Any ideas for a home made/ingenious idea for pasta drying? I don't want to buy a store bought one and remember my mom drying it out on a towel. any other ideas?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 10, 2001

Answers

I have a wooden clothes dryer, the kind that has dowels and a scissor- type folding mechanism, that works nicely. Dual-purpose, too!

-- Laura Jensen (lauraj@seedlaw.com), September 10, 2001.

Here is a description from memory of how my German Grandmother made egg noodles in the 1930'S and 40's. This was in San Antonio, TX, not Germany, my grandmother being a first generation American. She made noodles on Saturday afternoon for Sunday dinner. She took a lots of eggs, I think the whole egg, but possibly just the separated yoak, mixing in flour and maybe some salt to make a real thick dough. Much kneading was required. Then she rolled out real thin strips on a floured bread board with a rolling pin maybe about 18 inches long with a varable width. She then laid each strip over the back of a straight kitchen chair over which a clean dish towel had first been laid. After several hours of air drying in the kitchen while the strips were yet flexible she would roll the length and with a knife cut thin strips which would unfold as noodles. She just kept the noodles loosely stacken on the kitchen table covered with a towel over Saturday night. On Sunday the semi-dry noodles would first be boiled, and then fried in butter for the noon meal. They were real good with chicken gravy or for us kids our favorite was catsup.

I don't remember her ever keeping dry noodles, and I don't remember them as completely dry when she boiled them. To keep them in a dry state over a longer time, I suspect would require additional drying.

-- Harold Arnold (hhullar5@texas.net), September 10, 2001.

Wonderful! Kitchen chair! your recipe sounds like my grandmother's way. We had chicken soup every Sunday and it wouldn't be a family gathering without chicken soup with homemade noodles. I feel cheated now that our family get togethers don't include soup. I'd make it but all the other relatives insist on restaurant gatherings--what a waste!

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 10, 2001.

This won't help with the drying question but Harold reminded me of my mother's "pot pie", she made noodles as described but rolled them out thick and cut them in squares to go in the pot of chicken stew. An old Pa Dutch recipe. Kind of a cross between a noodle and a dumpling. Everyone I describe it to doesn't seem to understand why it's called pot pie when it doesn't have a crust, I don't ask I just eat it. Yum yum!

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), September 10, 2001.

I also use my wooden laundry dryer. Mine is the standard wooden one with dowels going horizonally. I set it up in the kitchen with a towel underneath to catch any flour. After the noodles are dry, I package them in zip lock bags and take the dryer outside and just hose it off.

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), September 10, 2001.

I read somewhere you can take a broom stick, mop stick, put them over two chairs, cover broom sticks with wax paper, cuptowel etc and dry them that way, this way if you don't have one of those wooden clothes dryer's you won't have to buy anything.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), September 10, 2001.

I have two wooden broom handles that I've had for over 20 years. That is what I use over two kitchen chairs for drying homemade noodles.

-- Grannytoo (jacres40@hotmail.com), September 10, 2001.

My memories include over the back of the chair and on strings between two chairs.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), September 11, 2001.

You all are making me hungry. Oy vey!

-- Ardie from Wi (ardie54965@hotmail.com), September 11, 2001.