Customer Reviews

CucinaPro 177 Pasta Fresh Pasta Machine

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

What is more digestible and appetizing than a plate of fresh pasta lightly dressed with a fresh sauce, or just olive oil and parmesan? If you want to make pasta, this is a good device. Just some helpful hints for using the Villaware.

1. The thin noodle (tagliatellini) attachment will produce spaghetti-like thin noodles. But you need to dry the pasta sheets somewhat before you cut them. Otherwise they stick together and you will be saying nasty words in your kitchen.

2. You don't wash this thing. Flour and water equals paste and cement. So resist this bad idea. Just brush the thing out with a stiff pastry brush.

3. The pasta dough is best left to rest for 20 minutes, at least, under a damp tea towel. This allows the gluten in the flour to relax enough for you to roll it out. If you are impatient and neglect this step, you may think the pasta maker is having a tough time rolling the dough, but it is not--you have to allow the dough time to relax.

4. You go through the thickness settings from widest to narrowest, rolling out the dough and folding it into thirds, then re-rolling. If the dough piece gets unwieldy and way too long, just cut it in half, then process the halves separately. It means shorter noodles, but a lot easier handling for you.

5. Unless you really insist, you don't have to use semolina flour. In fact, this flour is often grainy and produces a less smooth result at home. I use bread flour. It's fine. And if you don't want egg yolk, just add egg whites, or those imitation eggs that are mostly egg white. Works fine.

6. If you want spinach or carrot or beet pasta, you can buy powdered vegetables that have been freeze-dried and sprayed to a fine consistency. This is an easy way to add color and flavor, without having to squeeze out pots of spinach into a nasty mess. Commercial cooking catalogs from baking and gourmet supply companies often sell these powders.

7. The home-made pasta is brittle, so really, making extra and storing it is less successful than making it fresh. The Villageware machine is so easy to use, however, once you get the knack, that you may find, as I do, that it is easier just to whip up a fresh batch than to try to process extra and store it.

ONE more hint--and it's why this is four and not five stars: the clamp has about a 2 to 2.5 inch clearance to attach to your counter. Your counters may be quite a bit thicker. So it can be hard to figure out where to mount the machine. Sometimes a kitchen table will do instead of the kitchen counter. Or you can drill a cut out under the lip of the counter for the clamp. If you are clever, it won't be visible.

I bought this pasta machine 6 months ago, and I've used it at least once or twice a month ever since. I also bought one for my mother and taught her how to use it. This machine really just replaces a rolling pin and a big knife for cutting noodles (how my mom has been making hers).

A lot of people think fresh pasta is better than dried pasta... I disagree. They are just different types of pasta. Dried pasta give you a firmer bite, while fresh pastas are softer. Keep that in mind when you cook. Also, don't be limited to pasta making. I think of it as a better rolling pin, so I also use it to crank out wonton skins.

You should dry your pasta sheet a little before attempting to cut it, especially if you are going to cut them thin (like angel hair), so they don't stick to each other and form a lump. I usually catch the cut noodles in a bowl and mix more flour in to keep them from sticking to each other. You should let the noodles dry out a little bit more before cooking it.

A few words about making the dough: it will take you a while to get a feel of how firm your dough needs to be, to go through the machine smoothly. If the dough is too wet, it will stick to the machine; if it's too dry, your pasta sheet will break. But once you got it down, you can crank out noodles pretty fast. The key is you need to let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, so the flour can fully absorb the moisture.

I took the tip from Alton Brown (Good Eats), and set it up on a ironing board for my mother. This is genius! It's so much easier using an ironing board than trying to do this on a kitchen counter! And you can move it to other places if your kitchen is small.

Many people may complain about the inconvenience of the machine, because it really is easier to have two people working on it (one feeds pasta sheet in, one cranks the handle and guides the sheet coming out). But I make it into a fun little social event, my wife and I have a lot of fun making noodles together, and we have friends over to make noodles together too. It makes eating them later a lot more enjoyable too.

This machine is a little tricky to clean, I usually let it dry out a little, then use a brush (I use an old pastry brush) to clean it. There are lot of places where pasta pieces could get stuck, makes you wonder why they didn't improve the design. I also use a toothpick to clean the noodle cutting attachment. Don't bother with water, it only makes it harder to clean (flour + water = sticky goo on your pasta machine).

Pros:
=====
- Cheap
- Many attachments available (I like the angel hair one, makes great Asian noodles)
- A lot of fun to use (great to get family and friends involved)
- Much easier than rolling pin
- Stainless steel is nearly indestructable
- Fresh noodles taste great!

Cons:
=====
- Heavy, might be a problem to some people (like my mom)
- Requires minimal assembly. Again, it's very easy, but my mother and my aunt both have problems getting it right.
(The above two issues are solved by permanetly mounting the machine to an old ironing board)
- Can be tricky to clean
- Not as easy to operate with one person
- Even the thickest setting is still kind of thin, so you may need to press on your dough a little before running it through. I usually use a rolling pint (or empty wine bottle) to roughly roll the dough just so it's thin enough to be fed to the machine. This is troublesome... I wish they made the openings thicker.
- Takes a while to get the right dough consistency to put through the machine

Watch outs:
===========
- Make sure you clean it thoroughly the first time! Make a test dough, and run it through the machine multiple times. You will get little shreds of metal (I think they are metal), but according to the manual, this is normal. In fact, I had to run two doughs through to really clean it.
- Don't wash it! Other than that it might rust (I don't know because I haven't actually seen it rust), it just makes it harder to clean. Drying it out completely then brush off the pieces is probably the best way to go.

Tips:
=====
- Try open ravioli, it's very simple with this machine
- If you made thin angel hair-type noodles, and you are planning to serve it in hot soup (like some Asian noodle soup), I found out that I don't even need to cook the noodles. I just pour the piping hot soup over the thin angel hair noodles, and they are cooked to perfection! I made a ginger-chicken noodle soup, and placed a small bunch of fresh noodles in each bowl, and pour the boiling hot soup over the noodles in front of the guests, it's a great WOW factor.
- I was hoping to get a fettucini attachment, but for some reason I was unable to get it from Amazon (they told me the part is no longer available). After looking at the width (6.5mm), I decided that I can just use a knife to cut it into the width I want.
- Use a toothpick to clean the hard-to-reach parts
- If your surface is too thin (as in an ironing board), you might need something to "pad" it. I used a stack of old business cards.
- I use the rack from my oven to dry pasta, although I am thinking about getting a Norpro drying rack.

I've had mine for about 5 years and through about 3 cycles of enthusiasm. It is relatively easy to use but does require some patience and testing. What is the 'right' thickness for your pastas? Depends on how you prepare the dough (amt of water, eggs -- if any). Also, it is also critical to set up a drying rack of some sort. I ended up with about 10 dowel rods that I had to hang from the ceiling. There are drying racks on the market but I have not been impressed by their construction. Next best alternative it to temporarily lay out the pasta on wax paper as you work -- make lots of room.

All that was for perspective on the logistics, but otherwise I have to say this is an easy way to make yourself feel like a gourmet. The taste is unlike anything you'll get at the store -- notably better than pre-packaged fresh. And yes, friends will be impressed. Solid construction -- I promise you won't need to buy a second one. A great book to go with is 'The Pasta Bible' -- one of the few books with dough recipies as well as sauces.

I don't know why I decided I wanted this pasta maker, but sometime last December, I did, and I asked my mother for it for Christmas. And I'm sure glad she bought it because this pasta maker rocks! It's a little tricky to get the hang of at first, and it helps to get the dough just right (my first batch had too much flour and wouldn't roll out). A touch of olive oil seems to help.

Once the dough is ready, rolling it out is a snap. The first few passes through the machine are the trickiest, and it helps if someone holds the machine down (especially if you can't clamp it down, like me). The best thing about using the machine is that it works the pasta as it rolls it (you should send it through the highest setting several times and fold the resulting strip back into itself, in thirds, then roll it again), so even if your dough starts out sub-par, by the time you reach the second-lowest setting, it looks professional. (I don't recommend the lowest setting, it rolls too thin and the dough begins to tear.)

It comes with two cutting attachments, one which produces thin angel-hair/spaghetti-like noodles, and a thicker one which is closer to linguini. Both produce delicious pasta. If you're looking to make pasta from scratch, I highly recommend this pasta maker. I've never been disappointed by the results.

This is a good pasta machine, which I've seen used in a cooking school, but you need to follow some precautions to avoid headaches.

1. Always flour the rollers.

2. The dough cannot be sticky. If you run wet dough through, you are going to have big time problems, especially with attempting to clean the machine. Add in flour slowly to the dough until it can be handled without sticking to your hands.

3. Run the dough through the widest setting, then fold like an envelope. Repeat about 5 times, until the dough is the right consistency (hard to describe what it should be like, but with practice, you'll know)

4. When reducing the roller gap, continue to pat flour onto the dough as needed-- you still are looking to avoid stickiness.

Also, to make the pasta much more tender (the point of fresh pasta in my opinion), do not knead the dough! The dough should not spring back when pressed on with your fingers. Mix together with fork until the fork doesn't really work anymore, then keep folding together with a pastry scraper. Then on to step 3 above.

I just received this pasta machine as a belated birthday gift from my in laws, and had a fun day trying it out for the first time this past weekend. After some initial work getting the machine all cleaned up and ready for use (read the instructions--you need to waste some pasta dough before the machine will be clean enough for making food) I was at it. The machine worked great for rolling out thin sheets of pasta, but somewhat less well for cutting the pasta. I learned after a few failed attempts to cut my sheets into fettucini that my cutter attachment had a manufacturing error--a spring in the mechanism was set incorrectly. I went in and fixed the spring and then the cutter worked fine. Really, once you have the sheets if you really want linguini or fettucini, it's probably just as easy (or easier) to lay the sheets on a cutting board and cut the thin strips out with a knife. The real problems came after I used the machine. This is not all that easy to clean. If you get pasta dough in the rollor mechanism it can be pretty difficult to get it out, the cutters can be even worse. Once I finnaly got it clean I left it in my dish rack to dry (don't do this) and found out later that the rollers had started to rust. It seems to me that The manufacturer could have easily made the entire machine out of a better quality stainless steel that would be less likely to start rusting so quickly. Anyway, I've learned my lesson, I cleaned up the rust, applied a little olive oil to the rollers to prevent them from rusting again, and next time I'll make sure to dry the machine thouroughly before walking away. In all it's a great machine for rolling ouyt pasta, and I'm sure I'll continue to use it and enjoy it, but it could be easier to take care of.

This is one heavy addition to the kitchen! I had no problem operating it myself, feeding and cranking at the same time, as long as I had enough flower on the dough to ensure it wouldn't stick before I could straighten it back out after cranking. I've seen these all over television cooking shows since purchasing ours. It's clearly the most popular one.

Make sure you have an overhang on your counter or somewhere else to attach the clamp. We have to pull out a drawer and use the empty space to attach ours, but it's really no problem. We experienced some mangling and pulling at the thinnest setting, but that was probably our fault.

When making the pasta, you will of course need counterspace, as some of the sheets can grow 2-3 feet long as you crank 'em through to the lowest setting. The unit only comes with one attachment which makes two different kinds of pasta, but if you're up to it, you can hand-roll your favorites like penne, macaroni, ziti, etc. I highly recommend this unit.

I was quite pleased when I received this in the mail and even more pleased when I used it the first time. The machine is VERY heavy, durably made, and I think easy to clean. I had some fresh pasta made in less than 20 minutes -- and expect to get this time down to 10! If you like to cook, this is well worth the money. And, in addition to being healthy and tasty, homemade past is probably cheaper than dried. Furthermore, you can't buy sheet pasta-- something which is great for a variety of cuisines.

This is not a toss-in-the-dough-and-out-comes-pasta machine. This is a work-a-day hand roller and noodle cutter that, once you learn a few tricks, makes fresh pasta a snap.

I've had those big, bulky and complicated pasta machines, and they all cracked, burned out their motors, and made a huge mess. This is a surprisingly simple gadget that anyone who's willing to devote a little time, can use to make delicious fresh pasta. The beauty is in the simplicity!

There are a number of reviews in here that offer excellent tips. I suggest reading them. Here are a few of my own:

1. Dough consistency is key. The dough should form a homogenous, elastic but not sticky ball. You should be able to knead it without pieces crumbling, and without it leaving any residue on your hands or the surface. Some recommend letting the dough rest for a while. I haven't had any trouble diving right in after mixing it, but try it both ways to see what works best for you.

2. I use Semolina flour, but you don't have to. I just like the taste better -- reminds me of Grandma's pasta.

3. If you use two cups of flour and two eggs (as recommended in the directions), split the dough into six pieces to make your strips. This gives you manageable sizes, without having to roll out so many strips that it's too time-consuming.

4. The instructions say to run the strip through six times, each time reducing the thickness notch. I found that running it through the first notch twice worked best -- it can come out in pieces the first time, so you just press those pieces together and run it through again. You'll have your single strip.

5. Since the machine only clamps down on one side, I had a little trouble with the other side lifting as I rolled. When you start rolling with your right hand, just press down a little on the unsecured side with your left palm. (I would have liked to see the design include a better spot to rest your palm, perhaps over the thickness knob.)

6. Let the strips rest about 10 minutes before cutting -- any longer and they might dry too much, any less and they're too soft. Cut each strip in half with scissors before running through noodle cutter -- this will give you manageable strip lengths, and also a nice straight edge to start in the cutter.

7. I bought the drying rack, which works wonderfully. When you are cutting the noodles, halfway through the strip, insert a dowel under the noodles and catch them on it as they emerge. You will come away with the noodles hanging neatly on the dowel, which you then just place on the rack to dry. (Do let it dry for at least an hour, so it doesn't stick together.) Then, when ready to cook, just pick the dowel up and tilt it so the pasta falls right into the pot. This way, the brittle pasta won't break.

8. Note that the handle does not lock into place. I had a lot of trouble at first with having it pop out while I was turning. If you keep an eye on this and just exert a little inward pressure, it should be fine. (It is this minor glitch, and the lifting side, that brought this review down to 4 stars.)

Ignore the naysayers who weren't willing to put the effort into learning how to use this thing. They may have been expecting something like a bread machine, where you toss in the ingredients and four hours later, have bread. In my experience, I haven't found a single motorized pasta maker that works as well as this. Yes, this one requires some actual effort and a little artistry. The fact is, pasta, like bread, IS a little tricky to make...but unlike bread, a machine can't do all the work. Take an afternoon and experiment, and don't give up the first time if it feels awkward or strips come out crumbly. Once you get your dough consistency right and get the feel for how to roll it, you'll be whipping out homemade pasta like the pros! I can make a full batch of pasta in less than a half-hour.

I've had this gizmo for several years now and I love it, but I must be a lot messier than the rest of you guys -- after a pasta project my floor is pretty crunchy; since it's clamped so close to the edge of the table, a lot of the semolina goes on the floor. But it's fun and it's the real thing, the one used in Italian homes.

The only drawbacks I found are the same as other reviewers noted: the handle falls out and the one-sided clamp makes it lift when rolling stiffer dough. But you get used to it. In my experience letting the dough rest a bit before cutting is a big help. It seems to cut more smoothly.

I never use eggs in my pasta so I don't worry about eggy bits left behind, but an old toothbrush will get most of the crumbs out, and dry paper towels polish it right up (hint: roll a dry paper towel through a couple of times to absorb leftover moisture to prevent rust).

My favorite pasta is semolina (always!!) and chopped cooked spinach -- that's it, and this machine is sturdy enough to handle it. FYI, it's the protein in eggs that gives that special egg-noodle "bite", that can be obtained using simply egg whites or (believe it or not) plain yogurt. Semolina, yogurt, lemon juice, zest and cracked black pepper -- heavenly! This machine rolls nice sheets to cut in large squares for a simple "open" ravioli of winter squash, brown butter and sage. And you haven't lived if you've never had lasagne made with fresh pasta. Can you tell I like to cook? ;o)

It only takes a few batches to get a feel for proper dough consistency. You have to keep in mind that no two batches are alike, since it also depends on ambient temperature and humidity -- it's all part of the fun.

This pasta maker is well worth the price. I paid a lot more for mine several years ago -- pre Amazon. Try it, you'll like it.