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[JoeGrilling]

I love infomercials.  However, I never buy the products because they are usually too good to be true.  I did buy a Traeger smoker after seeing an infomercial on it and that's how I ended up here.  A week ago, I saw an infomercial on a Chef Emeril  pasta maker and was amazed how quickly it made fresh pasta.  My wife and I made fresh pasta when were in grad school but it was a hassle.  This Emeril machine made it look so easy.  I did a little research and found Emeril's machine appears to be a knockoff of one made by Philips.  The Philips has been around for years and appeared to be well constructed.  I ended up buying the Philips off of Costco.com for $250.  It comes with eight pasta dies.

The Philips machine has a huge number of YouTube videos on it's operation.  It has gone over several iterations over the years and the controls vary a bit between different revisions.  The one preparation item I took away from the YouTube videos was that the flour should be measured by weight and not by volume.  I made my first batch of fettucine with 200g of semola flour and 50g of all purpose flour.  It took less than 15 minutes to make 13 ounces of pasta.  My wife was impressed with the quality of the pasta and had some for lunch with pesto sauce.  We made another batch for dinner following a Rachel Ray linguini and clams recipe.  Cleanup of the machine again was a breeze following a recommendation from a YouTube video.  The video suggested leaving the machine parts sit around for a couple of hours and the dried pasta would flake off easily.  The method worked well.

Has anyone else tried one these machines?         

[lil moose]

I have been looking into these for the past week or so.  The Emeril machine had poor ratings from what I have read so I have stayed away from it but now you have me interested in the Philips machine

 

[JoeGrilling]

I have been looking into these for the past week or so.  The Emeril machine had poor ratings from what I have read so I have stayed away from it but now you have me interested in the Philips machine

The Emeril machine seems to be ok according to the Amazon ratings.  However, one of the reviewers pointed out that quite a few of the very positive reviews sound like commercials and are by folks with few other reviews.

The thing I liked about the Philips machine is you can get most of the parts from them to repair the machine and it has been out there for years.  The Philips machine is modeled after the Italian pasta machines.  However, the Italian machines are very expensive (>$1500) and are all metal.  Dies for the Italian machines are made of brass and cost around $300.   

[lil moose]

I have been looking into these for the past week or so.  The Emeril machine had poor ratings from what I have read so I have stayed away from it but now you have me interested in the Philips machine

The Emeril machine seems to be ok according to the Amazon ratings.  However, one of the reviewers pointed out that quite a few of the very positive reviews sound like commercials and are by folks with few other reviews.

The thing I liked about the Philips machine is you can get most of the parts from them to repair the machine and it has been out there for years.  The Philips machine is modeled after the Italian pasta machines.  However, the Italian machines are very expensive (>$1500) and are all metal.  Dies for the Italian machines are made of brass and cost around $300.

Well going by what you have said the Philips is the way to go

I have a need for low carb and just found some new flour that is 1 carb per serving and they say the taste is very good with texture being close.

So looking at buying a machine "if" this new flour works out well

thanks

[urnmor]

I have had the Phillips machine for a number of years and make pasta regularly.  It does not take long to make and cooks quicker then store bought pasta.  It taste great as a result i seldom use regular pasta anymore.

[hughver]

We eat some form of pasta at least once a week. IMHO, because the word "fresh" is attached, most people assume that it surly must be/taste better. A long time ago, Consumer Report had a taste test between various brands of fresh/dry pasta and a good quality Italian dry pasta came out on top, I've never even considered fresh pasta since then. A little research this morning revealed that they are really not the same, fresh is made with eggs and dry is not, they also probably use different flour (Italian law requires Durum be used for dry). One article that I read, mentioned that fresh does not work well with some heavy sauces and in general, does not absorb the sauce as well due to surface texture (rough Vs. smooth). 

[JoeGrilling]

We eat some form of pasta at least once a week. IMHO, because the word "fresh" is attached, most people assume that it surly must be/taste better. A long time ago, Consumer Report had a taste test between various brands of fresh/dry pasta and a good quality Italian dry pasta came out on top, I've never even considered fresh pasta since then. A little research this morning revealed that they are really not the same, fresh is made with eggs and dry is not, they also probably use different flour (Italian law requires Durum be used for dry). One article that I read, mentioned that fresh does not work well with some heavy sauces and in general, does not absorb the sauce as well due to surface texture (rough Vs. smooth). 

The Phillip's recipes for homemade pasta vary a bit.  In terms of the flour, I used Italian produced Duram (200g) and 50g of all purpose for my first two batches.  The Philips machine does have recipes for other kinds of flour.  As far as egg content, it is optional.  Their liquid measuring cup has two lines for egg and no egg plus water. 

One thing I am curious about is why they cut the Semolina with all purpose flour.  It may be to get the dough to bind together better.  The type of Duran I used was actually Semola.  Semola finer ground Semolina.  It seems to be as fine as the all purpose flour.  I need to try an experiment next time using 250g of the Semola to see how it comes out.

[urnmor]

We eat some form of pasta at least once a week. IMHO, because the word "fresh" is attached, most people assume that it surly must be/taste better. A long time ago, Consumer Report had a taste test between various brands of fresh/dry pasta and a good quality Italian dry pasta came out on top, I've never even considered fresh pasta since then. A little research this morning revealed that they are really not the same, fresh is made with eggs and dry is not, they also probably use different flour (Italian law requires Durum be used for dry). One article that I read, mentioned that fresh does not work well with some heavy sauces and in general, does not absorb the sauce as well due to surface texture (rough Vs. smooth). 

Yes the term fresh can certainly be misleading however I clearly fine a difference between store bought pasta and freshly made pasta.  By freshly made I mean made from the pasta machine to the pot of boiling water in less than five or ten minutes.  Now I do make my own sauce so I am not worried about absorption.  Again just my opinion