Heather S
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2025
I was excited to try this Cavatelli maker, but my experience was disappointing. When I first tried to use it, the crank was stripped and it wouldn't work at all. After some inspection, I realized that the crank was installed backwards, which prevented it from turning. Once I fixed that, I could use it for a short time, but the part that shapes the pasta started squeezing the dough rather than forming it into proper shapes. After about five minutes of use, the mechanism somehow got stripped, even though I hadn't been using it for very long. I had high hopes for this product, but sadly, it didn't live up to expectations.
Tom F
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2024
There is nothing I do not love about this little machine. I have made 10 or so batches of pasta, experimenting with plain, corn meal, sweet potato, and greens. I made all with farm fresh eggs, either whole egg or yolk heavy. No even really using recipe, I add a little oil, salt, and sometimes water if it is too dry and I don't want to crack another egg. I get my dough to a good consistency in Kitchenaide mixer and then rest in fridge I roll the dough out into an elongated 1/2 thick sheet and then cut strips with knife. I then roll those round and dust well with flour. The size of the strip determines how long the pasta are. I dehyrrated one batch and they were fine, but the cooking time was prolonged considerably. We have loved them as mac and cheese and with rago or a olive oil pesto sauce. Can't go wrong here.
Apollunai
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2024
This is a great little pasta maker. You'll need torun a few straps to get that hang of it. Error on the side of thick strips of raw dough. F you roll the dough too thin,the machine won't be able to grip the pasta correctly. We use this machine once a week!
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2023
Price point is nice, however the nut that comes to hood the handle onto the crank shaft will not stay on, you have to re tighten every 45 seconds of use. I wish that were an exaggeration but it’s not. Very frustrating. Used recently for an event, the pasta produced is great, shape is on point and all that but I think the busted knuckles from the handle loosening pretty much have made me decide on not really enjoying this product.
Gabriel.Lonack
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2023
It works well, would prefer steel instead of aluminum.
Lisa C
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2023
This is a great device. I used a recipe of3 eggs3 cups flour1 teas kosher salt1 lb fresh RicottaI mixed in a food processor with a dough blade until is was smooth and elastic. I rested in the fridge wrapped in plastic over night.Divide dough into fourths.Divide again one of the fourths into fourths and roll into snake coils about 3/8th of an inch thick. Flour each coil well and feed into the Cavatelli maker powder the Cavatelli with flour after each coil is put through the machine.Boil in salted water until they float usually about 2 to 3 min. Drain and serve in a sauce or butter and parm.DELICIOUS!!!I bought this Machine on a whim as I saw one in a cooking demonstration. It was so good I can't wait to do it again! This would be a fun project for a dinner party.
Dave
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2020
I read about the three similar cavatelli machines available and decided to order the Fantes for $38.It arrived with the crank reversed to make it fit in the box (reversing it only took a moment) and the "problem" with the crank coming loose took only another moment (I added a 1/4 inch lock washer). I would expect any pasta recipe to work, but I used dough that we had prepared for some mushroom raviolis. (1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 egg plus an egg white, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbs olive oil, and a few drops of water to get the right consistency). After feeding a chunk of this dough through our pasta rollers (at the thickest setting, about 1/8 inch thick), I cut off a 1x12 inch strip, floured the surface on both sides, and cranked it through the cavatelli machine. I got flat "chicklets" coming out. So I bunched up my "mistake" and flattened it with the pasta rollers again. This time, I ran it through the cavatelli machine without any added flour (so it was very slightly sticky). This time it worked perfectly -- the cavatelli pieces came out folded over the metal lever and then were scraped off onto the table. The pieces had the desired "hotdog bun" fold with the indented stripes on the back. Lot's of fun. I froze my results on a cookie sheet for future use. My advice is to experiment with the machine. It isn't all that difficult, and the results are worth the effort!
JMM
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2018
After reading a number of negative reviews about this product, I was a little hesitant about purchasing it. However, I did buy it and I am glad I did. My cavatelli came out perfect on the first try. As others have commented, I think a lot may have to do with the consistency of the pasta dough: it needs to be firm and not sticky. Here is my recipe - which worked:1 1/2 cups semolina pasta flour1 3/4 cups 00 grade pasta flour1/4 tsp salt1 cup waterThe mixture was needed until completely smooth (about 10 minutes), covered in plastic wrap and set to rest for 1/2 hour. The mass was then cut into 16 pieces. Each piece was rolled into a log about an index finger thick, dusted with flour and then put through the machine. While I worked on one log, I covered the rest of the dough up in plastic wrap so it would not dry up. This made about 5 - 6 hearty portions of cavatelli.Sometimes some of the dough did get a little clogged in the machine, but I found this happened when the log was too large in diameter or if the log became off-center as it was being rolled into the machine. When it did get clogged, I had no problems removing the dough and re-rolling it into another log. Keeping the dough log centered and the right size avoided this problem.Some other reviewers commented that the nut on the handle comes off. I find that it does come loose, but it seems that is by design since you have to remove the handle to fit the machine in its box. I just retighten the nut occasionally as I am cranking out the cavatelli. This is something to be aware of.I am hoping that this cavatelli maker services me well in the future.