order a 33” too. I’m also gonna get a set of those board raiser feet (I’m 6’5”) and one of those board scrubbers they offer. Nice find, I’m glad they were mentioned.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/ckwaendgrcub.html

One note to Joshua. I live in arid Arizona. My first board cracked just a bit even though I followed the maintenance directions. I asked Mark about it and within two days he had me a new board, both he and Jones Cutting boards (the board in the link) will stand behind their products 5 Star style. That’s something to consider if your debating who to buy from. I took 30 days and oiled the second board a little excessively before I used it and haven’t had any problems what so ever . I still have the first board too and the small crack never grew. The qaulity of that board is very good and it gets compliments all the time. Arizona is hard on wood products.

[mauichef]

I bought one of the walnut end grain boards Mark offers here. Love it! Use it for everything non meat. Now I just checked out the HiSoft boards on Korin, I’m gonna follow Maui and order a 33” too. I’m also gonna get a set of those board raiser feet (I’m 6’5”) and one of those board scrubbers they offer. Nice find, I’m glad they were mentioned.

Nice Sean.
I spoke to the guy at Korin and he strongly suggested the HiSoft for domestic use. The Asahi is more commercial and better for breaking down large produce etc.
It's much harder than the HiSoft and not so kind to your knives.
I need to see if they can slide one of those scrapers into the box before they ship to me. Looks like a useful tool.
It's going to be so nice to have a really large knife friendly board for sushi prep etc.

[nakneker]

I bought one of the walnut end grain boards Mark offers here. Love it! Use it for everything non meat. Now I just checked out the HiSoft boards on Korin, I’m gonna follow Maui and order a 33” too. I’m also gonna get a set of those board raiser feet (I’m 6’5”) and one of those board scrubbers they offer. Nice find, I’m glad they were mentioned.

Nice Sean.
I spoke to the guy at Korin and he strongly suggested the HiSoft for domestic use. The Asahi is more commercial and better for breaking down large produce etc.
It's much harder than the HiSoft and not so kind to your knives.
I need to see if they can slide one of those scrapers into the box before they ship to me. Looks like a useful tool.
It's going to be so nice to have a really large knife friendly board for sushi prep etc.

If you miss including the scraper feel free to let me know. I haven’t placed my order yet and can add an extra easy enough and hand it over in person in a couple weeks

[Chefspence]

When are we gonna make boards a sticky topic?

[mastayoou]

has anyone compared the Yoshihiro Hi-soft vs the Tenryo Hi-soft?

they both are calling their boards "hi-soft" but the sizes and pricing varies from site to site

[mauichef]

If you miss including the scraper feel free to let me know. I haven’t placed my order yet and can add an extra easy enough and hand it over in person in a couple weeks

Thanks Sean.
I managed to get one included.
But hope to see you too!
Aloha.

[LostHighway]

My small Tenryo Hi-Soft board arrived yesterday. It is both denser and harder than I had expected. If it doesn't warp and lives up to the edge care hype I'm totally satisfied. The additional inch or two of counter height that end grain boards create relative to the Hi-Soft are definitely not a plus for end grain in our, not very tall, household.
I still have some lingering curiosity about Tenryo Hi-Soft v. Yoshihiro Hi-Soft v. the cheaper, no name, synthetic rubber cutting boards from Webstaurant and some other vendors.
The Larch end grain boards also interest me,but Larch/Tamarack is said to be high in silica like Bamboo and Teak which might create edge abrasion issues. At least on paper I still like Black Cherry the best among the hardwoods commonly used for end grain cutting boards.

[OgerBash]

I have the korin hisoft. They only time it warped a little bit was when I went camping and left it leaning against the table camping, in the sun, in the middle of a tex as summer. All I did was flip it around and put it on the table and the warp came right out. It has been fine since then.

My small Tenryo Hi-Soft board arrived yesterday. It is both denser and harder than I had expected. If it doesn't warp and lives up to the edge care hype I'm totally satisfied. The additional inch or two of counter height that end grain boards create relative to the Hi-Soft are definitely not a plus for end grain in our, not very tall, household.
I still have some lingering curiosity about Tenryo Hi-Soft v. Yoshihiro Hi-Soft v. the cheaper, no name, synthetic rubber cutting boards from Webstaurant and some other vendors.
The Larch end grain boards also interest me,but Larch/Tamarack is said to be high in silica like Bamboo and Teak which might create edge abrasion issues. At least on paper I still like Black Cherry the best among the hardwoods commonly used for end grain cutting boards.

[salemj]

Not sure of the goal here. Is it to replace your current wood board, or to replace the plastic supplements, or both?

From my very limited understanding, which is supplemented by the very maximal understanding of my friend who studies bacteria at the highest level, moisture is the biggest issue with safety and sanitation. Furthermore, our meat supply is generally getting worse and worse since decades ago, so I don't trust any argument that references practices about sanitation from the past: the vast majority of issues related to meat (and veggies) nowadays have to do with massive harvest practices and factory cross-contamination which far, far exceeds any such issues of older generations.

This makes wood the best and the worst: it is the best if you want something that stays sanitary over time, as the moisture it absorbs actually helps to dry out the board surface quickly (even during use) and it washes cleanly and dries quickly, all of which helps to avoid contamination. (Remember: microbes are not moisture, they need moisture, so absorbing moisture kills them, it doesn't "absorb" them.) However, it is the "worst" in that all of this takes TIME, so if you often cook meat while cooking other things, you are at greater risk of cross-contamination using one board for everything than switching between two boards.

Likewise, plastic and other hard surfaces are actually the "worst" for sanitation (even of veggies; as Jeff highlights, lots of veggies carry e-coli and other very bad things!): they do not naturally dry out, they do not absorb moisture, and when you wash them, they can take a very long time to dry, which actually promotes microbial growth on the surface to the extreme. It would actually be much WORSE, in my opinion, to use a single plastic board for everything than a single wood board for everything for all of these reasons. But this doesn't change the fact that the best and easiest solution to avoid cross-contamination is to use two boards, or the fact that you are, in fact, much more likely to get very sick from cutting meat on a board and following it with salad prep with poor washing than you are from doing salad prep alone! Haha.

I think the convenience of a separate plastic board for meat - at least for me - is just that it is lighter, smaller, and easier to clean in the sink and it has a juice groove. If I had my preference, I'd just have an extra wood board I used for meat (in fact I do, but it is still harder to wash in the sink), but I would still use two separate boards since I often start with meat prep and do raw prep (for salads, etc) after this, without enough time in between for any board to sufficiently dry, especially when producing humidity while cooking.

I would just any other board or board material by these exact same standards. I would hesitate to use a rubber board because it is heavier than plastic but similarly does not actually absorb moisture, so it is bad for cross-contamination (but probably excellent for meat-only or veggie-only use); I would readily use other types of wood boards that are lighter than end-grain for the same reasons as above.

[btbyrd]

The $25 and $48 extra-small/small Hi Soft boards from Korin make a good pair. All my wooden boards are larger and more difficult to wash. While I kind of hate the look and color of them in the home (compared to wood) they feel like heaven.

[GuyDebord]

Can someone please describe the texture and overall feeling of the Hi-Soft? Does it mark a lot?
I use Hinoki for veggies, love how gentle it is to knives but it marks like crazy, so they don't last much. Could someone that has used Hinoki pitch in with the main difference in feeling and maintenance?