Customer Reviews

Ronco PAS17 Automatic Pasta & Sausage Maker

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have loved this machine for months now. It took me a long time to purchase this item because I have been burned by TV inventions before. But ronco is THE BEST. The pasta comes out perfect, Everytime! Trust me... Try it and you will be pleased too! It saves me plenty on groceries. I used to buy the fresh pasta their and it cost me 2-3 dollars a pack... big savings!

I read all the reviews before buying this item and decided to go ahead and give it try with the idea in mind that if it was lousy at making pasta, I would use it for making sausage. So far, I have been successful at both. I have had the pasta maker for a couple of months and use it twice a week to make pasta. I think it's a nice machine. It's a little tricky to get the dough right but it's worth the effort to learn. In the beginning, stick to the same brand of flour and use the same measuring utensils until you know what the correct consistency of the dough is. Once you get the hang of that, don't expect your pasta to be the same length. The pasta that extrudes through the die is always longer in the middle with the side pieces at times being several inches shorter. Of course this doesn't affect the taste but it is rather annoying.

You should only use 2 cups of flour in the machine. Anymore than that and you will have problems with the face plate coming off or cracking and the dough will push up on the lid and cause problems. I called Ronco and the maximum amount of flour to use is 2 cups. I found out by trial and error that the maximum amount of meat to use for making sausage is 2 lbs. It says in the manual to add up to 2 lbs of meat but it doesn't say you can't add anymore. Trust me, you can't! The lid and the face plate will come off!

The directions in the manual on what the dough should look like really aren't that great since they are illustrations and not actual pictures. So make sure you watch the video to get an idea of what the dough should look like. The manual specifies that it's the proper consistency when small pea sized lumps appear. It's more like when small walnut sized lumps appear. They should hold together and be moist but not sticky when pressed. Add the liquid slowly. I drizzle in 3/4 of it, let it mix a minute or so, stop the machine and check the dough before adding any more. If the dough is granular like cornmeal and won't hold together in a clump when pressed, I know it's too dry and add the rest of the liquid. Sometimes I need all of it, sometimes, I don't.

Depending upon what shape die you are using, the machine may make a loud high pitched whining sound as the dough is extruding. I thought something was wrong with it but remembered that I could hear the same sound in the video (it's faint but if you listen carefully you can hear it) so I assume that this may be the loud noise mentioned in the manual. I've only heard it when using the sphagetti die. Make sure you place the die in a bowl of hot water before using it. As an added tip, place a drop or two of oil in the water. This helps when the dough is extruding.

Cleaning the machine is a lot easier than cleaning the other pasta maker that I used to own since all of the parts are removeable and can be placed in the dishwasher. I prefer to hand wash mine, and it takes no time to clean the parts. I let the die and the locking ring sit out for awhile so the dough can dry and then I remove it with the die pick.

The pasta maker does a really good job at extruding meat for sausage. I thought it would be pretty cool to just make one long sausage and then twist it off into links. I suppose this takes experience because I broke the casing after the first sausage. It's easier to just twist them off when they are at the length you want. I ordered the accessory pack that has a variety of dies, casing sizes and sausage horns and have really enjoyed using the machine to make different types of pasta and sausage.

We love pasta, perhaps too much. We used this machine at least twice a week until it broke. It took THREE MONTHS for them to get a new one to us, despite frequent frantic calls to the customer service line (by the way, expect to wait at LEAST thirty minutes to talk to a human, and often closer to an hour).

When the machine arrived, it too lasted but a short time in our kitchen... and then it broke again. Replacement parts were sent after only a month or so, this time, although we had to pay substantial S&H charges both times, from ... costs of shipping defective parts back to Ronco.

Now our machine is, once again, broken, and none of us have the strength left to deal with the flaccid customer service department, and so are instead searching the internet for something more durable, which is how we wound up here and felt sorry for all of the people who might actually buy one of these, and thought we should warn you!!!!

Enjoy your machine, while it lasts! It does do a good job while it works and is fun to own and use. Ronco, on the other hand, extrudes material in a very different manner from its product, and of a decidedly different color and odor.

After trying several other brands of these type of automatic pasta makers, this is the only one that can truly get the job done. The others have motors which are woefully underpowered to extrude the pasta. There are other little features and design characteristics which also put this unit above the rest. The only problem is that you must expect to replace 2 of the plastic parts after approximately every 50 uses. This is a pain since the RONCO parts department is difficult to reach and VERY slow to ship the parts. The bottom-line however is that if you want an automatic pasta maker, this is the best of what is out there.

I just wanted to say that the lady who described the cleaning, is not doing it properly. This is why she's having such a difficult time. The dough comes off easily, just like clay! Every part is non stick to the dough, unless wet. You use the pick & clean it after use, not after soaking! Soaking it just causes a gummy mess! The easiest way is to set it aside to dry out, then it just flicks off! After all the dough is pulled off, then you put it in the dishwasher or wash it by hand. Simple!! This machine has lots of power and is quick & simple to use. I always make extra and package some for the freezer. If you follow the directions, you will love this machine.

This is a great machine - easy to use, particularly if you make pasta in bulk and freeze what you don't need. Contrary to what some say, cleanup is not hard. Just don't try to clean it while the dough left on the machine is still moist. Just leave it for a few hours (or overnight), until the dough is dry and it just flakes off. You can clean the machine simply by wiping it off with a tea towel. It take a little practice, but the results are great. The machine is good quality. Only reservation is that the results with finer pastas such as angel hair are mixed.

When I was diagnosed, I was heartbroken, as my two favorite ethnic foods are Italian and Chinese. For someone who feels like that to be told that he can't eat pasta or rice any more. . .!

Fortunately, I can make low-carb pasta using bean and nut flours. Not entirely; one has to use some wheat flour to make it hold together properly. Usually I put in 1/3 bean or nut flour, 1/3 whole wheat flour, 1/6 wheat bran, and 1/6 bread flour. I will also make rye pasta using 1/3 each whole wheat, bread, and rye flour, with a couple of tablespoons of caraway seeds; I can't make all shapes, as the seeds are rather too large to go through some of the dies. The texture is rather more chewy than one is used to with white-flour pasta because the bean or nut flour has more protien, and it tends to have a bit of a flavor, but it is still good.

I have found that it is better to go scant on the water; it is easier to add more water if you need to in order to make the dough more sticky than to add more flour if you get it too sticky. Also, be sure to let the plasta dry on a rack for a bit before cooking it.

I have also used it to make sausages, and find that a lot of fun. I don't hunt myself, but I have friends who do, and when they bring me ground venison I always make it up into sausages.

On the downside, it is kind of hard to clean, and I have had trouble with the faceplate cracking (I think I'm on my third.) But I have found that Ronco is very good about replacing them.

I purchased mine at a retail store at a typical "as seen on tv" discounted price and returned it within a couple days. The "locking ring" that held the mixer in its place broke in half after the first use. I could have purchased the part through Ronco's website for $7.00 + S/H (for a molded plastic ring!), but if it broke on my first use (and I followed the recipe in the booklet carefully), it'll surely break again - not very economical or convenient.
Thankfully, the retailer was happy to give me a refund.

We love this machine, but it continually breaks down. The plastic parts are too brittle for the pressure that this pasta maker places on them. We have waited many times for parts, and we have waited too long on the service line needing help.

Look for another machine that uses steel or metal parts that won't crack, chip or snap when making the machines pasta recipes. Best to you!

For 8 years that I've had this pasta maker I've used it may be 10 times. The reason is almost impossible cleaning of the grids. I soak them in warm water, poke with the needle included with the machine, jet spray with water, no matter what I do it takes longer to clean this thing than to actually make pasta. If you make penne or ziti, it's not that bad, but angel hair or even spagetti, forget about it! Recently I brought back this machine from the garage where it was parked for the last 5 years and started using it again for only one reason that it makes a great activity for my toddler, he watches pasta being made and cuts it by himself. More interesting activity for a boy than baking cookies. This machine has very good safety features to be used around children. If not for this one inconvenience I would have given it 5 stars for the quality and good pasta it makes.