Cutting board use

I have seen rules that say not to use a wooden cutting board for meat or fish. Is that government over-protection for public eating places, or is that a rule that is important in the home kitchen?

Will the "board butter" used to treat my Boardsmith board flavor meat or fish if I do use it for such? In particular, will it spoil the delicate flavor of sashimi?

I appreciate the expert advice provided here, and will do what y'all recommend.

Thanks for your help,

Keith

That is a weird Gov. policy for pubic food prep in some arias. I've seen other studies that say the natural properties of wood help control unwanted bacteria. Just be sure to keep raw flesh separate from raw fruit/veg between washings. If you want to be extra safe you can have a veg board, poultry board, and general meat or fish board. As far as the board butter goes I don't know the ingredient list, but he is a quality maker and if he recommends it I'm sure its fine.

That's a good question. Similar topics have come up, but never whether or not the butter will flavor your product or not.
I use the same stuff, just not made by David and I haven't noticed any transference to my food. If you let it dry for long enough, and really buff it off, you won't have any sort of detectable buildup on the surface of you board.
I'd say, make sure you wipe it all off when you buff/rub it in and you should be fine.

Board butter is a mix of mineral oil and bees wax afaik. It's easy to make something like that yourself.
A dedicated board for raw meats (esp. poultry) is always a good idea even if it's thin poly to sit on your good block.

My board wax is walnut oil and bees wax so there are different formulas, some use food grade flaxseed oil that they boil until siccative and add the wax. All are good food safe products.

I've found that when cutting proteins that cause juice/ blood to pool/ run, plastics are hard to just wipe clean. You have to basically scrub and wash them to remove it. When cutting a rare'ish steak, for example, on a wood board, all thats needed is a quick swipe of a sanitizer soaked towel and its back to business....and at the end of every shift, I wash it, dry it, and wipe it with mineral oil...next shift I wipe it down good with a dry towel to remove any excess oil.

Thanks for the answers. That is what I was hoping to hear.

What do you prefer for a cutting board sanitizer?

Keith Neal said:

Thanks for the answers. That is what I was hoping to hear.

What do you prefer for a cutting board sanitizer?

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That's another good question. I know that you're not supposed to use anything like regualar dishsoap or that's made with lipids or pastics (just like you're not supposed to uses them on coffee equipment) because the wax and lipids in the soap will bind with the oils and resin and give it a plasticy smell and taste.

I use a water / vinegar mix in a spray bottle(makes me want salt n' vinegar chips when I use it, but dries odor-free) for most of my kitchen surface cleaning. Bleach water for synthetic boards, but not wood.

However, I've found that even the mild vinegar water really removes the "good" oil and wax from my wood board too.

jwhite said:

My board wax is walnut oil and bees wax ...

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Walnut oil will get rancid and start to smell bad. :scared4:

From another web site:

"Not completely true. Walnut cooking oil will not harden into a film - like any other cooking oil.

Polymerized walnut oil will harden into a film just like tung oil or any other polyermized oil. I use polymerized walnut oil on cutting boards. You need to flood the surface and continue applying the oil over a 20-30 minute period and then wipe off the excess.

The oil will penetrate the surface and then harden at the final depth it has penetrated. Like any other polymerized oil, this forms the base for the subsequent coats.

Reapply the same way another 2-3 times with at least 1-day between applications and you will have a nicely sealed surface.

You can wipe the surface with soap and water to clean it, and then just follow up with another light coat of oil."

SpikeC said:

From another web site:

"Not completely true. Walnut cooking oil will not harden into a film - like any other cooking oil.

Polymerized walnut oil will harden into a film just like tung oil or any other polyermized oil. I use polymerized walnut oil on cutting boards. You need to flood the surface and continue applying the oil over a 20-30 minute period and then wipe off the excess.

The oil will penetrate the surface and then harden at the final depth it has penetrated. Like any other polymerized oil, this forms the base for the subsequent coats.

Reapply the same way another 2-3 times with at least 1-day between applications and you will have a nicely sealed surface.

You can wipe the surface with soap and water to clean it, and then just follow up with another light coat of oil."

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Yep the oil is rendered siccative and does not go rancid after the boiling process. It does not have driers or other additives that would make it unsafe. It is a drying oil that is certified food safe for direct food contact and is intended for use on wooden prep boards, salad bowls, and wooden utensils.

Probably not the correct answer, but I just use the sani solution from the packets for red sani buckets.... may not be best for wood board, but definitely safest for food. But, I do oil almost nightly....

NO ChoP! said:

Probably not the correct answer, but I just use the sani solution from the packets for red sani buckets.... may not be best for wood board, but definitely safest for food. But, I do oil almost nightly....

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They certainly sterilize. Those things kill HIV.

Dave Smith recommends vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio, in addition to some kind of light bleach solution. Also, you can coat the board in salt overnight if you have an especially messy day and are feeling paranoid. I say let it get some sun sometimes. Sunlight is an underrated disinfectant.

+1 on salting it overnight. That's become weekly SOP for me, more often after a dinner party when I'm really cooking.

+1 for salting. Iodized salt. Quat sanitizer for overnight soaks on SaniTuff boards.
My J cooks swear by alcohol in a spray bottle. Passes health inspections, so what the hell.

I have some thoughts regarding cleaning and sanitation. All of the methods Ive read above are effective and useful, but they may not all be right for every board or individual. An alcohol wipe can be effective but if you use a board maintenance product that contains beeswax you will end up dewaxing the board every cleaning, alcohol will also act as a solvent for many oils. If you oil with mineral oil after every cleaning and use no other products that could be a good choice as it is non drying any way. If you use food grade siccative oils and or waxes salting followed by a dilute bleach solution about 1TBS per gallon will kill any baddies your likely to come across. On my boards at home I typically just ring out the dish rag from the sink for hand washables, which has an antibacterial dish soap in it, wash the board and rinse/dry. I oil or wax as it appears nessicary. If doing prep for a sausage making session, or breaking down a mess of chickens for BBQ I'll do the salt and bleach.

SpikeC said:

From another web site:

"Not completely true. Walnut cooking oil will not harden into a film - like any other cooking oil.

Polymerized walnut oil will harden into a film just like tung oil or any other polyermized oil. I use polymerized walnut oil on cutting boards. You need to flood the surface and continue applying the oil over a 20-30 minute period and then wipe off the excess.

The oil will penetrate the surface and then harden at the final depth it has penetrated. Like any other polymerized oil, this forms the base for the subsequent coats.

Reapply the same way another 2-3 times with at least 1-day between applications and you will have a nicely sealed surface.

You can wipe the surface with soap and water to clean it, and then just follow up with another light coat of oil."

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I don't use mineral oil because I'm worried walnut oil will go rancid, I use mineral oil because it's about 10 times cheaper.

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When it comes to sanitizing a board for home use, I really just wipe it clean. The anti-bacterial properties of wooden boards that people talk about is really just that things need moisture and oxygen to grow on your board, so if it's really, really dry you should be good. Oiling is a maintenance thing for the board, not a sanitary one.

That said, if I'm doing chicken or something and I know there's more use for the board coming for the same meal, I'll use a different board for it.