PacoJet

Ok, so maybe I am crazy…well I know that already. I came into a little unexpected few thousand bucks and wanted to buy myself a nice gift rather than see the money disappear into the ether. I had seriously thought about buying a fancy handbag or something really extravagant to wear but I'm really over that kind of thing. Then, I found a brand new, still in the box PacoJet on eBay and (somewhat impulsively which is really unlike me) I put a bid in low enough that I truly believed there was no chance of getting it. Well…you know the rest of the story. It will be here tomorrow! Now I am scared sh@%tless that I will have no idea how to use it. So I thought I would call on the community here to help me out. Any tips, recipes, stories, etc. I would be very grateful to hear from you.

Find more posts tagged with

What About Tools?

Comments

tshewman

Where do you live? I'll help with the anxiety. :-)

merridith

Manhattan…see you soon, it will be delivered next week.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Nice! I've never used one before but I've always been curious about how well they perform in savory applications (e.g. pesto).

Alex_Thomson_41278

Do you have a freezer that can cool to -22˚C / -8˚F? In addition to the price, not having a very good freezer at home has been a bit of a barrier for me.

Carrie_34614

I bought a blast chiller/shock freezer last year for my home. It's called "Freddy" Hot and Cold by Irinox. I don't know how I did without it. At the moment it's standing in my dining room - hope to move it to the pantry/laundry off the kitchen before Christmas. In any case...I love it!

merridith

I have a very new sub-zero which I can set to -21 C at the lowest. I am hoping it will work out.

merridith

Where do you get that? I Don't see that that is available in the US. Where are you?

Alex_Thomson_41278

My understanding is that the rate at which you freeze the base doesn't really matter with the pacojet so you'll probably be fine - keep us posted!

me0969

A paco jet is pretty easy. You make fx. mix a good ice cream. Fill the paco cup, freeze, (if the freezer is very very cold, place the cup after freezing on the counter for a few minutes) Insert the blade into the rubber lid, place up in the paco jet(holds on with magnets) paco cup in the plastic cup. Insert sideways, and secure it in place. Then Start. (it will be very noisy) And you'll have a fantastick creamy ice cream.
You can also make purées like almond purée(milk, almond and bit salt, blend, freeze, paco, freeze , paco and strain through a fine sieve)

me0969

A paco jet bash the crystals into obliteration anyways, that's why it makes the smoothes ice creams. (when not having LN2 laying around)

me0969

Imagine the finest and smoothest pesto purée you've ever seen.

me0969

I wish I had a paco jet.. .... But someday.

merridith

Thanks for your encouragement and the information. I want to make sorbets, too. What is your basic recipe for ice cream and for sorbet? What stabilizers or emulsifiers have you used? I am hoping to make pumpkin sorbet for the holidays and also a good pistachio gelato.

merridith

Maybe I will sell you mine if I don't like it!

me0969

I believe the Chefsteps Vanilja ice cream recip is beyond good enough
http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/vanilla-bean-ice-cream + inspiration from http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ice-cream-geekery ... If you want to make chocolate ice cream, just pour in some chocolate chips just before freezing, the paco will mix them.

I haven't really made that much ice cream beside cream based ice. I hope others can fill you in with that.

me0969

Would be surprised if you wouldn't be satisfied with the paco.
But I guess I'm not far away anyway. lol

Ps this is one of my chef friends with his new baby. http://tinyurl.com/p7psb7j

merridith

Ok, so my first pass was not bad. I made a pear sorbet. My freezer did a fine job at freezing the mix. Flavor was good although I think I would like it bumped up with some more malic acid. I am concerned however about throwing off the pH in a way that will effect the texture. Anyone got an idea how much to get it to have a little crispiness/tartness? I put in .5g to 750g of mix. Also, the resulting sorbet came out with too much air in it so it bordered on being mousse-like, though with a good sorbet mouthfeel. I think that I read that pressing the air pressure valve while the pacotizing cycle is running is a way to eliminate all of that air. Any an all input will be appreciated. Photos coming soon once I make a second pass.

merridith

Ok, so I made my first ice cream, spurred on by my success with the pear sorbet on the second pass. More specifically, I let all the air pressure off when I packetized the pear sorbet syrup the second time around. This made it the right consistency and it had a much better mouthfeel. I do think that I put entirely too much Cremodan sorbet stabilizer in the mix and next time around with sorbet I will cut it in half. Next I made the CS egg-free ice cream, replacing the vanilla with peppermint for half of it and with rose for the other half. Again, I pacotized with no air and OMG this is fantastic, silky, creamy ice cream. My only complaint would be that it melted in the bowl too quickly. So, any advice on that?

By the way, I just got my copy of Magoya's Frozen Desserts from Amazon. He seems to be very heavy handed with the stabilizer. Anybody have any experience with his methods?

me0969

I'm quite sure you can store your paco'ed ice cream in the freezer for a few hours without it sets, if it do melt(or sets), just freeze it again and give it a go in the paco
I'd recommend you to chill your bowl/plate.

dsuhrer

I would certainly be interested in it if you ended up not liking it.

Michael_Carney_157688

hi merridith i was wondering if you were still not loving your pacojet and would possibly be interested in selling?

HJkkkv_Olkkkt_1148353

Wow, I believe that unexpected spontaneous decisions are the best. So, well-done! As for me, when I gain extra money I get totally crazy of buying a brand new clothes or qualitative brand replicas. I mean, don't you think that buying an original is soo expensive, I can't afford it. Moreover, I guess it's better to buy yourself not one gift, but many;) I consider choosing of replicas to be even harder than choosing a brand new things, especially when it comes to handbags-they're my real weakness. I've discovered an article reviewing Designer Discreet and their product. This info is really helpful when you're searching for high quality replicas. So, if you're as excited about replicas as I am , you can read Mau-fashion.com honest Designer Discreet review here.