Housewares Reviews

Being a big fan of the Kenwood major machine, using it several times a week, I have been very disappointed by the Kenwood pasta maker.

Why - heres the story :

The pasta maker works by forcing pasta dough through a dish containing a number of holes, the shape of the holes determine which pasta you thought you were about to make.

The holes are placed vertically as well as horizontically (rows and coloumns).

When using the pastamaker, gravity pulls the fresh and slightly wet pasta dough towards earth.

On the long and indeed dangerous journey towards earth the pasta emerging from a vertical set of holes collides with pasta emerging from the same vertical set of holes - producing the bubble of dough you put into the machine in the first place - instead of pasta..

The pastamaker mey be good for something, but its not making pasta.
I believe Kenwood should change the name of this appliance or take it of the market alltogether.

Some custumers have been disappointed by this pasta maker because pasta sticks after the holed dish. They also say "the slightly wet pasta dough". That is the problem.
The dough, mixed with the K beater at speed 1 and even less and not overworked, has to be like breadcrumbs, as stated in the instructions.
The measuring cup is perfect; I use 5 eggs medium, exactly reaching the upper line in the cup and honoring the golden rule "1 egg for each 100 gr. of flour".
Do not use light or allpurpose flour, too sticky, or pure semolina, too strong and dangerous for the machine, but that special for pasta (in Montreal it is currently sold in the supermarkets). If it is not available, use a mix 50/50 allpurpose and semolina.
If only allpurpose is available, less liquid will be added to obtain a dry breadcrumbs consistence. In the kitchen spoons, cups and scales must be counterbalanced by the brains.
The best is to pour the mix in the pasta maker by hand and the hands have to remain clean and dry.
Cut the pasta beyond the dish with the back of a knife.
The pasta is so dense that the average cooking time is 12 minutes, while eggs pasta homemade usually takes 3 or 4 or 5 minutes only.
All, I say again all, the pasta makers working with the system of a screw pushing through an holed dish want to process a dry dough!! The main beauty of the Kenwood pasta maker is that the motor is not 150 watt, but much, much more powerful.
Why I rated this equipment 4 and not 5? Because the fettuccine dish makes fettuccine too thick.
Bon appetit
ps sorry for my elementar English. It is not my mother tongue, but I love it.

TOTAL piece of useless junk! Looks nice and build well, BUT the bottom line, as another reviewer already pointed out, it burns the rice every time no matter what kind of rice you use or what method you use to cook it. I assume anyone buying a rice cooker is looking to cook rice, not BURN it. So if you are planning on using this for cooking rice, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME & MONEY WITH THIS ONE!!!

I am in the market for a new one now that my trusty old one has passed on after 8 years of hard service... But I see that several people have had complaints of it burning rice and being unreliable... This leads me to wonder whether the one I bought was an earlier generation, made in a different factory perhaps? Household current can also vary, as in my current house, my slow cooker burns everything. I am scratching my head about this, and wondering if I just got lucky? Mine was reliable and gave perfect results every time for 8 years! Maybe I will see if Consumer Reports rates it to detect changes in generation.

The Farberware is my 3rd rice-steamer in 12 years (the first 2 were other brands). I prefer the Farberware's Teflon rice-pot, stainless-steel exterior and large heating-element. The 20 cup capacity leaves plenty of room to add vegetables and beans for a fast, one-pot meal.