The Inside Scoop

       Making ice cream in restaurants 30 years ago was extremely different than today due to the breakthroughs in technology and food knowledge.  The technology wave of digitalized ovens, refrigerators, thermometers, mixers, and more, hasn't always profited the "evolution" of the kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, using an exact calibration on a digital oven is absolutely fantastic for any souffl� or bread maker, but for most basic kitchen preparation all you need is fire, water, salt and a knife. With all that in mind, it's important for a chef to be able to experientially and selectively incorporate practical kitchen equipment that's not only new and shiny, but delivers on a consistent and inexpensive basis in conjunction with competing brands. Any new invention in any career field should always be scrutinized, used, abused, and be put though rigorous testing before being introduced in the professional arena.  Nothing is more frustrating than having to deal with a chef that made a bad decision in equipment.  Everyone loses.

But fear not, there has been a few incredible kitchen inventions over the last few years that have absolutely changed the face of how things are being executed in the kitchen that actually work.  I have been using this machine in the last 2 or 3 restaurants that I have worked at and it's completely changed the way I view ice cream preparation.  It's 3 basic steps: 1. Make a simple ice cream base  2. Freeze the base in a Paco jet container. 3 Attach the container of frozen base to the machine and voil�!  Ice cream!!   The paco jet is also multi-purpose for things such as mousse, purees, whipped items, fillings, etc...

  I present to you,  The PACO JET! There is one catch though.... It's $4000-$5000 bucks!

        There are plenty of decent restaurants out there that don't make their own ice cream.  The ones that do,  really care about being intimately involved in every ounce of flavor that leaves their kitchen.  For years pastry chefs have had to deal with HUGE bulky ice cream machines that weigh a ton, are usually pretty hard to clean, and were overwhelmingly pricey.  This made it hard for the majority of restaurant owners/chefs to create their own ice cream product.  These types of ice cream machines have been producing quality ice creams for quite sometime.  It wasn't time for something "bigger and better,"  just  cheaper, faster, reliable, easier, and better!

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