Hi teenager chef go on then give us ur bestest recipe for basic pasta!!  

Hi PASTA MASTA, welcome to the forum.

I'm no pasta expert, so would value any help you can offer.

I have a few specific questions

1.   How do you make pasta ala chitarra without a guitar?

Can't buy a guitar anywhere in the UK, and haven't been able to source dried - the nearest was bronze die extruded pasta, but it doesn't have quite the same roughness.

I've tried hand-slicing rolled pasta sheets, but again, can't get it thin enough or rough enough for the sauce to stick really well.

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2.     Any tips for making hand-pulled pasta?

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And finally - maybe:-

3.     Making bigoli - any idea where I can get a manual bigolaro?

I improvise using a Kenwood mincer, with the cutter removed, but would love to find a proper bigolaro.

Last edited by GeoffP (Thu 14 Dec 06 12:26pm)

Just out of interest Geoff, I noticed that both the pasta you mentioned are from the north of Italy Lombardy!

Have you been on holiday there at some point?

If so have you tried Mostarda... Spicy candied fruit, eaten usually with boiled meats, the "Bollito misto" it is awesome!!!

We used this to make a raviolo at Fifteen a while back, it was soooo good!

Also there is a wicked cured beef from Valtellina, Lombardy called BRESAOLA, brilliant thinly sliced in an anti-pasti.

All the best

Dave B

Last edited by DB27 (Thu 14 Dec 06 8:01pm)

Hi Geoff

You can get an authentic Italian manual Bigolaro extruder from their UK distributor at

www.aluminiumcapping.com/acsfood

The same machine builder also makes an awesome motorized version that mixes and kneads it automatically then extrudes many different shapes through bronze dies. The website is

www.freshpastamachines.co.uk

hope this helps
duncan