restaurants using wooden chopping boards as plates

lookitsme · 07-08-2015 05:04PM #1

Hi all just wondering other peoples opinion on restaurants serving food on wooden chopping boards. Some think they look nice and rustic but my query is the food safety aspect. I once remember a chef saying somewhere they were not allowed use wooden chopping boards to prep food because of the risk of causing food poisoning because they could not be cleaned to an adequate food safety standard. If you order a rare steak some of the juice surly gets absorbed into the board so can this be cleaned correctly and safely whilst in a commercial dishwasher for a few minutes.

percy212 · 07-08-2015 05:13PM

They need to cop on. Unhygienic, impractical, and just messy. Use plates. Civilization moved on from logs to plates quite a while ago.

looksee · 07-08-2015 05:18PM

You cannot put wooden boards in a dishwasher afaik, but at the same time lab testing apparently showed that wooden chopping boards, platters etc do not carry bacteria in the same way as synthetic boards, they are self-disinfecting. Don't know if this is in fact true.

lanomist · 07-08-2015 05:36PM

These are all gimmicks being used by restaurants to try and show that they are modern and competing with the the top gourmet restaurants. Steak on a wooden chopping board, steak on a stone ( a piece of slate ) Send the meal back and request a plate, or better still ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table and change it yourself.

Fuzzy Clam · 07-08-2015 05:38PM

looksee wrote: »

You cannot put wooden boards in a dishwasher afaik, but at the same time lab testing apparently showed that wooden chopping boards, platters etc do not carry bacteria in the same way as synthetic boards, they are self-disinfecting. Don't know if this is in fact true.

I've seen the same claims. Wooden boards have less bacteria 24 hrs (or something) later.

PLL · 07-08-2015 05:42PM

lanomist wrote: »

These are all gimmicks being used by restaurants to try and show that they are modern and competing with the the top gourmet restaurants. Steak on a wooden chopping board, steak on a stone ( a piece of slate ) Send the meal back and request a plate, or better still ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table and change it yourself.

Wow.

fred funk }{ · 07-08-2015 08:50PM

lanomist wrote: »

These are all gimmicks being used by restaurants to try and show that they are modern and competing with the the top gourmet restaurants. Steak on a wooden chopping board, steak on a stone ( a piece of slate ) Send the meal back and request a plate, or better still ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table and change it yourself.

Is say you're great craic whilst out for dinner.

Diamond Doll · 07-08-2015 08:55PM

lanomist wrote: »

These are all gimmicks being used by restaurants to try and show that they are modern and competing with the the top gourmet restaurants. Steak on a wooden chopping board, steak on a stone ( a piece of slate ) Send the meal back and request a plate, or better still ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table and change it yourself.

I thought the slate for the steak on a stone was actually functional though, that the slate is hot and cooks the meat to your taste as you eat it? I dunno, I've never actually tried it!

I hate being given food on anything flat, be it a chopping board, slate, whatever. Food just goes everywhere ... or maybe I'm just a messy eater.

BaZmO* · 07-08-2015 09:14PM

lanomist wrote: »

These are all gimmicks being used by restaurants to try and show that they are modern and competing with the the top gourmet restaurants. Steak on a wooden chopping board, steak on a stone ( a piece of slate ) Send the meal back and request a plate, or better still ask for an empty plate to be brought to the table and change it yourself.

You could argue that using a plate is just a gimmick. After all, it costs an awful lot more to make a plate compared to just serving the food in a paper bag.

This little piggy wrote: »

I thought the slate for the steak on a stone was actually functional though, that the slate is hot and cooks the meat to your taste as you eat it? I dunno, I've never actually tried it!

It is functional. It actually cooks the steak as you cut it. When done right it's amazing. The Mucky Duck in Celbridge used to it and it was incredible.

pwurple · 08-08-2015 06:55AM

Not a fan of cooking my own food in a restaurant. I'd stay at home and do a better job of it myself. How are you supposed to rest the meat properly with a hot slate?

Anyway, that aside... It's like a disease, or a competition of who can serve stuff in the weirdest ways..

http://wewantplates.com/category/worst-of-we-want-plates/

twignme · 08-08-2015 07:24AM

I absolutely hate my food being served on a wooden board. I was at a place recently where the customer turnover was very high and they obviously wouldn't have sufficient boards for all of them. By 9pm when I ate, my board was damp from being washed however many times that evening, it was cold, and worst of all, the whole place had the aroma of drying wet wood. It was most unpleasant.

Mr Magnolia · 08-08-2015 08:48AM

^^ jaysus ^^

I wouldn't like to eat from one myself. Wooden spoons in professional kitchens are a rare enough sight I'm told for similar hygiene reasons.

lookitsme · 08-08-2015 09:35AM

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

^^ jaysus ^^

I wouldn't like to eat from one myself. Wooden spoons in professional kitchens are a rare enough sight I'm told for similar hygiene reasons.

Maybe we should all revolt and bring are own wooden spoons to these restaurants and wave them at the servers if they approach us with these "hip" boards. Nothing like the threat of a good wollop with a wooden spoon to improve behaviour, oldskool irish mammy style

Diamond Doll · 08-08-2015 10:39AM

The Facebook page "We Want Plates" is hilarious, and very relevant to this thread!

ShoulderChip · 08-08-2015 10:40AM

looksee wrote: »

You cannot put wooden boards in a dishwasher afaik,

You can! I did it earlier this week.
are you implying it is in someway a bad thing to do? if so why?

Slaphead07 · 08-08-2015 12:33PM

This little piggy wrote: »

The Facebook page "We Want Plates" is hilarious, and very relevant to this thread!

I was going to post that, great site... I don't mind bread served on a wooden board but not a meal. Plates are hygienic and practical, the fad for boards,. stones, little buckets and cloth caps (yes, cloth caps!) wouldn't be necessary if the food was good enough.

SpaceTime · 08-08-2015 12:35PM

I'm not kidding here, I was in London a few weeks ago and I had chips served to me in a real bowler hat! They just lined it with grease proof paper. It even had old ketchup stains (yuk)

In Cork I had herbal tea served up in a jam jar which you had to hold with a napkin ...

They're going too far!

Jawgap · 08-08-2015 12:39PM

It's gimmicky alright, but whether it's a food safety issue depends on the wood used and the treatments it has undergone

The softer the wood the more likely it is to present a problem, especially if the dish has to be incised - for example steak etc

A sealed hardwood board, not put through the dishwasher but cleaned by hand, is going to be fine, especially if the food is simply lifted from it.

Slaphead07 · 08-08-2015 01:03PM

Jawgap wrote: »

It's gimmicky alright, but whether it's a food safety issue depends on the wood used and the treatments it has undergone

Yep, but hygiene systems in restaurants and cafes are geared towards cleaning plates.

Jawgap · 08-08-2015 01:10PM

Slaphead07 wrote: »

Yep, but hygiene systems in restaurants and cafes are geared towards cleaning plates.

Well I'd say they're geared towards cleaning.

There's so many surfaces and materials being used in restaurant kitchens now the 'old' systems no longer suffice.

Plus, if the restaurant had sourced them from their supplier as items on which food will be served they'll be designed / constructed for that use - no one uses roof slates or garden stones on which to serve food, they use properly treated products.

Likewise with boards.

Just checked Nisbets and acacia seems to be the wood of choice (along with oak and olive wood) for serving boards.

Mr Magnolia · 08-08-2015 01:22PM

There's a difference between a serving board with a soup bowl and some crusty bread sitting on it (for example) and a serving board being used as a plate. All wood is porous; even if treated, once a knife has been cut against it a couple of times it's even more porous.
Wooden serving board yes, wooden plate is a no for me all day. Gimmicky and not at all appealing.

L1011 · 08-08-2015 07:57PM

ShoulderChip wrote: »

You can! I did it earlier this week.
are you implying it is in someway a bad thing to do? if so why?

They eventually break from the damp for starters

Dial Hard · 08-08-2015 08:13PM

ShoulderChip wrote:

You can! I did it earlier this week. are you implying it is in someway a bad thing to do? if so why?

You *can* but you shouldn't. The prolonged immersion and high temperatures will warp and split the wood after a couple of goes.

endacl · 08-08-2015 08:19PM

Ate in the same restaurant in Dingle the last three nights. Yes, the food was that good! It came on a plate. Just a normal plate. Nothing fancy.

I've often got good food served up on a board. I've only ever had great food on a plate though.

Jellybaby1 · 08-08-2015 08:39PM

I am not a fan of wooden boards or slates. I had a meal not too long ago with a sauce actually served on a slate. How are you expected to scrape a sauce off a slate? The design of a plate with a 'lip' around the edge is very helpful when lifting food with knife and folk. The 'lip' is not there for show, it is functional. With a board or slate, there is no 'lip' so as far as I am concerned they are not designed to do the job properly. Having said that, the worst story I heard was a couple I know who were served soup in a scooped out bread loaf, which I believe some restaurants still do. They were sick that night after the meal and they suspected the bread loaf might have been used, over, and over. Ugh!

The Hill Billy · 08-08-2015 09:47PM

endacl wrote: »

Ate in the same restaurant in Dingle the last three nights. Yes, the food was that good! It came on a plate. Just a normal plate. Nothing fancy.

I've often got good food served up on a board. I've only ever had great food on a plate though.

Just back from Dingle myself. Ne'er a shovel, board or fancy-ass food holder to be seen anywhere. Just plates. Plates everywhere. Apart from the best food that we had which came wrapped in paper from the Reel Dingle Fish Co.

ShoulderChip · 08-08-2015 10:00PM

Dial Hard wrote: »

You *can* but you shouldn't. The prolonged immersion and high temperatures will warp and split the wood after a couple of goes.

oh thats fine, I have no problem with that happening thankfully.

SpaceTime · 08-08-2015 10:35PM

Chips in a small bucket is common enough.

northgirl · 08-08-2015 10:41PM

SpaceTime wrote: »

I'm not kidding here, I was in London a few weeks ago and I had chips served to me in a real bowler hat! They just lined it with grease proof paper. It even had old ketchup stains (yuk)

In Cork I had herbal tea served up in a jam jar which you had to hold with a napkin ...

They're going too far!

That's absolutely gross(bowler hat).

At least the tea was in glass! Where was that out of interest?

northgirl · 08-08-2015 10:42PM

SpaceTime wrote: »

Chips in a small bucket is common enough.

Or a mini deep fat fryer metal yoke with a handle

At least they are metal.

amdublin · 08-08-2015 10:43PM

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

..... Having said that, the worst story I heard was a couple I know who were served soup in a scooped out bread loaf, which I believe some restaurants still do. They were sick that night after the meal and they suspected the bread loaf might have been used, over, and over. Ugh!

Chowder served in sourdough bread bowl is standard San Francisco fare. You eat the bread as the soup goes down.
Seriously how long would bread last if it was being "reused" it would get wet and soggy and fall apart.

I love food on a board. It adds to the atmosphere of the restaurant and the style of the food imo e.g.. Bbq in pitt bros.

restaurants using wooden chopping boards as plates

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