The Ranting Chef does not get paid or receive any revenue from manufactures or retailers of products reviewed. I occasionally receive products that I am asked to use and see what I think. I take a look, try them out and tell you all about them.
The other day I came home to find not only a big box, but one with some heft to it. I saw it was from Proteak and got really excited to open it.
What was inside was a Proteak Teak Cutting Board.
It blew me away how beautiful it is. Proteak makes cutting boards both from the face grain (where you see one contiguous piece of wood and the lines in fewer pieces of wood that stretch across the length of the board) and end grain (where there is a compilation of many more pieces and you see the mosaic of each board). The board they sent was an end grain one. Look at those colors!
While they make boards of many different sizes, what they sent to me was one of their larger ones. It measures 16x16x2. Yes x2. Two inches thick. I’m not a small guy and my hand does not take up more than 20% of the board.
I could not but stop in wonder every time my eye caught it. Another view of the size shows my “go to” knife – a large santoku.
The bottom of the board has four rubber feet. This both elevates the board a bit off of your counter (so it doesn’t sit in any liquid that may happen to be there) and gives it a solid footing on the counter.
The colors of the wood just pop and make the food on top of it look even better.
As much as I wanted to marvel at the beauty and was reluctant to put it to work, that is what it was there for, so I started dicing. Teak is a hard wood that has a good resistance to water. The board took all I could throw at it. It did not nick or scar with slicing and chopping. It held firm and didn’t move under me (which is what you both need from a cutting board and would expect with this large of one). Clean up with teak is very easy. A little soapy water is all you need. Periodically you will want to oil the board to ensure it retains its beauty and durability. Proteak takes sustainability seriously and have reclaimed quite a bit of land for this renewable resource.
Many recipes I make involve chopping or cutting a large variety of items for one dish. Previously I’ve had to chop and then move the ingredient into a holding bowl to make room for the next one. As you can see above, I did not need to do that here. I chopped and then slid the ingredient to an open space and kept going. Fewer dishes to wash. As with a board of this size, you are not going to move it over to slide ingredients to the pan, so I employed my food scoop to move the carrots (and subsequently everything else in time).
I finally have a cutting board that I can use to display and serve on. I put this cheese board together one evening and found that I had huge amounts of room for anything I wanted to put on it.
MY TAKE: The Proteak Teak Cutting Board is the most beautiful thing in my kitchen (unless my wife strolls through). Unlike many beautiful things that have few actual uses, this board is also a workhorse in the kitchen. It can take quite a bit of use without showing any wear and is easy to maintain. I cannot recommend the board enough – it is fabulous. While counter space is always at a premium, this board will always have a prominent home on my counters. Proteak makes many products beyond cutting boards, including flooring and countertops. You can purchase a board at their online store. Even if you are not in the market for a board currently, take a look at the beautiful and innovative products they have to offer because I am sure someone in your life would appreciate one as a gift.
AND……
In addition to the Shake and Pour Salad Dressing Mixer from Zyliss, we now have another prize for the winner of the Diced! competition. Proteak has generously donated a Proteak Teak Cutting Board like the one I reviewed to the winner! Thank you to both Zyliss and Proteak for their generosity.
