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Pacojet (Model 16000)
Pacojet, $3,450
The first time I experienced the Pacojet was on a hot day in Vegas. One of the company’s partners took Krispy Kreme doughnuts, added them to a beaker filled with milk, froze it, and then whizzed me up some doughnut gelato in his machine. I took a bite and nearly swooned. It was the full-on, sweet and yeasty, Hot Light experience in cold, creamy spoonfuls.
The must-have appliance of experimental pro chefs, Pacojet makes sorbet and ice cream that are more velvety and ethereally light than any you’ve ever had in your life. The machine looks like an old-school drip coffeemaker but is actually a high-powered, precise Swiss food processor that takes food that’s been frozen rock-solid and shaves it at 2,000 rpm, in layers less than 2 microns thick. To get an idea of how fine that is, a strand of silk is about 7 microns thick. The results are ultrasmooth, with no ice crystals surviving the whirling internal blade.
Pacojet makes sorbet and ice cream that are more velvety and ethereally light than any you’ve ever had in your life.
The Pacojet might look a little complicated from the photo, but it’s actually easy to use. You dump your ingredients into a wide-mouthed steel canister that the company calls a “beaker,” freeze it, stick the beaker in the machine, and push a few buttons to “Pacotize.” Twenty seconds later you’ve got amazing ice cream.
You can select the number of portions, each about 3.5 ounces, with the machine’s plus and minus buttons. The Pacojet allows you to make one portion at a time or shave the whole beaker’s-worth. If you chose to process just one portion, only the top layer will be ready to serve, swirled around the inside. The rest of the beaker’s contents will still be frozen rock-solid at the bottom, to be Pacotized later.
This also means you can customize each portion. Say you’re making ice cream for a group, and your first guest wants plain vanilla. Whiz up one portion, and spoon it out. Your next guest wants a shot of Bailey’s in his. Pour the alcohol over the frozen base that’s left, and process another portion. The alcohol will be blended right in.
Coupe set blades, sold separately, blend fresh foods into meat terrines and herb concentrates, but ice cream is the real draw here.
Lower temp makes a powdery snow - higher makes it split.
I wonder what the differences are when using cannisters frozen at higher temperatures than the -20C which the Pacoject site recommends. Does anyone here have detailed experience?
I witnessed the magic of the Pacojet twice during my recent vacation: once at Chikalicious in Manhattan, and again at Cafe Atlantico's Minibar in DC. Both times, the results were beautiful.
John - oh the Pacojet guys will be so happy to hear that because they use their freezers at home no problem. The canisters just need to freeze at -4F - and the average upright home freezer should be AT LEAST at 0F - you can set it lower.
rayona - and you are right - chest freezers work great too.
I'm a chef and I have definitely seen the Pacojet work on canisters frozen in standard chest freezers. This is one of the few commerical items that I would ever buy for home use--the possibilties are nearly endless, and in such a small footprint!
According to their website you need an industrial four-star freezer to get your ingredients cold enough-- which sucks as given its apparent ease of use and manageable form factor, I'd drop $3000 for one of these for my home kitchen.