Cutting Board Love

[Lindsey 575]

We have officially launched our new cutting board product line and the response has been amazing! I'm so excited to see that all the awesome Barkers and Coconuts here are as excited about wooden nerdy kitchen gear as I am. 

We've been getting some questions about the durability of the cutting boards and their care. @Zoe is putting together loving instructions on how to clean and care for your cutting board that use words and are actually legible. So stay tuned for those coming soon!

In the meantime I thought I would show off my Dog Might Cutting boards that are about 2 years old now. Like every product that we sell, the cutting board idea was tested for a long time in house to try and see how difficult the product is to use and care for. We found the cutting boards to be incredibly durable and continued to look amazing after years of heavy use.

There's two things you should know about these old cutting boards;

1. Like all my treasured Dog Might gear I abused the heck out of these. I used them almost every single day (usually multiple times) with extremely sharp knives and have probably washed them in hot water hundreds if not thousands of times. Although I never put them in a dishwasher and never let them sit in water, I wasn't exactly gentle with them. I cut every food known to man on their surface. Also I pulverized meat, shucked oysters, and took a cleaver to frozen whole chickens. I followed almost none of @Zoe rules and only gave them a rub down with mineral oil once a year. 
2. There's knife scratches all over these things! Unless you decide to use your cutting board as an amazing cheese platter (which is totally legit and you should invite me to your game nights), the wood is going to get scratched and visually change with the wear and tear of use. When I say change I mean it will transform into an incredibly personal tool that tells a story about you, much like a favorite axe in battle. I know it's hard seeing something beautiful get its first couple of scratches but I encourage everyone to use the heck out of these and take pride in the wood's appearance. 

The first cutting board is Chechen, Rosewood, and Wenge.

The second cutting board is Wenge and Purple Heart.

 

 

 

 

[Zoe 427]

Dang, this is amazing! You talking about it like a battle axe makes me, someone who never cooks, actually want one...

[Zenithsplendor 219]

These are such a great idea.

[Zoxe 445]

3 hours ago, Lindsey said:

took a cleaver to frozen whole chickens.

Chickens.  Plural.  That's a glorious mental image.  How hard was it to clean the ceiling after? 

 

[Lindsey 575]

 

15 hours ago, Zoxe said:

Chickens.  Plural.  That's a glorious mental image.  How hard was it to clean the ceiling after? 

 

I was forced to do it outside where the collateral damage was easier to hide. The picnic table didn't survive but the cutting board did!

[Peter Pickle 383]

Does the Wenge seal up pretty well? I would be worried about the rough, open grains on such woods unless the sealer ends up putting a smooth surface on the cutting board. Otherwise, it's a breeding ground for bacteria

Edited February 21 by Ian Coyle

[Lindsey 575]

31 minutes ago, Ian Coyle said:

Does the Wenge seal up pretty well? I would be worried about the rough, open grains on such woods unless the sealer ends up putting a smooth surface on the cutting board. Otherwise, it's a breeding ground for bacteria

That's a really good point @Ian Coyle!

The Wenge is so dense and hard that a knife barely can scratch it, making it pretty good in that regard. However, you are correct that it has a really open grain and is prone to small fissures as the wood expands and changes. This takes a long time but it will happen eventually no matter how many sealers are applied. This is why we don't make any cutting boards with a large amount of Wenge anymore, although we find the small strips banded in don't really expand. From a safety perspective I would strongly suggest never cutting raw meat on a pure Wenge board because of the risk of bacteria getting into the grain. I think you'd be fine with veggies and the such as long as you clean the board thoroughly. I always clean my cutting boards immediately after each use and lather on lots of antibacterial dish soap with very hot water, not great for the wood but good at killing bacteria. I've used the Wenge cutting board for everything and never had an issue (again not suggested from a safety point) but I also accidently eat dirt often and regularly cleanse my stomach in alcohol. Not to mention I have the luck of an idiot and a young healthy immune system. 

 

[RomyCat 669]

I love the idea of the cutting boards. Even aged, they still look good.

[Zoe 427]

I'm not even the one cooking most of the time (I usually bake), but I just like to have as many wooden utensils in my kitchen as I can. I tried to get some wood measuring cups and spoons for Christmas this year, but that didn't work out. I love my wooden spoons, though. And this has suddenly reminded me that I need to re-season my cast iron skillet!

Wood and cast iron. That's all you need.

[Adam 403]

13 minutes ago, Zoe said:

Wood and cast iron. That's all you need.

@Zoe Oh glorious cast iron! It took me so long in life to get smart and start using it but I love mine. I have a 9" and recently got a 12" for Christmas. Steak in cast iron cooked in the oven...even though it's not even 8 in the morning here yet, my mouth is watering. And now that we're talking about this, perhaps I'll get the trust 9" out this weekend and do some biscuits and gravy...

[Zoe 427]

13 minutes ago, Adam said:

@Zoe Oh glorious cast iron! It took me so long in life to get smart and start using it but I love mine. I have a 9" and recently got a 12" for Christmas. Steak in cast iron cooked in the oven...even though it's not even 8 in the morning here yet, my mouth is watering. And now that we're talking about this, perhaps I'll get the trust 9" out this weekend and do some biscuits and gravy...

I want bacon. Bacon for days.

[Adam 403]

10 minutes ago, Zoe said:

I want bacon. Bacon for days.

^Every single bit of this.

Apparently I've used up my allotted reactions for the day already 

[Adam 403]

20 minutes ago, Zoe said:

I want bacon. Bacon for days.

@Zoe Have you done bacon in the oven before on like a sheet pan? It always feels kind of like cheating, but it's less labor intensive and sometimes that's what I want.

[Zoe 427]

Just now, Adam said:

@Zoe Have you done bacon in the oven before on like a sheet pan? It always feels kind of like cheating, but it's less labor intensive and sometimes that's what I want.

YESSSS. I started doing this back in August and now it's my morning weekend routine. I wake up, preheat the oven, get some coffee, put the bacon in. Lay around and wake up some more. Pop some English muffins in the toaster, pour some orange juice, and then deliver the baconnnn. It's the best.

And it can still come out nice and crispy like I like it! I love it. We tried it because of Anthony Bourdain. He definitely was not wrong.

[Adam 403]

26 minutes ago, Zoe said:

it's my morning weekend routine

Any routine that includes bacon is a winner.

[Barb Bliss 2,085]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

@Zoe Oh glorious cast iron! It took me so long in life to get smart and start using it but I love mine. I have a 9" and recently got a 12" for Christmas. Steak in cast iron cooked in the oven...even though it's not even 8 in the morning here yet, my mouth is watering. And now that we're talking about this, perhaps I'll get the trust 9" out this weekend and do some biscuits and gravy...

I'd like mine medium rare.

[Barb Bliss 2,085]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

^Every single bit of this.

Apparently I've used up my allotted reactions for the day already 

Me too.  It's real annoying.

[Peter Pickle 383]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

^Every single bit of this.

Apparently I've used up my allotted reactions for the day already 

I haven't been able to do reactions for two days now for some reason

[Adam 403]

42 minutes ago, Barb Bliss said:

I'd like mine medium rare.

Is there another way to eat steak?

[Zoe 427]

3 minutes ago, Adam said:

Is there another way to eat steak?

My good family friend always does Pittsburgh rare. 

[Adam 403]

1 minute ago, Zoe said:

My good family friend always does Pittsburgh rare. 

I had not heard of this before, thank you Google. That's a bit too rare for my tastes. 

My friend's dad always says, "Just walk it through a warm kitchen."

[Serge Darveau 884]

1 minute ago, Zoe said:

My good family friend always does Pittsburgh rare. 

The meat is cold, I prefer to warm up the steak before. I've been asked for it only once in 20 years.  

[Thomas Browne 869]

11 minutes ago, Adam said:

Is there another way to eat steak?

All depends on who's cooking it.

I prefer true medium rare (by temperature).

Which usually means if I'm going to a steakhouse - I have to order medium

 

And you should know the background of "Pittsburghing" a steak (since I live in Pittsburgh) -- it goes back to the steel mill days.  Workers would take a steak and hold it up to the smelters to cook the outside of the steak - leaving the inside effectively raw.

[Adam 403]

1 minute ago, Thomas Browne said:

And you should know the background of "Pittsburghing" a steak (since I live in Pittsburgh) -- it goes back to the steel mill days.  Workers would take a steak and hold it up to the smelters to cook the outside of the steak - leaving the inside effectively raw.

Wow! Definitely the best fun fact I've learned today, and my morning today has been spent chasing down some interesting information on IP addresses.

[Serge Darveau 884]

1 minute ago, Thomas Browne said:

All depends on who's cooking it.

I prefer true medium rare (by temperature).

Which usually means if I'm going to a steakhouse - I have to order medium

 

And you should know the background of "Pittsburghing" a steak (since I live in Pittsburgh) -- it goes back to the steel mill days.  Workers would take a steak and hold it up to the smelters to cook the outside of the steak - leaving the inside effectively raw.