A noodle machine

[Ader1]

I'm thinking of buying something similar to this in order to make my own fresh noodles. I cannot get fresh noodles where I live.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/DMZ-200b-Electric-Noodle-Making-Machine-Producing-Capability-25-30-Kg-h-Noodle-Maker-3-9mm/700537931.html

Has anybody seen anything like this work? I was hoping to make reasonably thin egg noodles. I think you can spend thousands of pounds/euros/dollars on some of these machines. I've actually sent for details for some Japanese ones which are specific to different types of noodles eg ramen, udon, soba. I'm no expert. Any advice or information much appreciated.

[Dave the Cook]

I don't have any experience with that particular machine, but it appears to be capable of making a LOT of noodles. Do you need noodles for a restaurant, or for home use? If the latter, there are less drastic solutions.

[liuzhou]

It seems a bit over the top for domestic use. Do you really need 25-30 Kg of noodles an hour?

I make noodles (occasionally) using a simple hand cranked pasta machine which cost next to nothing..

[Kayln]

Hi

I think thiz machine is very useful to save our time for making noodles.

[liuzhou]

Kayln, on 17 Jun 2013 - 15:36, said:

Hi

I think thiz machine is very useful to save our time for making noodles.

Save time over what?

I very much doubt it would save any time unless you are using it in a very busy noodle restaurant.

In fact, I imagine it would do the opposite.

Loading it, cleaning it, clearing up the 29.5 kg of noodles you can't make your way through this year, never mind in an hour, but are covering every work surface, the dog and the wife.

Edited June 17, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[dcarch]

I agree with Liuhou.

Consider these also:

1. you can never get service or parts for this machine easily. Shipping is free when you buy. But will cost you $100 or more if you have to ship back to China for repairs.

2. Extra rollers for making other shapes will cost you even more. Not sure if they make more than two different shaped rollers. Rollers are a pain to change in this machine.

3. The part on which the rolled dough drapes down may not fit under your kitchen cabinet.

4. Seems like an extremely heavy and noisy machine. It has all cast metal parts.

Anyway, if motorized pasta/noodle machine is what you are looking for, there are many other models which are designed for your needs.

dcarch

[Ader1]

First of all liozhou, who said it was for domestic use?

Anyway, if motorized pasta/noodle machine is what you are looking for, there are many other models which are designed for your needs.

dcarch

I'm listening. Thanks for the replies so far. And yes dcarch, I think that the repairs issue is an important consideration.

[liuzhou]

First of all liozhou, who said it was for domestic use?

Er you did. Or certainly implied so. Both here and on the wonton wrapper thread, where you explicitly mention "home made".

to make my own fresh noodles. I cannot get fresh noodles where I live.

If I have misunderstood, I apologise.

Still don't think much of the machine.

Are you saying it's for non-domestic use? If, so some more information might be helpful.

Edited June 17, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[Syzygies]

Venetian Bigolaro

A shop such as the pasta counter at Mario Batali's Eataly will use a similar-looking machine to the OP's proposed purchase, probably far more expensive, to crank out lots of fresh pasta. The linked machine in the OP's post looks like junk to me (always divide price by parts to guess quality), and I'd be worried how many pounds of pasta to run through before manufacturing oils stopped contaminating the food.

Of course, start with a hand-cranked pasta machine. One sees wider models in NYC's Bowery, intended for small restaurants.

"Roller" machines cannot make odd shapes, and one needs to get the consistency, moisture content of the dough just right to cut properly without the noodles sticking. A pasta guitar (chitarra) is much more forgiving, but the modern available ones are cheap junk, that only last till one string sags. One can easily build one's own, using dulcimer hardware, with individually adjustable strings. For a restaurant I'd commission such a chitarra.

My favorite pasta maker is the Venetian Bigolaro, shown above making pasta from home ground flour.

http://pastabiz.com/machine-home/TORCHIO-pasta-press.html

http://www.freshpastamachines.co.uk/bigolaro.html

The two provided dies are the least useful of any alternative, but these take the same dies as the "Dolly", a popular powered extruder. My favorite dies are for round pasta, smallest diameters. This is particularly useful for Asian noodles such as rice noodles. Here I often extrude directly into the pasta pot fresh off the stove, then returning the pot to the boil, as I saw kanom jeen noodles traditionally made in Thailand. (There, extruding directly into a massive wok over a fire.)

Cleaning pasta dies is nearly impossible. A garden hose works, eventually. A several thousand dollar ultrasound device is said to work, the $100 version doesn't. A half hour with a toothpick works. Many people simply soak the dies and use them frequently.

[dcarch]

"-------Cleaning pasta dies is nearly impossible. A garden hose works, eventually. A several thousand dollar ultrasound device is said to work, the $100 version doesn't. A half hour with a toothpick works. Many people simply soak the dies and use them frequently.

---"

Use a dental waterjet. Also cleans garlic press and micro-plane.

dcarch

Edited June 17, 2013 by dcarch (log)

[Syzygies]

Use a dental waterjet. Also cleans garlic press and micro-plane.

Awesome!!!

[weinoo]

I don't have any experience with that particular machine, but it appears to be capable of making a LOT of noodles. Do you need noodles for a restaurant, or for home use? If the latter, there are less drastic solutions.

First of all liozhou, who said it was for domestic use?

See the post above? How about answering the question?

[Ader1]

Yes, it would eventually be for commercial use in a small restaurant.

[Syzygies]

Yes, it would eventually be for commercial use in a small restaurant.

How about this: Commercial Imperia Pasta Machine R220

It's surely not going to fail on you with a restaurant full of diners arriving. One could crank out pasta for lots of people with this machine. Otherwise, spend 4x for a Dolly extruder; don't buy electric junk.

[Ader1]

Thank you. I've got an Imperia 150 model. This must be wider to be able to crank out more? That one, the R220 is $564 sale price. It looks like the Bigolaro is cheaper http://vanraaltenimport.com/en/pages/f-bottene.htm at Eur 250. I am in Europe...well, the UK. But all things being equal (price wise) you would choose the Bigolaro over the Imperia?

[Syzygies]

all things being equal (price wise) you would choose the Bigolaro over the Imperia?

The Bigolaro is a fantastic toy for extruding pasta. The extra wide Imperia is a tool for cranking out lots of fresh pasta. And naive restaurant diners are more likely to identify rolled fresh pasta as house-made. Go for volume, start with the Imperia? With practice, I truly don't see the need for a motor. However, restaurants that extrude generally go powered, Dolly and up for $2K USD and up, not the Bigolaro.

[Syzygies]

Use a dental waterjet. Also cleans garlic press and micro-plane.

Yes, I can confirm that this is a remarkably effective solution.

In a home kitchen, to clean a brass or teflon pasta die (for a pasta extruder such as the Dolly or a torchio or bigolaro), first soak the die for a bit and use a toothpick to remove the bulk of the dough. Then clean thoroughly using a dental waterpik (power flosser, oral irrigator) such as:

Panasonic Oral Irrigator EW-DJ10-A