Butcher’s blocks are a great item to have in your kitchen especially if you are a meat enthusiast who enjoys butchering your meat at home. But what exactly is the difference between a regular cutting board and a butcher’s block? Essentially butcher’s blocks are larger, thicker cutting boards that are specifically designed with meat butchery in mind but they can be used to chop anything.
Cutting boards, on the other hand, are thinner and more suited for lighter prep work like chopping vegetables. These boards must be a minimum of 1.5″ thick to be considered butcher’s blocks, which make them heavier so they won’t budge even when you are butchering a large cut.
This makes handling sharp knives and large cuts safe and mess-free if they have a juice groove. To make them useful for larger-scale butchery, a butcher’s block should be a minimum of 12 x 12″ to give you as much space as possible to work with. These dimensions make them very sturdy and ideal for quartering, deboning, and filleting any form of protein.
Butcher’s blocks can come in the form of a countertop block or if you want to go all out, your entire kitchen countertop can be made from a butcher’s block so you can chop right onto the counter without worrying about damaging the surface or your knives. Butcher’s blocks can be used for both meat and vegetable prep, with a thorough cleaning in between of course, or by simply flipping the board if you have a reversible one, so it really does double the job of a regular cutting board.
Cutting boards come in one of two forms: end grain and edge grain. The edge grain is formed when you cut the timber along the grain of the wood; this is softer and easier to damage with prolonged usage and is found most often as cutting boards. They will also blunt your knives more quickly as the surface is less forgiving.
The grain that is best suited for butcher’s blocks, however, is end grain which is when the wood is cut at 90 degrees across the growth rings. Butcher’s blocks are therefore made up of small pieces of wood that are glued together to form one large piece. This configuration is far more durable and self-heals over time as the fibers move back into place after the knife is withdrawn so it will not mark or scar. This self-healing quality also serves to keep your knives sharper for longer as the surface is more forgiving, saving you time and effort sharpening your knives.
Due to their immense size, solid wood construction, and food-safe treatments, butcher’s blocks can be rather expensive so we are here to guide you as to which one is worth your money. When looking at these boards we are going to be noting their size, thickness, and any extra features that make that particular design special to see which one would suit you best.