On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:42:35 -0500, Anthony Ferrante
> wrote:

>After having seen a post within this NG re a Pasta Express Machine, I
>decided to check it out and see that it is the same machine I have
>seen on infomericals, under various names. I love pasta, but are these
>machines any good or is making fresh pasta worth the time it takes to
>do so?
>
>For those who own these or have, I would love to read your opinions on
>this pasta maker.
>
In the 80s, extruders were all the rage. I once got an extruder as a
gift, as did friends of mine. Our experience was all the same. The
extruders come with several dies, which are made of plastic. One will
quickly become your favorite. But the plastic can't handle the forces
and will just as quickly break, and you can't make that pasta anymore.
You'll switch to another die, and it too will break. You can order
replacements, but you won't. The cost of the plastic die and shipping
and handling is almost as much as you paid for the original machine.
The machine will sit in your cabinet unused for a few years then go
into a garage sale for two bucks. It will sell for a dollar, because
your favorite pasta shape is everybody elses, too, but that die is
broken.

The quality of the pasta made with my extruder was poor. Worse than
store bought. I didn't know that at the time, but when I trashed my
extruder I bought an Imperia manual machine, and it became obvious
with the first batch. It's more time and effort, but the quality of
fresh pasta made with my Imperia is noticeably better than
store-bought pasta, and is worlds above what I got from my extruder.
Plus, my Imperia has been trucking now for about 20 years with no sign
of wear and no breakage. And I make pasta shapes, like long and wide
lasagna pasta, and flavors that I couldn't make with the extruder,
such as our favorite sun dried tomato flavored. The pieces of sun
dried tomatoes clogged up the extruder die, but the Imperia
incorporates them easily. A few years ago I got another extruder as a
gift. I sold it on Ebay unopened.