As a hand maker of pasta, and having very fierce opinions of it, I waited a long time before even considering this machine. I have a LOT of pasta machines and gadgets, some I have held up to the light and have praised, some that I have thrown back into the netherworlds of my kitchen bins to be forgotten. I have always had a bit of a love hate feeling with extruded pasta. It always has a machine-y feel to it and never has that true warm hand feel that is so great. I have owned and nixed the Kitchen Aid extruder for producing machine-y pasta, but I have loved the Kitchen Aid flat roller and hand cut (but not the terrible work). I owned some older rickety 70s pasta maker/extruders that were loud and downright dangerous.
Enter Philips. At frist, the price blew my hair back. All that for PASTA? The price alone just about would ruin the meal, I thought. So I waited. And the price came down some. It arrived and within 15 minutes of unboxing....I kid you not....15 gosh darn minutes......faster than the freaking water could BOIL I had fresh pasta hanging, ready to go. The tips of my fingers really began to tingle when I calculated what this meant: more time for sauce prep, more time for playing with types of pasta. Houston, we have a GO.
I immediately placed a purchase for the other disk sets for two reasons, and this is where the star reductions comes in. I find that Philips has a distictly American feeling for pasta that, IMHO is big, bready and chunky, whereas I prefer my pasta, thin, airy and delicate. The spaghetti disk that comes with the machine would make a cafeteria proud, but not my home. The thin spaghetti in the add on set is heavenly....light, sweet and airy. I need to pick in the disks to find thinner, less chunky disks....thinning the dough (read:add a tiny bit more water) also makes for less chunky pasta. So the good is mixed with the adequate in the sets, but the good is there.
Operation. A toddler could do it a probably faster than you can. We use a scale since we are old school. So, 500g flour into the bin, shut the top, turn on to large batch setting, add liquid from premeasured cup...woah pasta is already coming out so your water should have been boiling! Yup! Boil the water before you start making pasta since it takes longer for water to come to a boil than it does to make a full batch of pasta. Where is the mess, you wonder? Well, there isn't one with this machine. Try as you might, you won't be able to make one no matter how clutzy or distracted you may be. We have tried, and failed, at making a flour mess with the Philips. Oh, and BTW the machine is so quiet a baby could sleep next to it. Seriously.
They don't lie when they say clean up is a breeze. Trust what they say on this. Either immediate washing up liquid on a couple of parts, or better yet, wait till after the meal and the flour dries up and everything falls off for an even easier washing up by hand or DW. Clogged disk? Not likely, but a quick trip to the freezer will take care of that without any strain or sprain on your part. Easy peasy.
But getting back to price? Well, a foodie friend once told be that home made pasta was over rated...and I can not disagree more (as could my family). And if you feel that home made pasta is priceless, then maybe this is great for your arsenal. It will not replace hand kneaded, hand pressed pasta, but it blends in with my collection nicely. If you are a beginner, it is a good way to start and build confidence. It also does something important: I would not, say, make ravioli as often due to the work of making the flat sheets, but since the machine it there, I can be coaxed much more easiy into ravioli night knowing my worn out self is not going to do all the legwork. The compromise makes for more happy family meals, faster, without me collapsing.
Taste, you ask. TASTE. Well, I won't lie. My family tells me they can taste hours put into meals. 15 minute pasta isn't "hours" pasta BUT and I mean BUT they aren't choking on this pasta....they are gobbling in down and groaning with home made pasta happiness. Like, enough for me to say, yeah, this is a weeknight thing, and I can spend more time on a sauce than on the pasta and everyone is really, really happy and I look fresh as a daisy after cooking THIS. Yes, the pasta is darn good.
The machine was obviously slated originally for an Asian audience and I appreciate the Asian turn the recipe booklet takes. I plan to give it a go. I had been working on some of those concepts already and it is neat to see how this machine can more easily replicate Asian noodles (maybe that's why some of them are so thick). Yeah, GO UDON! So don't expect lots of Italian inspired stuff in the recipe booklet. I was charmed not to find them there.
I'm keeping the machine and it won't go to dust here at home. I hope more thin disks are made. I think there is much potential here, and as it stands, great fun and super amazing ease of use for everyone.
I paid full price for this item, so this is a non biased review. If this review did help you, please click "yes" below.
Update: It is 4/2016 and the machine is still a winner. The kids and their friends come over to use it an cook. As ever, it is easy to clean and care for. This remains a great purchase
Update: Christmas time 2016 and we are still loving the machine! Don't hesitate.
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 | Philips Kitchen Appliances Pasta and Noodle Maker Plus, Large, HR2375/06 | Philips Avance Pasta Maker 4-in-1 accessory shape kit- Shells and Paccheri, Rigatoni, & Macaroni | EMERIL LAGASSE Pasta & Beyond, Automatic Pasta and Noodle Maker with Slow Juicer - 8 Pasta Shaping Discs Black | JOYAMI Pasta Maker Electric, Noodle Maker Machine with Slow Juicer Accessories, 7 Molds for Spaghetti & Fettucine and More, Easy to Use, BPA Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | (1119) | (1301) | (478) | (2330) | (21) |
| Price | From $229.00 | $219.95 | $40.00 | $84.73 | $109.99 |
| Sold By | Available from these sellers | HouseholdGear | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | TOKITDirect |
| Color | Silver | White | White | Black | Blue |
| Material | Plastic | Plastic, Steel | Plastic | Plastic | Stainless Steel |
| Number of Sets | 1 | — | — | — | — |
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Customer Review: Now you can make fresh homemade noodles.
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every type of pasta and pasta additions you can think of.
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✅ Antonio Renna
I am loving and using this machine to the max.Pasta is a HUGE weakness for me, so in a 'carb hell' sense,I should probably take it easy,..... but I digress,.......The only few downfalls I can state about this machine is thatI only wish they would include more pasta wheels/dies.I also wish it would extrude the dough more completely. I have to open thetop cover a few times during a cycle to try to situate the last bit of dough to be extruded. The spinning / kneading arm does not pick up or gather all of the dough inside the main reservoir. You lose some dough because themachine can't extract it all. It gets caught up around the end of the kneading and/or pusher arm and it also gets jammed into a void/crevice in front of the pasta shape wheel die. Again, if you don't want to lose the substantial 10% of the dough that's left, you may have to gather the remaining dough with a smallrubber spatula and push it into the exit hole/area during the extraction phase.The machine stops (safety measure) when the top lid opens so you can do it safely.Other Helpful Tips :1. Use a very sharp small paring knife when cutting the pasta into desired lengths when it is being extruded. The spatula tool that they include with the machine is not sharp enough and just mashes and/or mangles the pasta.2. Use a cooking scale (grams) when measuring the dry and wet ingredients. Pasta is really an exact science much like baking. If you're just a little off it really can make a notable difference between success and failureI am as completely pleased with this purchased as I could possibly be.Clean up is an easy breezy dream too.It may be another machine or gadget in my kitchen taking up space, but it is wellworth it, and definitely not just sitting around. For the money I paid for it, it is big time worth it as well,because I actually use it, and enjoy it immensely.I have used all of the pasta wheels except for the lasagna or flat large pasta one. I'm looking forward to using that one in the future as well.I will also add that since I try to eat as cleanly as possible, so I primarily buy organic foods. I am able to control the recipes that I use when I make pasta.I only use organic flour and eggs. That's always a plus. ;o)
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K. T.
A winner, compared to other methods.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 15, 2015Style: OldVerified Purchase
Clayton Lee
A very good and complete Pasta Maker!
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Shawn Young
Maximize your value from your purchase
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hb49
Excellent pasta, made quickly and easily
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 22, 2015Style: OldVerified Purchase
Olive Deer
Fresh yummy pasta, get in my belly...
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 5, 2017Style: OldVerified Purchase
