The frugal gourmet

[Bit]

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-FJ150-Pinzon-5-9-Inch-Pasta/dp/B001CGMKA4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1275196521&sr=8-4"]Amazon.com: Pinzon 5-9-Inch Pasta Maker: Home & Garden[/ame]


(I paid $32 for this; the price has gone down to $25 this weekend.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They told me so, y'all. I read the reviews in amazon.com and it was clear that the handle falls out. Someone said it was cheaply made. I said to myself, "I'll be aware and careful with the handle, and hey, it looks pretty solid to me." I didn't have the hundred bucks to get an Atlas... so I sprang for the Pinzon.

You get what you pay for. I'd have been happier with a tortilla press for $15. But hey, I wanted to make tortillas AND pasta.

The first thing I discovered is that the clamp doesn't work at ALL. Here's the thing about cheaply made: it isn't limited to flimsy, like I was thinking. It can also cover improperly sized holes, so that the clamp won't screw to the countertop. It can cover a handle that fell out no less than twenty times while I was being careful and landed on the floor every single time--well, except that one time it landed on the dog.

Cheaply made also covers things like noodle and spaghetti cutters that DON'T cut, and that are wider at one end so that the noodles are not an even thickness. It took me longer to pull the noodles apart than it did to run them through the machine in the first place.

Cheaply made also covers things like the holes on the dial not being lined up with the numbers, so that you never know exactly what thickness you're using; and things like cleaning instructions that refer to non-existent plastic parts.

There is no actual manual, just an instruction sheet with vague photos and an admonition to never wash the machine, and the aforementioned reference to non-existent parts.

My test run of tortillas was almost a disaster, but I finally realized that I needed to run them through in a specific pattern, and stretch them by hand after they came out of the machine. They tasted fine and the texture was what I expected, even if the sizes and shapes were a little wonky.

The noodles, on the other hand, did not have the texture I expected until I ran them through several times on succeedingly thinner settings. Since Gryph likes thick noodles--one reason to make them at home--being forced to use the thinner settings was a problem, and also made some of the noodle sheets waaay too long for easy handling.

The cutter thicknesses are not adjustable--how it comes is how it is.

It definitely takes two people and four hands to catch the noodles as you feed the dough through. This may be mostly due to inexperience, but at least part of it is due to the sheets being so thin and therefore long.

All in all, it would have been less work to buy the tortilla press and just slice the flattened dough into noodles with kitchen scissors or a paring knife. I suspect it would be easy enough to put logs of dough into a press and get flat oblongs for easy slicing.

I won't ever buy a Pinzon product again.

I also won't ever buy storebought noodles again--as bad as this product is, it still saved my wrists considerable wear and tear... but what sold me?

The first batch of fresh homemade noodles, rolled, "cut" and then separated right into boiling broth. FOODGASM. Seriously--foodgasm.

[Ursy]

Bummer! Does Amazon have a returns policy? That sounds like a definite candidate for a return. Then I'd get the tortilla press and save some money.

Thanks love for the comprehensive review

[Bit]

Dunno, Ursy, but yanno what, I'm willing to deal with the thing for now. I figure I'll find ways to work around all the problems eventually.... and I really honestly cannot use a rolling pin right now. My wrists are almost as bad as they were before I had surgery, and I have to stop doing the things that inflame them.

Maybe I'm too stubborn for my own good. I just know that I need the thing so I can make breakfast tomorrow, and then supper tomorrow night and breakfast the next morning, yanno? *sheepish smile*

[Ursy]

I'm sure you'll figure out its quirks, you're tricky like that

And it looked so nice and shiny and sturdy in the pic!

It's so disappointing when you're waiting for some really cool kitchen gadget, and it arrives, and then it turns out to be crap.

I just had that experience with a julienne peeler. The tips of the cutting blades were bent over. I thought it must be some kind of manufacturing defect, but the replacement was just the same. Had to conclude that it was just a piece of crap!

I find the use of the word "quality" these days is such that it no longer means anything at all!

[rlin]

Howdy frugal folks.
Ive been stalking this thread for a while now and this weekend my mom dug an old recipe out of her stash that was so simple and so good that I figured i could share with the rest of yas.

this is either called
Better Than Sex Cake
or
Fudge Pudding Cake

it is reminiscent of a lava cake...
really easy, cheap, and flippin tasty!
i found this same recipe on cooks.com

□ 1 cup all purpose flour
□ 3/4 cup sugar
□ 2 tbsp. cocoa
□ 2 tsp. baking powder
□ 1/4 tsp. salt
□ 1/2 cup milk
□ 2 tbsp. shortening, melted*
□ 1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
□ 1 cup brown sugar, packed
□ 1/4 cup cocoa
□ 1 3/4 cups hot water

In a mixing bowl, measure flour, sugar, 2 tbsp. cocoa, baking powder and salt. Blend in milk and shortening; stir in nuts.

Pour into an ungreased 9x9x2-inch square baking pan.

Stir together brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over the batter. Do not stir!

Bake@350degrees for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake (not the pudding) comes out clean.


i used self rising flour and instead of the crisco i used salted butter... i also decided on dark brown sugar... it was yum but i think next time i will use light brown...


the cake acts like a cobbler so the puddin goes to the bottom... its a spoon cake... wow... with some vanilla bean icecream... holy shit it was good.


try it
rlin

[Bit]

OOOOPSIE...

So y'all might have seen that we are doing the Big Re-Do over at That House, moving furniture, changing rooms around.

I unpacked a box yesterday, searching for something which I didn't find, probably because the contents didn't match the label. It had probably been repacked a couple times along the way last year.

One of the things I DID find?

Gram Kae's noodle recipe.

<insert eNNNOOORRRRmous blush here>

Um, whoever came up with the noodle recipe I thought was my gramma's, I am sincerely sorry. I probably found it on the internet.

The odd thing is, I made gram's noodle recipe (without realizing that's what it was) the other night out of desperation--I was out of milk--and *whispers* I didn't like it near as much as I like the other one.

SO, for Gram Kae's noodle recipe:

2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour, plus extra for kneading

Beat eggs water and salt with a fork till very foamy. Slowly mix in 2 cups flour and continue beating with fork; knead in up to 1 cup additional flour if necessary, to make a stiff dough. Roll out with plenty of flour. "Makes enough for 2 big noodle sheets."

This was a woman who stretched strudel dough until it draped like a tablecloth; what her idea of "big" was I do not know... but if you're not feeding five hungry children, you might wish to halve the recipe the first time!

[Mitmo01]

this thread is stirring up my appetite something fierce lol