Customer Reviews

Cucina Pro Attachments for Imperia Pasta Machine

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We just bought the Imperia pasta machine and had great success right off the bat. We've read reviews (on other web sites) where consumers complain of it's difficult usage. Having two people when working is helpful. We used the recipe in the instruction manual and used all purpose flour. A mixer (kitchenaid) was a lot easier than working with a fork/hand combo. The only drawback we found was in the layout of the instruction manual. It was sometimes confusing flipping pages between the recipe and the machine useage. The tips they give are very helpful.

For those of you with a Kitchenaid stand mixer trying to decide between simply buying the pasta attachment or purchasing a separate pasta maker, I would put my money on the Imperia. We debated buying the pasta attachment to our Kitchenaid, but read reviews that mentioned it was extremely hard on the motor, sometimes producing great heat and even smoke. Not wanting to risk damaging our mixer, we opted for the Imperia. We are very glad of our decision, as just using our Kitchenaid to mix the pasta dough, was audibly hard on the motor.
The Imperia is solidly built and when extruding the pasta through
the rollers, you feel confident it will not break.

My old pasta maker was wonderful, but after 25 years, and a broken crank, it needed to be replaced. We use ours heavily--a big Italian family with lots of homemade ravioli parties! I was loathe to try to replace it but read reviews here and elsewhere and then called my mom-in-law who told me to get this one. She was right! I ordered it last minute and had it shipped to my sister's for Christmas so we could make pasta there for the holidays. I thought I'd be bringing it home, but I'm buying another--my non-Italian brother-in-law got hooked! It came packaged nicely and performed better than any other pasta machine I've seen or used. We love it!

I thought I would write this review because when I was doing research into which pasta machine to get I saw quite a few negative reviews, about the machine not cutting cleanly and it being very difficult to clean. I think both of these problems are caused by the pasta dough not being made right. If the dough is too wet it will stick in the machine. It's important to let the sheets stand for a while after you have run them through the rollers. It was about 10 minutes for mine but it will vary depending on how humid the conditions are and how wet the dough is. it should have lost a bit of its floppiness but if you leave it too long it will break in the machine. I saw several reviews where the reviewer said that their kitchen ended up being incredibly messy because of this machine. Don't blame the machine!

in short, this is a perfectly good pasta machine and it works fine.

This machine is a must if you eat a lot of pasta. I was watching Jamie Oliver on the Food Network use a machine similar to this one except his was some type of commercial size. He made creating homemade pasta look fun and easy. So I researched and went on the reviews that buyers gave this pasta machine on Amazon.com.

So after one use I am sold. I made my dough with a food processor like Jamie did on his show. The recipe is one egg per person and I just added enough all purpose flour to create tiny crumb-like balls of dough(moist but not sticky). I pour dough on working surface and knead into one ball of dough then shape into an oval to feed into the machine. Dusting the dough with flour after one pass through the machine will aid in making it easier to handle. There is a how-to video of this pasta machine on Williams-Sonoma's website.

I am sold on this machine and plan to add accessories to create many types of pasta.

I've had my Imperia pasta machine for a couple of years now and love it! I did some research and decided on this one. I make pasta frequently and have very little problem. It takes a little practice to make pasta, but once you get the hang of it, it's worth it!

I love my new pasta machine. It allows me to have all the spinach fettuchine I want without paying $6 a bag at the supermarket. The only problems I had were related to the bracing of the machine on the counter. Because the vise fits on one side only, the machine, which is heavy, tended to tip. I am planning on attaching it to a board heavy enough and long enough to keep it from tipping and to catch the noodles.

A couple of tips: 1)The dough should be VERY stiff. It not only lets the machine cut the dough easier but makes the cooked product tastier and better textured. 2) I make enough to freeze or dry. The process requires a lot of flour and is a bit messy. Besides, all that pasta drying on my kitchen table reminds me of the immigrant neighborhood I grew up in.

I spent a long time looking for a pasta machine before I finally settled on this one and couldn't be happier. It's a solid (heavy) pasta maker made in Italy that I expect to have in my kitchen for years! The size of the machine is good and it's got a great solid feel to it when you roll the pasta through. My only complaint is that the clamp they provided to secure the press to the counter top doesn't work with my counters so I had to get a different style of clamp from my local hardware store. Different counters, who knows.

Keep in mind when choosing a pasta machine that making pasta by hand is a labor of love and an art form. I've found this machine to handle the dough I make very well and clean up easily (a basting brush help knock out the last few pieces of pasta). Different consistencies of dough may cause your experience to vary. Keep at it! Good home made pasta is worth the effort!

After trying out different types of dough (varying amounts of semolina flour vs all purpose flour, different amounts of eggs, etc), I figured out that 1 1/4 cups of semolina flour, 1 cup of all purpose flour and 4 eggs works perfectly to make a pound of fresh, rich pasta dough. You knead in more flour on the work surface then let it rest in the fridge awhile. This made the dough soft enough to work with but dry enough to not get stuck in the rollers & cutters. BTW, a trick to clear the rollers or cutters of wet pasta is to simply run some dryer dough through behind it. That, and DON'T EVER wash this machine in water. Just brush off flour or dough with a pastry brush or whatever.

But once the right dough got figured out, this machine works perfectly. There is a complaint below about "metal shavings" and particles left in the pasta roller from the manufacturing process. I'm not sure why she complained about it, since the owner's manual mentions it and says that you need to "season" the machine before you use it. To season it, simply make a fairly dry dough, roll it out so that it will fit in the rollers and run it through the rollers a couple of times and then the cutters. This worked fine for me.

I think that the Imperia 150 pasta roller is a well-made and solidly built machine. The gears turn smoothly, and after figuring out the best dough to use the machine worked exactly as it's supposed to.

I love this machine! I think people who have trouble with it are using a far too complicated recipe. A no-fail pasta dough for this machine is 1 1/4 c. all purpose flour, one egg and a pinch of salt. Pulse in the food processor until the mixture looks like coarse corn meal, turn it out on the counter and mush it around until you have a smooth ball. This takes less than a minute. Divide the dough into two or three parts, cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 min. before making pasta. This makes four servings and will never, ever let you down. I've made the basic recipe, and added stuff to the dough like lemon zest and black pepper (1 T total) and it worked just fine. Cleanup is a breeze--there is almost no flour on the counter, and the dough is dry enough to go through the rollers and cutters without any residue. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this pasta maker to anyone. Love it, love it!

This pasta machine is the same machine used at a cooking school in Assisi, Italy. There, my husband and I recently learned the history and art of pasta making. The Imperia pasta maker works smoothly and cleans up nicely. Keep your dough on the dry side and it won't stick or gum up the rollers. Guide the noodles over your hand as it comes out the from the rollers. This keeps the dough from folding on itself.