How to Keep Your Cutting Board From Slipping
To eat broccoli, you need to cut broccoli , and to cut broccoli, you need two things: a (sharp) blade and a (steady) surface. In addition to keeping your knives sharp, cutting board stabilization is a key part of safer slicing, dicing and chopping. Cutting on a wobbly, slippery surface is dangerous, but luckily there are plenty of ways to keep your cutting board in place.
You can use a damp kitchen towel or paper towel , rubber bands , or a piece of paper towel , but if you bake a lot, you likely have another stabilizing tool: a silicone baking mat (or Silpat if you like French brands).
Similar to this little crumbling cheese hack, this hack came to us from Cook’s Illustrated print magazine for July and August:
Many cooks like to cover their cutting board with a damp paper towel or washcloth. Instead, Randy Andrews of Henderson, Nevada, reaches for a silicone baking mat or coaster so there’s nothing to toss or wash.
As a clumsy person who likes not to throw things away or wash things, I think this is an elegant hack. Like a shelf liner, a silicone baking mat can be used endlessly, and its natural tackiness means there’s no reason to use water like you would with a plate or paper towel.
As someone who doesn’t bake that much, it’s nice to have another use for the silicone baking mat that’s sitting in my pantry right now, waiting and hoping to see a little action. In fact, all this talk about silicone mats reminded me of their role in making crispy, brittle peanuts , which, unlike baked goods, I actually enjoy making. Maybe I’ll use it to secure my cutting board the next time I cut peanuts so they don’t get brittle.