Villaware V177 Al Dente Pasta Machine
by Villaware
List Price:
Our Price: $29.00
You Save: $0.99 (3%)
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Category: Kitchen
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: VillawareBrand: Villaware
Model: V177
Product features:
- Smooth, manual, crank operation for exceptional control.
- Good, Functional Pasta Machine at a Value Price.
- Many Optional Attachments (including angel hair, trenette, spaghetti, lasagnette, lasagna and ravioli).
- The cutter head is removable for easy cleaning. A hand crank, clamp, directions, and recipes are all included.
- Roller is 6 inches wide.
- Bartelt Pasta Drying Rack
- Villaware V180 Pasta Machine Motorizer
- VillaWare V5500 10-Square Ravioli Maker
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Villaware V177 Al Dente Pasta Machine
Customer Review: You get what you pay for.
Summary: 1 Stars
This pasta machine is cheap, and there are good reasons for that. I'll begin this review with a few quotes from the instruction booklet:
"Never wash the machine with water"
"Simply wipe the pasta machine clean with a dry cloth. Use a dry pastry brush to dust flour and bits of dough from hard to reach places."
Yes, you're not supposed to actually wash this pasta machine. If I had known that before buying, I wouldn't have bought it. In my opinion, any kitchen item which comes in intimate contact with my food must be cleanable! Whisking with a pastry brush doesn't do the job.
I used this gadget once. Here are my findings, which hopefully will help you decide whether this item will be worth your money:
1) It clamps onto a working surface with a G clamp. Because of the wide flanges on the end of the clamp, I cound not attach it to any section of my kitchen counter. My countertop simply does not stick out that far. I finally ended up clamping it onto my kitchen table.
2) According to the instruction manual, "The machine will have some excess oil from the factory to protect it before it reaches you." To remove the oil, the manual instructs you to run some dough through it over and over. So that's what I did, for about 20 minutes. Over and over, watching the lump of dough get grimy and streaked with oil, wondering when it was going to get clean enough to work with something that I was eventually going to eat, because, as I had to remind myself, I must not use soap and water!
3) When I could no longer see streaks of oil, I threw the now-discolored "tester dough" away. I was using dough for wheat noodles - using my own wheat-flour-salt recipe, as the one in the booklet includes eggs, and using dough made with eggs in a nonwashable machine was a little more than I was willing to try. I passed some dough through the flattening rollers, and that worked well enough. But when I passed the flattened strips of dough through the noodle cutters - well, the wide noodles did not come out neat and already separated; I had to pull them apart by hand, which was a headache when I had a pile of noodles-to-be. The finer noodle cutter did no better, and the dough got caught in the sides of the rollers and under the guard. That, and the prospect of manually pulling apart all those fine little noodles, discouraged me from using that head any more.
4) After I cut all the noodles and set them in boiling water to cook, I took off the cutting head and found that dough was stuck in the corners, between the cutting heads, and especially under the guard. I did my best to clean it with a dry cloth and a pastry brush, as the manual described, but there was no way that was going to remove the wads of dough stuck in all the crannies, especially under the guard, where the brush cannot reach at all. I then took the head to the sink and washed it with soap, water, and a brush as well as I could, because I consider the risk of rust to be preferable to the risk of unclean food preparation surfaces. I then blow-dried it, hoping that that would eliminate the water before it could do any damage.
5) However, when I looked the next day, on turning the rollers - yep, rust.
So, in conclusion - the purpose of a kitchen gizmo like this is to save the work of doing everything manually. In this case that would be rolling out the dough and cutting it yourself. It does that only passably, depending on how willing you are to separate semiperforated noodles. In the end, I spent more time attempting to clean this thing than I would have just using a rolling pin and knife. If you're advanced enough to make your own noodles, then it's very likely you understand the importance of clean food preparation surfaces - a basic element of kitchen safety - and will not want to use a gadget that rusts if you subject it to soapy water.
Description of Villaware V177 Al Dente Pasta Machine
Villaware Al Dente Pasta Machine is great for individual or family use. It is a great functional pasta machine at a value price with many optional attachments. Dough Roller unit is 6 inches wide perfect for making lasagna noodles!Looking to impress that special someone in your life? What better way than with homemade pasta. Villaware, a tradition of classic Italian kitchenware since 1906, provides the tools that make it easy. The Al Dente pasta machine, made of heavyweight chrome steel, is great for rolling dough and has a double-sided, 6-inch-wide blade for cutting spaghetti or fettuccine. The steel rollers are adjustable for kneading and there are seven thickness settings to accommodate individual preferences. Its manually controlled crank offers exceptional control, and a removable cutter head makes cleanup simple, while measuring only 6 inches wide--so you won't have to give up much counter space. The only drawback is that after tasting fresh, homemade pasta, it?s hard to go back to the packaged kind.
This easy-to-use pasta machine provides a great way to enjoy pasta just like they do in Italy. So pour that glass of red wine, toss a green salad, take the garlic bread out of the oven, and be ready to wow family and friends with a favorite pasta dish. Optional accessories are available for making angel hair, trenette, spaghetti, lasagnette, lasagna, and ravioli. Villaware makes it possible for anyone to make pasta that looks and tastes like it was made by the pros. Directions and a recipe book are also included to help you get started. This pasta machine carries a one-year warranty. --Catie Unger
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