Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I didn't bother coming here first because Amazon won't ship this attachment to Australia.
Anyway, I finally got the thing the other day, after a lot of trials and tribulations, from a local store that was able to get it for me. And after all the effort and waiting to get it, what a huge letdown. I honestly expected more from KitchenAid.
I have not used the grinder to grind - I didn't need a food grinder. I only purchased it to make pasta, and the plates are made to be used with the food grinder only.
I have worked as a professional cook, have successfully made hundreds or maybe even thousands of kilos of from-scratch fresh pasta in my life, and have never come across such a reputable manufacturer offering such a poorly designed product as this. Shame on you, KitchenAid.
For years, I've used my little Italian hand-cranked pasta maker, and thought I'd try this one because it would allow me to make tubular macaroni. I also thought the extrusion process would be easier than cranking. Not true.
As others have said, getting the consistency just-so for extrusion is tricky. A couple of batches ended up in the rubbish.
The object is to continue to drop walnut-sized pieces of dough into the tube, while also catching the pasta as it comes out of the machine. Because it tends to get warm and stick together in one huge blob, people on the KitchenAid boards have suggested sprinkling the emerging pasta with flour. And for this, you need three hands. Those of us lucky enough to have been born with three arms may find it a breeze, but the rest of us will struggle. And this is not even to mention the additional mess (and wastage) of the sprinkled flour! By the time I was finished (or rather, surrendered), the place looked like an explosion in a flour mill!).
The first disk I started with was the noodle disk, and then went to the lasagne disk.
I can't see how the lasagne disk can be used for ravioli, as it has a "join" in tbe middle of the dough (which can be seen as a transparent streak. This is because the dough is actully extruded from this disk in two pieces which join when they are dropping from the disk). I can't see that pasta holding up to being filled and boiled.
The instruction booklet (it was the European version) was a letdown - only one recipe - "Basic Egg Noodle dough". The recipe in English was in the "home style" volume measurement of cups, whereas the European measurements were in weight (used by professional cooks, because it's more precise). I used the European ones, except that was difficult to translate the names of the ingredients (KA, please give us weight recipes along with the volume measurement ones, in English). I couldn't believe that the KA website doesn't have any recipes! Do they really want to sell these things?
The instructions could have been clearer. I expected to drop a walnut-sized piece of dough into the machine, and have at least something come out. But the first piece is for the 'screw'. It takes until the second piece and beyond, before you start seeing pasta. They could've mentioned that, as I thought I was doing something wrong.
I do not recommend spending money on this pasta maker (the food grinder might be good. I haven't tried it). The only thing this purportedly does that my hand-cranked one doesn't is tubular macaroni, and after seeing how it handled simple fettucine, I have my doubts about it (also, the instructions said that macaroni could not be dried and kept, but had to be used within 4 hours of making, which may not always be practical). I've decided that if I need macaroni, I'll buy it! The rest will be more than adequately handled by my dependable Atlas machine (for which I now intend to get the add-on motor).
Now, I think I'll go to ebay and list this attachment, since I have no need for the grinder part, and the pasta function is pretty dismal.
Click Here to see more reviews about: KitchenAid SNFGA Pasta Maker Attachment for Stand Mixers
Five interchangeable pasta plates make fresh macaroni, flat noodles, lasagna, and thick or thin spaghetti. Includes the required food grinder.
Click here for more information about KitchenAid SNFGA Pasta Maker Attachment for Stand Mixers
0 comments:
Post a Comment