I'm a bigolarist.... !

A what? A bigolarist ! And what the £$@!* is a bigolarist????

Well, let me tell you - the bigolaro is a pasta 'machine' from Northern-Italy. That makes me a bigolarist when I 'turn' my pasta with this machine. I bought this thing only a 2 weeks ago, and it's great fun to use.
It is actually a pasta press, and as you turn down the handle, the long spaghetti's come out.

If you do it right, the spaghetti comes out as long as the room. Sometimes even longer! This is great fun to do. Make a bit of dough in advance, and when your visitors arrive they can make the pasta themselves. Success guaranteed!

Result ! very good spaghetti.

Normally, when I use my standard pasta machine, I let the pasta dry a bit before I make it into tagliatelle, but with the Bigolaro I put in the (rested) dough immediately into the press. You can use a standard pasta recipe for this.

You can make 4 different kinds of thick pasta with this 'machine' - there are 4 dies available: bigolo (which is the fat spaghetti), rigatoni, tagliolini and tagliatelle - see picture !

This great piece of kitchen 'machinery' can be bought in Italy at a company called Bottene.

The type that I have is 'hand press B'. You have to order the little bench you sit on separately. And the bigolaro comes with 2 dies - bigolo and rigatoni. The tagliolini and tagliatelle have to be ordered separately.

When I asked for more information by Email at Bottene, I got in direct contact with the Dutch supplier who happens to have his business here around the corner in Amsterdam. Delivery within a few days. Great service!

In the picture, Jayne is cleaning the spaghetti die.

There is a bit of video footage available on Youtube. Check it out and start after about 2.30 minutes to see some kind of funny Bigolaro parade... It's hard work...
Another (not too good quality) video can be found here;

I found this 'machine' through a very nice and interesting website. A Swiss guy, Francois-Xavier (FX) is keeping a great food blog with unusual stories. Check it out on FX-cuisine!

The bigolo article can be found here.

All the best and see you all later,
I have to turn my Bigolaro tonight...

Sjoerd