# Can I make pasta without a machine-roller? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189 "2018-10-19T05:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/21 "2018-10-22T14:24:47Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Can you make it like the Asians make noodles? Make a rope and stretch it, double it over, stretch, double… It seems to go quickly. > > Dennis Wow. That’s very cool. I’ve never seen it and must try. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/22 "2018-10-23T05:09:47Z")
Paging Johnny LA and anyone in Everette Washington. I got two words for you: King Noodle House. King Noodle House 7815 Evergreen Way, Everett, WA 98203 The old master is from Shaanxi province, home of the Chinese hand pulled noodles. He also makes the shaved noodles, which are different and tasty as well (basically take a big razor and a big chunk of dough, and slice dough off like a samurai dismembering a carrot into boiling water). It’s a pretty low end restaurant but the noodles are good and you can watch him pull your bowl of noodles in about 30 seconds. Definitely worth a stop once just to check out live hand pulled noodles or hand shaved noodles. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/23 "2018-10-23T05:10:57Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Years ago we watched Brit chef Jamie Oliver whip up some pasta on his show. How hard could it be?? Well, it was hard! A young guy with strong muscles vs. a weaker woman (that would be me)…it took me forever to make some really thick pasta . If you’ve got a food processor, then this [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwKtN7XHEqo)is easy peasy lemon squeezy. No sweat required. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/24 "2018-10-23T18:49:57Z")
It is a very satisfying thing to know how to do. You need a long rolling pin, the traditional short one with the handles won’t work. I taught myself from Marcella Hazan’s first cookbook, now abridged with her second into Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The line drawings in there are very specific. Basically, you are stretching the dough along the length of the pin as you are rolling it out. You use your fingers and palms to draw it out. Pasta Grannies has some viddies where the grannies are doing it that way. It’s tons of fun, a great party trick, and not hard after the first few times. You must knead the dough well, and if the dough is too stiff, you won’t be able to stretch it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/25 "2018-10-23T20:23:21Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > If you want to experiment with different shapes there are some easy ones [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-3-8itpjc). I learned how make cavatelli and gnocchi when I was 7 or 8 years old. My great-grandmother had very small thin fingers and would use her first two to make cavatelli. We have a fantastic family story about the time my grandfather, in about 1978 or so, bought a cavatelli maker for my grandmother. He came home from work one afternoon while she was using it and saw her struggling (she had already made several pounds of pasta) so he rigged his electric drill up to turn the crank. Pasta dough flew everywhere. The thing spat out deformed globs that would never be cavatelli like they were machine gun bullets. In my family, using the hand crank when making pasta (or ice cream) still counts as “handmade” because of this incident. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/26 "2018-10-23T20:52:52Z")
I just watched a series on Netflix called, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat”, with chef Samin Nosrat. The first episode was “Fat”, and takes place in Italy. In that episode, there is a segment on rolling out pasta, and she uses the big wooden dowel type of roller. Good episode, plus it shows technique. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/27 "2018-10-23T20:59:50Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I have a pasta roller machine, and frankly, I find it to be a bit of a pain in the ass. If that’s where it hurts, I think you might not be doing this quite right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/28 "2018-10-24T11:44:23Z")
I once brought leftover soup to work to share. Everyone loved the tiny dumplings my gf had made. One woman asked for instruction on dumpling making so I explained it to her, step by step. A few weeks later she brought in her soup & dumpling “interpretation”. Realizing how long it would take to hand make thousands of happy little dumplings, she opted instead for _one large dumpling_, which she simmered in her soup. It was fucking awful; a tough, chewy, flavorless monstrosity. She served it by ladling out soup and then carving a hunk o’ dumpling into each bowl. Some people should be restricted from entering the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189/29 "2018-11-22T04:14:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Do not attempt Uova da Raviolo (ravioli with ricotta, Parmesan, and a runny egg yolk inside) on your first attempt. I watched a chef-friend make this and it was difficult to watch. 🙂 I got a kitchenaid pasta roller attachment and made these tonight. Actually, I was just playing around with ricotta and spinach as a tortellini filling, which was not great. Then I thought, I remember this thread on egg yolk tortellini… Made 4, one at a time. My middle girl and I split these. Tasty. I will work on perfecting these but they were not difficult. We have 9 chickens and get about 7 eggs a day, so more than happy to experiment on how to use up eggs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-make-pasta-without-a-machine-roller/823189.md?page=1)