ronco | Your Ultimate Kitchen

Hand Crank Pasta Makers

Some people want to be old school and crank out their pasta by hand. I must warn you that this is a pretty daunting task, but if you’re looking for a good workout, you won’t be disappointed! It’s also helpful to have a friend, but I think the same would be true with an electric one also.

Atlas pasta maker with hand cutting tool

So these machines all basically look the same. The biggest difference is going to be quality, which will obviously be higher with one made in Italy. Marcato Atlas and Imperia (owned by Cucina Pro) are both brands that are made in Italy. The Atlas machine is pretty widely distributed, and you can also find different attachments for it, like a ravioli maker or a motor. 😉 Roma is a less expensive brand made in China.

Electric Pasta Makers

There are many brands of electric pasta makers on the market, none of which I have any personal experience with using or selling. The good news, however, is that you can utilize the information I do know about the Kitchen Aid pasta attachments and make an educated decision, as by looking at them you can deduce what style of pasta maker they are – a rolling/cutting system, or an extruder.

A true rolling and cutting system is more like the traditional hand crank pasta maker. A pasta extruder is figuratively pushing a ball of pasta dough through shaped holes in a disc like Play-Doh. The first method is going to be the best way to do it, but with the extruder method you can get shaped noodles like macaroni.

Kitchen Aid Attachments

Roller – This is the basic pasta roller to flatten out your dough for lasagna noodles or to cut into noodles after rolling it out.

Cutters – Kitchen Aid sells a variety of different size pasta cutters for use after rolling your pasta dough out. Please note that if you buy cutters individually you will also need to purchase a roller.

**Angel Hair Cutter – All capellini noodles, like spaghetti
Thick Noodle Cutter – Lasagnette noodles like fettuccine or egg noodles

Kitchen Aid roller and cutter set (KPRA)

**I get very annoyed that they use all of their pasta terms so interchangeably. It makes it extremely difficult for both employees in stores as well as the end consumers to know exactly what they need. I have seen sets other than these available to order in retail stores, as well, so don’t believe everything you see on the Kitchen Aid website to be all there is!

Thin=Capellini=Spaghetti=Angel Hair
Thick=Lasagnette=Fettuccine=Egg Noodles

Sets – There are a few different sets you can buy, most of which include a roller and some combination of cutters. There is one set that doesn’t include the roller, so beware if you don’t already have one.

Pasta Excellence Set – Includes the pasta roller, ravioli maker, and capellini, lasagnette, fettuccine, and spaghetti cutters
Pasta Roller & Cutter Set – Includes the pasta roller, fettuccine and spaghetti cutters
Pasta Cutter Set – **NO ROLLER** Includes lasagnette (fettuccine & egg noodles) and capellini cutters (spaghetti & angel hair)

Food Grinder/Pasta Plates – I believe that with the advent of the Pasta Extruder that Kitchen Aid has discontinued production on the pasta plate set that you used to be able to buy to go with your Food Grinder attachment. It was a set of 5 discs with different noodle shapes for about $30.

Kitchen Aid Food Grinder and Pasta Plates

Gourmet Pasta Press – This is a big step above the Pasta Plates you can get for the Food Grinder attachment. There are 6 pasta plates, and you can actually make spaghetti and bucatini pastas, along with your short noodles. It also has a conveniently attached storage piece for the plates you aren’t utilizing.

Ravioli Attachment – This is a large attachment that will really help you make a lot of ravioli at once. It seems like this would be easier to do with a friend’s assistance!

Hand Tools & Accessories for Pasta Making

Pasta Cutting Hand Tool – There are a few different pasta cutters you can find to use for hand-cutting your lasagna noodles. Typically it will look like a small pizza cutter, with either one straight blade, or else also have a second blade that is crimped.

Ravioli Trays – There are many varieties of ravioli trays for making them by hand with your freshly made noodles. Generally the base piece will be plastic and the piece that shapes and cuts them is metal.

Ravioli Cutter – A metal crimping wheel to make ‘free-form’ ravioli shapes however your heart desires!

Ravioli Stamps – A ravioli stamp is a simpler version of a ravioli tray, and it is figuratively a circle or square with a handle so you can stamp out individual raviolis.

Pasta Drying Racks – If you’re not eating your pasta right away, you’re probably going to want to dry it to store for later use. You can find basic wooden racks like this one from Atlas. Atlas and Kitchen Aid both make a plastic rack with rotating arms.

Shopping for your father or partner? Of course there are always going to be something new and gimmicky out depending on the season, but I have compiled a list of tried-and-true ideas for gifts for the special guy in your life that you should be able to find at a regular kitchen store. Shop locally, if you can!! 😉

BBQ Tools

Who doesn’t love to grill? And giving more grill utensils equals more delicious summer BBQs for you, right?! 😉 Check out whatever is new for the season! Brands tend to change at even the big-name stores season-to-season, so keep that in mind.

Probe Thermometers – CDN, Polder, and Maverick Redi-Chek are all good brand names in probe thermometers and there’s quite a variety, so pay attention to what he grumbles about when cooking! The Maverick Redi-Chek probes are actually remote so you can take the receiver piece with you as you walk around the party and not have to stand by the grill to keep checking the temperatures. There are some that have multiple probes so you can measure different types of meat at the same time.

Maverick Redi-Chek dual-probe remote thermometer

Usually you can use probe thermometers in smokers, but they also make specific thermometers for smoking, too, like this Redi-Chek remote smoker thermometer.

Grill Lights – Make evening grilling easier! A huge seller is this kind of cool, little light that is attached to a magnet that you can attach to your metal spatula to get an even closer look at your burgers! (**Be careful – the ones I have utilized had a little plastic tube around the batteries that most people assumed was to ensure no battery power was wasted prior to purchase, but it actually required the plastic in order to work!)

Magnetic mini LED grill light attaches to any metal utensil!

Smoker Box – A smoker box is something you put pre-soaked wood chips into to infuse flavor into the meat you are grilling. Some are large enough and have a liquid compartment to pour water, beer, wine or whatever you want to infuse them with. There are now even “platform” smoker boxes that are large enough for the meat to sit directly on top of them.

Weber cast iron smoker box

Himalayan Salt Block – Another cool thing to infuse flavor into your meats or veggies when you grill. You can cook on these multiple times, and some people use them to serve on, as well. And how about a Salt Block Cooking cookbook to go with it?

Himalayan sea salt block

Grilling Planks – Yet another way to infuse flavor into your meat or veggies on the grill. Put them right on top of the plank to get the wood flavor directly in. These are single-use only, but you can add it to the fire afterwards to infuse a little flavor into whatever else you are grilling. You can usually find them in the same ‘flavors’ as other wood chips, like cedar, alder, and hickory.

Cedar grilling planks

Grill Gloves – High heat resistant gloves are a must-have if your guy owns a smoker or uses a really large charcoal grill. They are long to protect your arms, as well.

A variety of different grill gloves

BBQ Apron – Find a fun apron that says “Kiss the Cook” or “King of the Grill” or something else fun and cheeky. There are a lot of websites that will personalize an apron for you, too. Keep in mind most standard aprons are about $25-35 unless you are getting really serious about fabric and design, which obviously ups the price. You can also go the other way if your guy is more of an indoor chef and find him a nice chef’s coat.

Fun apron for dad!

Great Grilling Cookbooks

Steven Raichlen – www.barbequebible.comSteven has several books now since his first, the Barbecue Bible, as well as hosting TV shows on PBS and teaching his Barbecue University classes.

Steven Raichlen’s ‘The Barbecue! Bible’

**Personal favorite!!** Elizabeth Karmel’s Soaked, Slathered, & Seasoned: A Complete Guide to Flavoring Food for the Grill. She has two other books, as well, but I am partial to this one because it’s smaller than Steven Raichlen’s book for one, and it is seriously a complete compendium for how to put meat on the grill, even with just oil, pepper and salt!

Elizabeth is the Executive Chef at Hill Country Barbecue in central Texas and has also leant her grilling prowess into a line of grilling tools under the name Grill Friends that can be found in a lot of kitchen stores.

Elizabeth Karmel’s ‘Soaked Slathered & Seasoned’

Bar Accouterments

Riedel Single-Malt Whisky/Whiskey Glass – For the serious whiskey drinker in your life, grab a set of these beautiful glasses, which bring out the full flavor of that expensive bottle of liquor he enjoys. Approved by a panel of Scotch whisky experts and master distillers in Scotland!

Riedel Single-Malt Whiskey Glass

…or just find some really fun cocktail glasses like these ones that look like ice from Bormioli Rocco or these ones that look like they are toppling over!

Sagaform wobbly whiskey glasses

Whiskey Stones – milled from a particular type of soapstone found in Vermont, this is a centuries-old Scandinavian way of keeping your liquor cool while avoiding watering down your beverage as normal ice would.

Whiskey Stones

Other Kitchen Goodies

My dad loves to make soups and stews in the winter, so another personal favorite is the cookbookThe Big Book of Soups and Stews. Pretty much any recipe you can think of is in this book, and I ended up buying it for myself, too, and use it very regularly!

Bacon/Grill Press – A heavy cast iron grill press will help eliminate the curl from back or ham when cooking on the stovetop or grilling. Works great as a sandwich press, too!

Lodge cast iron grill press

Food Dehydrator – Know someone who hunts and likes to make their own jerky? Or just loves appliances that are fun to play with. 😉 For the serious, I recommend L’Equip’s 6-tray dehydrator. For the less serious (read: less expensive) you can probably find one starting at around $40-$50 price range, like this Ronco model.

Ronco food dehydrator

…

I will try to think of more goodies, but this is a solid list of staples to think about year-to-year. The more tools you arm him with, the more delicious food you might receive in return!! What are your favorite gifts for Dads? I would love to add more to this list to help people out!

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