Customer Reviews

CucinaPro 178 Fresh Pasta Set

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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!

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.

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!

This is NOT the same as the Villaware IMPERIA pasta machine! This is a cheap immitation that just doesn't work.

I bought this pasta machine because I dropped my Imperia one, and rather than just replace it with the same item, this one came with an additional pasta-cutting attachment as well as the ravioli maker, for only $9 more. The pasta machine itself is less sturdy than the original Imperia -- it's lighter and more fragile, plus the width dial is more difficult to use. I was able to make pasta sheets okay with it, but when I went to use the spaghetti cutter, it didn't work AT ALL! It simply did not grab the dough strip. I could force it in there and crank, but then it only pulled the center of it, and the outside edges would get all caught up and gummed up, and never go through the cutter. I tried all the pasta cutter attachments, and they all did the same thing.

On my Imperia, the cutters would grab the strip as soon as I started cranking, and cut very clean, perfect pasta strands. With this one, I could not get a single decent cut strand of pasta. I boxed it up and sent it back.

I also tried the ravioli maker. It's pretty tricky to work, although it is possible to get nicely shaped raviolis out of it. The problem is, they're too small, and have hardly any filling in them.

I would suggest using the Villaware 10-square Ravioli Maker instead -- it's just a metal tray-like gadget that doesn't attach to the machine.

I was very disappointed in this product, as it is very poor quality, and truly doesn't work. I don't see how they can sell it -- what good is a pasta maker if you can't actually cut the strips into strands? I am a HUGE fan of my Villaware Imperia pasta maker, and use it all the time. But this one is junk.

This machine is great! It is easy to assemble and easy to use. It makes great ravioli and I even made won tons with it. I recommend it to anyone who wants to make their own pasta! I use it to make low carb pastas!

After reading reveiews of this product I was a little reluctant to order it. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this product, it far surpassed my expectations. It was larger than I expected, heavier and sturdier too. I have never used or owned a pasta machine before. I took it out of the box, clamped it down to the counter. After mixing the dough I cranked it through the pasta machine. It was so easy! The only tiny inconveinence was finding through trial and error (this only took a minute to figure out) you must START at setting 7 and work to 1. But other than that I LOVE this machine. I made Fettucini Alfredo for Sunday dinner and everyone loved it! I can't wait to try the ravioli and spaghetti attachments. I also plan to use it to make my own whole wheat crackers. I love the fact that I can now make whole grain fresh pasta and control the quality ingredients: no additives, preservatives, coloring, egg whites instead of egg yolks, and the amount of sodium.
I researched and priced other pasta machines for sale on the internet and this one, at this price with the attachments, is a GREAT buy!

I got this pasta maker about 2 years ago and have used it 30-40 times.
I had a lot of problems at first and blamed them on this "cheap" machine.
This machine is made in China, not Italy.
You certainly should buy an Italian machine if you want the best, but this machine works well enough for home use; and for the cost.
I HIGHLY recommend Pasta Tecnica if you're having problems with making pasta with this machine. The book pretty much solved all my issues and I found out that most of the problems I blamed on this machine were my own doing.
By the way, don't ever wash your pasta maker, get a clean paintbrush to clean it. Here's the link for the book:

Pasta Tecnica

My mom used to make fresh noodles years ago. It had been a long time since I had tasted the wonderful difference between just made noodles and any store bought stuff.
The CucinaPro machine was super easy to use. I have had this unit for over a year and it is still as good as new.

This pasta machine set works! I was hesistant to buy based on other reviews. I have made several batches of pasta & had never done so before. The instructions were adequate to get me started along with having viewed some youtube videos. I made a big pan of lasagna & fettucine alfredo the first night I had this. It is easy if you follow the directions & a lot of fun.

I also bought the motor for this item. Thus far I have only attached it, but have not used the machine with it. I will update this review afterward.

UPDATE:

I have now used this pasta set with the motor attached. All I can say is WOW! What an improvement! Spend the $60 for the CucinaPro Electric Motor - 400-MO, you won't regret it. Make sure that you slide a cutting attachment in place when using the motor or it will make the pasta machine off balance & it will fall over. For me this is not a problem as the cutter attachment makes a handy self-feeder for the dough when the dough sheets get long. The motor also eliminates the annoying falling crank handle & frees both hands to handle the dough which is again convenient when the dough sheets get long. The motor does not attach to the ravioli attachment because that attachment is narrower than the machine, despite what the motor's instructions say, again not a problem for me.

The instructions say to run a batch of dough through the pasta machine & cutters to remove machine oil. I ran 2 complete batches through before I had "clean" dough with no evidence of machine oil.

I paid about $120 for the pasta set & motor. Compare this to the Atlas or Imperia: motor-$120, pasta machine with 5 attachments-$190; total-$310! Note the Imperia is also made by CucinaPro.

After reading some of the reviews I was a bit hesitant on purchasing this item. I decided to take a chance because it was so affordable. I am so glad that I did. I read all the reviews and decided to purchase Pasta Tecnica as one other reviewer recommended. I read that the machine came filled with machine oil, so I planned on making lots of practice pasta that I would throw away. I made about six batches of pasta and just ran it through the pasta machine and the attachments. After that I had no problems with my pasta smelling or tasting like oil. My husband only likes spelt flour, so making my own spelt pasta is a very affordable alternative to buying spelt pasta. Not to mention that fresh pasta tastes delicious.