News — kitchen tips

If you want to cut your risk of food poisoning at home by up to 50%, the single simplest habit is to use separate chopping boards for raw and cooked food. One board for raw meat, poultry and fish, and a second board for cooked food and ready to eat items keeps harmful bacteria away from food that’s already safe to eat. Why using separate boards matters in a real kitchen Raw chicken can carry Campylobacter and raw mince can carry E. coli. These bacteria only need a tiny amount of juice from a knife groove to move from raw...

If you want to handle raw chicken safely, the best cutting board is a dedicated, non porous board that is at least 38x28cm in size, weighs around 1.2kg or more so it will not slip, and is easy to sanitise after every use. In practice that means choosing a board with a sealed surface, a juice groove and enough area so raw juices stay on the board and off your worktop. Why raw chicken needs its own cutting board Raw chicken can carry bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella. The simplest way to keep your kitchen safer is to use...

If you want to know the best way to prep food safely at home, the simplest answer is: use at least 2 separate chopping boards, one for raw meat and one for veg. This one change can cut your risk of raw meat bacteria spreading to ready to eat food by well over half, and it costs less than £50 to set up properly with durable boards that last 5 to 10 years. Why use separate chopping boards for meat and veg in a real kitchen Raw meat can carry bacteria such as Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. When you...

If you are wondering what the best chopping board is for keeping your knives sharp for longer, the answer is simple: a well made wooden board typically keeps an edge 20 to 30 percent longer than a plastic board used in the same way. That difference comes down to how the board material interacts with the very thin cutting edge of your knife. Why do plastic boards dull knives faster? It feels counterintuitive, because plastic seems softer than wood. Yet many home cooks notice their favourite chef's knife losing its bite after just a few weeks on a plastic board....