@Massmomm: your post reminded me of how my grandmother used to hang noodles to dry all over the attic!
I got one that sure looks like the Atlas, much less expensive at the bed and bath store. Maybe $20-25? (i waited for years to find the deal.)Mine doesn’t cut ravioli, but I can make the sheets. No spaghetti shape. If he’s really going to make linguini or spaghetti, you might want to get him the drying rack, for the convenience of draping the noodles.
Clean coat hangers work for drying pasta. You can also make nests.
They turn out way better freezing the extra noodles rather than drying. If you are going to dry them, just buy from the store.
We had an electric one but would make 4 batches (our big Tupperware capacity) at a time because it was a pain to clean everything. I grew up with a hand crank one and it was much more friendly for small batches.
Fresh pasta requires a short drying period before cooking (at least 15 minutes) so that it becomes a little firm and less sticky which helps prevent the pasta from clumping and sticking together when it is cooked. Shaped pastas also hold their shape better when allowed to dry slightly before cooking, so some form of drying rack is helpful for pasta strings and a floured surface for cut/shaped pasta.
Olive Garden a seemingly million years ago–(I think about 30 years ago–man I’m old!) used to sell freshly made noodles that you could take home and cook as a take out item. Super cheap and SOOO good. Didn’t last long but it was great while it lasted.
If your D has a Kitchenaid, you can purchase an attachment for that. I bought mine about 20 years ago; it works great!
Culinarily inclined student here! I live on campus with a kitchen and have a hand crank Atlas that gets used a couple of times a semester. It was a gift from my parents, who got it used. It does kind of take two people to operate – my boyfriend does the cranking and I feed the pasta through. We’ve used it for fettuccine, ravioli, and lasagne noodles as well as fresh ramen noodles and pot sticker wrappers since the local grocery store doesn’t sell these items.