Frequently Bought Together
Product Features
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
This set gives you everything you need to make your favorite pasta! Make fresh spaghetti, fettuccini, angel hair, ravioli and lasagnette in the comfort of your own home. Made of chrome coated steel.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
209 of 210 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Don't be scared, it works.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: CucinaPro 178 Fresh Pasta Set (Kitchen)
I was hesitant to buy this product based on the two negative, most up-voted reviews. One goes on about how crummy and unworkable the product is; the other talks about black and silver metal particles coming out of the device.
I purchased it anyway, based on the other reviews that haven't been voted up past the two negative reviews for some reason. The bottom line is that the product is relatively inexpensive and it works. I've encountered no metal particles in my pasta. The pasta can travel to the sides as you crank if you're not careful, but it does go through. The product does work. It appears to me to be solidly built. Its manufacture does not appear tinny or crummy. The main body of the unit is designed to flatten your dough to the desired thickness. There are seven settings. You start with the most thick and work your pasta down to the desired level of thinness. The other pieces are attachments that involve the second stage where you make the pasta the desired shape (fettuccine style, spaghetti style, etc.). You attach the unit by sliding it into grooves on the front of the main unit. You then attach the crank into a hole on the side of the attachment and turn it to work the pasta through. The attachments easily slide in and out but stay in place once attached. So don't be scared. It works. There are a few annoyances, however. - The bottom support "pads" aren't pads at all, but pieces of hard white plastic. On smooth surfaces, the machine will slide during use if not held in place. - The height of the crank is higher than the machine, so you will have to use the machine with the edge of it near the edge of a counter. - When you put one of the attachments (to cut the pasta into the various kinds of pasta shapes) on the unit, the weight distribution isn't completely stable, and it can topple over if you're not careful. This really hasn't been much of a problem for me, though. It can topple, but generally doesn't. - The crank is removable and does not lock in place. If you forget this fact, it can fall out on you if you move the unit and haven't taken out the crank. And, lastly, some helpful advice as there may be other newbie pasta makers out there like myself. Before using the unit, make sure you have enough room. You will need somewhere to lay out or hang your pasta. There may be a reason why the "pads" on the main unit aren't sticky pads. As you crank the pasta out, you have the option to slide the unit so that the pasta can be flat when it comes out. Imagine feeding out a length of rope as you walk backwards. If you do that, the rope will form a relatively straight line. If you stay stationary, the rope will just fall in front of you, folding and coiling on itself. Depending on the pasta recipe and thickness setting you use, your pasta may be brittle and break as it folds or may stick to itself when it remains in contact with itself for some time. So I think sliding the unit as you crank or having someone else around to gently grab the pasta and pull it forward can be a great help. Manage your pasta-making in stages by portioning out the dough into small portions, so that the unprocessed pasta isn't sitting out, drying up, and becoming brittle and the pasta being processed doesn't have a chance to stick to itself once made because your attention is on managing your work space and dealing with finding a place for your pasta, moving it around gently, making sure the unprocessed pasta isn't getting too dry, etc. My first few attempts at pasta making were a mess because I didn't do this. Pasta was everywhere, and my real-estate for working was dwindling rapidly. I painted myself in a corner. Give yourself lots of time and room by making sure you have a large working area. Portion out the dough, keeping the portions you aren't processing in the fridge wrapped in saran wrap. Also, depending on your recipe, the cooking time for the pasta may be very different from what you expect. I would work with really small portions at first, cooking experimentally and sampling often while boiling. Fresh pasta cooking is different than cooking store bought stuff. Some kinds of fresh pasta take longer than you expect to get to the right mouth-feel, others take a lot less time. The low price of this unit it makes it ideal for beginners like myself. I am sure there are other units that are better, but this one works for me at my current stage of culinary development. I figure three stars would be a fair rank in this regard. Good luck and have fun!
55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A total success right out of the box!,
By
This review is from: CucinaPro 178 Fresh Pasta Set (Kitchen)
I had always wanted to make fresh pasta, especially ravioli with great fillings like lamb, artichokes or crab. I found the whole process daunting and the reviews of machines made it sound even scarier. This is the first reason I chose this very inexpensive machine. If I failed miserably then it would not be a great loss. On the very first try my husband and I turned out an incredibly delicious meal of lamb ravioli with an herbed cream sauce. We had never made fresh pasta before. It took a while but the learning curve was not nearly as steep as some reviewers make it sound. The machine works exactly as it should, was not full of oil and filings (I did prepare for that by making a double recipe of dough)and only using my cutter crimper tool ([...])we produced professional looking, wonderful ravioli. Yeah, the crank handle got accidentally flung across the room a couple times, but this just added to the fun as we laughed, sipped wine and marveled at the amazing little pillows we actually made ourselves in our tiny kitchen. The following recipe when kneaded and rested properly is a no fail in this machine.
Ravioli Dough: * 2 cups all-purpose flour * 2 teaspoons salt (half that amount is fine) * 3 eggs (room temperature) * 1 tablespoon olive oil To make the dough: Place the flour in a bowl large enough to mix the dough. Add salt and mix to combine. Make a well in the center of the flour to hold eggs and oil. Add eggs and oil, and with a fork, whip the eggs and slowly incorporate flour. When dough begins to form, work it together with your hands until you can't incorporate any more of the flour (there will be flour remaining that you can not incorporate, discard it). Knead dough for about five minutes, until it is smooth. The longer you knead the smoother and more elastic it will be. Let dough rest, wrapped in plastic, for about 20 minutes. When ready to proceed, cut off a piece about the size of your palm, leaving the remaining dough wrapped and then starting at #7, roll it out progressively to the #2 setting on your pasta machine.
48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Product!,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
My original machine broke (my fault). Don't let your pasta get too dry, and of course I cranked the handle and warped the rolling mechansim. There is no easier way to roll out pasta and definately forget about the old "Rolling Pin" method. I bought this machine due to the fact that I like making ravioli and since my old machine broke and I was using a ravi cutter to hand crimp the pillows, when I was in the market for a replacement, I saw that villaware made one that included a 2inch ravi maker. I have priced the 1 inch ravi maker as a add on to my old machine at kitchen stores and it was more than 1/2 the cost of this entire purchase. I can not think of a more fun way to make dinner. If you like pasta, if you like cooking, you'll surely be starving by the time you make all that fresh cut noodles and ravioli. I read on the Villaware site that if you buy the motorized add-on that replaces the crank mechanism that you no longer need to use the mounting hardware to secure the unit to your workspace. However, the motor is very expensive (more than this unit) so I'll keep getting some excercise for my arm until maybe Santa will see what a good boy I've been this year. :-)
If you decide to buy this product, ENJOY!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
