Butchers Block: From Day-to-Day to Designer in 200 Years
By Mark Knowles
Butchers block sounds so, I don’t know, basic – and that is exactly what it is. Until Victorian times (around 1800) many butchers used a tree trunk to butcher their meat and carve it. And – to a large extent, you took your chances as far as hygiene went.
There are reasons why people lived shorter life spans back then and poor food hygiene is one of those reasons. The simple fact is that a piece of wood is porous and open to all sorts of bacteria to seep into and a raw piece of wood will naturally score when meat is cut on it and blood will seep in and cause bacteria to grow and multiply.
Hence was born a butchers block – a piece of wood specifically created for use by butchers and made in such a way as to be hygienic. This is achieved by gluing lots of small pieces of wood together so that the butcher can plane the surface after use and ever time a new, fresh clean surface is presented to chop the meat on.
The block is formed by gluing pieces of wood – usually a hard wood – under pressure. There are two different types of butcher block – side grain and end grain. As the name simply, this depends on which part of the wood is exposed and to be used as the cutting surface. End grain is far superior and harder to make. But – the long-term benefits are substantial. Because the end grain is less abrasive to a knife, any knives or cleavers used need sharpening far less often.
It is possible to make your own butchers block cutting board, but most people will buy one rather than make one. As with everything, what was once a practical, useful tool has now become “fashionable,” and there are a number of companies – such as John Boos – selling up market versions of these blocks as a sort of designer accessory.
Don’t get me wrong – John Boos make a superb chopping board, but designer it is not. You can now buy designer counter tops, work surfaces and all sorts – most of which are over priced and over engineered. Who is going to take a meat cleaver to their “designer counter top?”
I prefer a heavy cutting board and of course the original butchers block was a far more functional item than the cutting boards now available, although in certain parts - some still use the “tree trunk.”
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Comments
Very interesting history on the butcher’s block, I think most of us have grown up mothers and grandmothers using them. My kitchen counter is done in that style…
Hi Mark - I enjoy reading your articles, and this one is no exception to that. In the restaurant business it is a bigtime rule that you sanitize your cutting boards and butcher blocks between use. Typically, we use a bleach solution. Personally, I prefer a dense plastic cutting board because they are easy to keep sanitary. Gus
Thanks guys. Butchers block is easier on knives I must admit. But plastic you can throw in the dishwasher.
I remember reading a study where plastic cutting boards and wooden cutting boards were "dosed" with bacteria and then kept in a warm humid environment. After a week each was drawn out of the temp/humidity chamber and swabbed. The swab was then rubbed on a growth medium in a petri dish and the amount of bacteria counted.
Strange as this may seem the wooden boards either arrested bacterial development or prevented it entirely. The plastic didn't fair so well.
http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver
Third paragraph.
Wow! - lol
So - I am better off with my wooden boards. I knew it :)
I was surprised to read this too, especially since the FDA made a very big deal over plastic cutting boards. I'm glad someone out there queried them in depth and found out the recommendation had no actual science behind it.
Can't say I am surprised. I have got to the point where I automatically disbelieve everything the Government Inc tells me. :(
I've always loved a wood chopping block, and once had one as a kitchen island. However, that was in my bachelor days. Now that I'm a family man, hygiene is a lot higher on my list than decor, and the wood butcher block was the first thing to go out the door in trade for a boring, but easily sanitized plexiglass cutting board.
THanks for sharing!
Great article! Especially from my perspective as an interior designer. I’m very familiar with John Boos since I sell a few of them a year for kitchen islands and such. It always amazes me that people will pay more for a Boos “designer” island than they would for solid granite. And you’re right about the meat cleaver. I always have a quiet chuckle to myself when I install a butcher block top in someone’s house because I know it will never see the edge of a knife.
lyricsingray 2 years ago
What a fascinating topic-I learned something today - yeh for me, glad I came by. Thanks for a great Hub!