Cutting Boards Reviews

I recently bought this board for my first big Thanksgiving dinner, and I would recommend it to anyone. (Incidentally, Amazon's price is the same price that the maker, J.K. Adams, charges on their website - no mark-up, very fair).
The board is versatile and very well made. On the carving side, the hollow in the center is perfect for holding turkeys, chicken, or roasts of any kind in place. Some carving boards now have wooden spikes to grip the roast; I discussed this option with the very well-informed knife man at my local housewares emporium here in NYC; he agreed that not only do those spikes make a board more task-specific (and thus less versatile), but if you've spent so much time and effort trying to keep a roast juicy (you take it out the oven, place it on the carving board to rest so the juices will settle in the meat), why puncture the bottom of it so the juices run out?!? The hollow is the best option for keeping your roast in place while retaining the yummy juices inside the meat.
The well around the board's perimeter is deep, which is important - my previous cutting/carving board had a shallow well, which meant that the juices from anything I carved ran right out onto my counter or table ... messy, and a big blow to my gravies, which is where I would like to have poured the juices after I finished carving.

Overall, this carving board is nice and big and worth your money. Make sure you oil it frequently (and several times before it's first use) with mineral oil, never stand it in water, and don't stand or hang it to dry (these practices will ruin the wood and cause it to separate). Wash it briefly with soap and water and towel it dry. If you care for it properly, you and your family with have it forever!

A passionate and very serious home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". I am not a trained chef, but I love to cook, and love to collect kitchen gadgets.

What a wonderful little gadget this thing is. How did I ever live without it? It has so many uses. The ones that I have identified in the last few days are as follows:

1.Shaving truffles (try earth.com for your truffles if you don't have a Wegman's)
2.Shaving Parmesan cheese for Carpaccio,
3.Making Chocolate Curls for Chocolate Mousse
4.Shaving Fennel and Red Onion for Orange and Fennel Salad
5.Shaving Summer Squash for "faux" fettuccini pasta

I think the possibilities for this little gadget are almost endless.

The thickness of the slice is very easy to modify with a thumbscrew on the face of the saver. The blade itself appears to be removable for changing of sharpening. The product is make of 18/10 stainless and is very easy to clean. Finally, the device is very thin and stores easily in a drawer. It is such an attractive item I might just hang mine in the kitchen from the handy hole in the handle.

If you love Microplanes or similar hand graters pick one of these up. I adore mine.

The 11x14.5 Utility Board that arrived :Manufactured by Foley-Martens Co
Market Host-Target-seems to be of good quality; however, the manufacturer
identifies the product as Northern Hardwood not Maple.
The Amazon.com lead in the product description states:( Maple)
without further clarification of product make-up the customer should
be informed that product is a Premium Northern Hardwood Product

I love the Four Star Knives. I have a block set and was afraid this knife was the same as the 5 inch serrated utility knife only with a forked tip, but it's not. This knife has much finer serrations and slices through tomatoes beautifully! I know a separate tomato knife sounds like over-kill, but we slice tomatoes daily. I plan to use the 5 inch serrated utility knife for bagels, lemons, limes, etc. and keep this knife strictly for tomatoes.