Fork and board question

Now that I am getting into some nicer blades, I need some new accessories.

First, I need a new, edge grain wooden board. Max size is around 22" long by 14 wide. Currently using a bamboo board (gasp, I know!) and I want to upgrade to help keep the edges. I am debating the juice channel feature. We cook whole chickens frequently, and the juices run all over the counter. Are most juice channels deep enough to contain a lot of juice or are they more cosmetic? I know I will lose some cutting space on the board. What are some thoughts on the channels??

Next item I need is a strong fork. I have a couple flat tine forks, but they flex way too much when taking stuff out of the pans. When the tines bend, I tend to hit one of the bent tines once in a while. Any strong forks out there that don't bend like a wet noodle???

Pierre had some cool forks he was upgrading a while ago, I would look into those.

We have a two sided bamboo board that we picked up at costco that has channels on one side that is about that size. The only reason I bought it was for those channels. I like not running juices all over the place, however I have other boards that I use for cutting.

The blood grooves work, provided your counter isn't really un-level. I don't use them though, we just let the chicken rest a few minutes on a grate over the pan it was cooked in--lets the meat rest and finish cooking too. Then I just wipe up as I work, but I guess I'm just used to it from work.

Why are you set on edge grain? End grain feels and sounds so nice!

No recommendations on a fork, but I have one coming from Pierre and grew up with a sabatier, which never had the problem you are experiencing--it was very robust.

Oops, should be end grain, not edge grain. I let the food sit, but they are still pretty juicy. I saw Pierre's forks and they look sweet, but I am looking for something in stainless.

Taz575 said:

Oops, should be end grain, not edge grain. I let the food sit, but they are still pretty juicy. I saw Pierre's forks and they look sweet, but I am looking for something in stainless.

Click to expand...

Boardsmith Board and +1 on asking Pierre for a fork. If he is out William Catcheside is another good choice.

[deleted, wrong thread]

It's between a ProTeak End Grain board or a Boardsmith for the boards right now. Debating whether or not I want the juice groove. I have a very large plastic board that has juice grooves in it and they work, but there are a few grooves in the board. I wasn't sure if the one groove would work, but it looks like it should at least help out.

Still researching various forks.

No matter if you buy one of mine or not, keep in mind that Teak contains silica and can dull your edges much qucker than a maple end grain board. Also, Teak contains oils in the wood that can loosen a glued edge unless the glue joints have been washed with acetone or something else to wash the oils off. Normally the glues used are two part resorsinal (hope I spelled that correctly) glue which is terribly hard when cured.

Perimeter grooves are nice but they take up a lot of working room, can be tough to clean and make it almost impossible to scrape food off the board.

The BoardSMITH said:

... and make it almost impossible to scrape food off the board.

Click to expand...

And this is the #1 reason to NOT have perimeter grooves. It's also annoying when you're just wiping the board down with a damp cloth. All the stuff you're trying to wipe up ends up in the groove.

Good info on the Teak!! I was wondering because people like it on boat decks, but I thought it was an oily wood. The pictures of the boards looked pretty cool, too with the grain coloring.

Yeah, the big plastic one with the grooves is a pain to clean and scrape food off of; I usually use it for watermelons and other really wet/juicy stuff. I think I will end up going with a non grooved board from Dave. I measured the 20x14, gotta see what my max board size will be for where it's going! Parents will get it for my birthday hopefully

I would go with the boardsmith without hesitation. If you want grooves, just keep the large plastic board you have to serve that purpose. As for forks, Pierre's look absolutely stunning. I personally have an old Sab that is a beast of a fork. The only way I see it bending is if you put it in a vice and start pounding on it with a sledge hammer.

I just rest a towel at the bottom of the board to catch juices. Maybe just stick with a cheapy with groves for juicy things and get a nice board for everything else...

I agree with, well, everyone's input here.
Get a Pierre fork, and if it patinates, which it should/will, it'll look awesome!
Get a BoardSmith for everyday use.
Keep the juice groove board you already have for extra juicy items, such as rare roasts, watermelons, etc. I have a grooved poly board that I carve roasts on sometimes, but to be honest, I tend to just use my end-grain, an wipe up afterwards.

NO ChoP! said:

Maybe just stick with a cheapy with groves for juicy things and get a nice board for everything else...

Click to expand...

Another vote for going this route. At least at my house >90% of the time we are not cutting anything that contains enough liquid to warrant to juice groove. Usually only large roasts produce enough liquid to flow over the board edges (although it also depends on the size of the board -- the bigger the footprint the less of an issue overflowing will be).

An extra-large SaniTuff and a large station like ThEoRy has?