Kitchen & Housewares : Imperia Italiana Italian Pasta Maker Set

Rating: - Equipment great, instructions poor
The SP150 is brilliant, much better than my previous one. However, the instructions are very poor, particularly with this pack as you get no more information than in the standalone machine. This means you don't get told to grease the ravioli tray (oops - completely ruined) or not to thin the pasta sheets too much for the spagetti cutter - which I have yet to get to work properly.

Might be better to stick to the simpler product, particularly for beginners.

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Rating: - Fantastic fun, and superb quality
I read the reviews, and hunted high and low for one of these babies, and it was so worth it!
I have to admit that I couldn't bring myself to pay full price, so went off and found a second hand one, noting that lots of people had thought homemade pasta was a good idea, but when it came to the cruch, the amount of effort they had to put in was beyond their enthusiasm. Well, all I can say is that their loss was my gain. The Imperia set is well worth the investment. So many people have said that the higher cost of this is fully justified, and I have to concurr. The pasta machine is heavy, the attachments are so very robust, and the build quality is superb.
The one main thing you need to know, when you're starting out at this is, that you need to give yourself enought time. You can't make a batch of dough, stick it through the mangle, and then shove the resulting outcome in to a pot of boiling water. You need patience. Lots of it.
Make your dough. Let it rest. Mangle it. Let it dry. Shred it. Let it dry some more. Allow yourself loads of time. Make a huge batch, and store the rest, as it's not a clean process - your kitchen will be covered in flour!
Then, when your pasta is nice an dry (as well as hanging it from broom handles bridged across two chairs, you can always find new uses for your clothes airer too!), you can cook the stuff in a few minutes flat. Just make sure you use the biggest pot you have, filled with rapidly boiling water, a good pinch of salt, and dollop of olive oil.
Rescue your pasta before it goes gloopy, and top it with a gorgeous homemade sauce. The taste difference is fantastic. The texture is brilliant. Pasta making is very therapeutic after a long days work, and it is so nice to be able to say 'I made that' (especially when the plates are practically licked clean!).
If you've been contemplating buying one, you should. Put it on your wish list. Borrow one. Just try it. Oh, and then of course clean it - I find a pastry brush, or even a small paint brush is brilliant.

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Rating: - Excellent, Solid Product
Bought this a month ago after taking a pasta class at cooking school, and have been using it once or twice a week since with great glee! It's incredibly solid construction, easy to use and reliable, and the extra cutting attachments fit cleanly onto the main roller unit. While I initially scoffed at the small size of the rolling pin included, I soon realised that it was clearly by design as anything larger would be pointless when initially rolling out the dough to first put through the machine. The included ravioli tray is a bit light, and the holes themselves are (in my opinion and experience) too small for properly tasty ravioli, but it's a minor detail, and one easily remedied by the use of the mouth of a white wine glass to cut larger circles from the rolled pasta instead.

I've since learned that Imperia is the brand of choice of most of my chefs-professors (who are themselves Italian), which is a nice endorsement. Highly recommended....