The Perfect Cutting Board, as Designed by 10k Home Chefs

Extra-deep juice grooves? Extra-deep juice grooves.

October 19, 2018 9:00 am

Too often, it’s the most critical products we own that we’re least likely to spend good money on. Socks. Toothbrushes. Replacement charging cables (since [redacted] doesn’t know how to design one that doesn’t fray at the ends).

Also falling under that umbrella? Cutting boards. They’re where the meal begins … and for people who don’t care about presentation, where it also ends. They facilitate the kitchen’s personal brand of trench warfare, taking on the full, earthly juices of raw meats and vegetables, yet can still clean up nicely when you need to plate a pesto bruschetta for your guests.

Point is, you deserve a nice cutting board. One that’ll get you excited again about the prospect of cooking again — and you’d be a darn fool if you didn’t settle on Food52’s new Five Two Double-Sided Cutting Board.

board (3 images)

Food52, for the uninitiated, is a culinary publication that also hosts an emporium for gourmands. This is their first in-house product, and they went about it the right way, sourcing ideas from more than 10,000 readers on the features they believe the Platonic cutting board should have. 

The Five Two is the faithful realization of those findings. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said they wanted a multi-functional board, so Food52 crafted a board upon which one side is optimized for carving and the other for chopping. Seventy percent asked for high-quality wood; this one’s made from American maple. Sixty percent wanted an easy grip — Food52 obliged. But the biggest request was for an extra-deep juice groove. Check out that canal. The juices’ll flow through it like the Mississippi in a rainstorm.

And the real nail in the coffin for all other cutting boards? The phone stand. Try baking banana bread while your phone’s lying flat on the kitchen counter. Disaster. The slot here allows your phone to stand tall, and allows you to focus on the knife in your hand.

Purchase your board here. 

All images from Rocky Luten

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