Love all frozen treats, hard to choose what next! But it’d be interesting to see a video on which mix-ins/ingredients are better than others to use for frozen treats (eg, what’s best for flavor & texture retention, or to use or not to use alcohol?, etc.).
Thanks for posting the review. It is very hard to compare the two because of the price differences and some of the functionality. I love my Creami and have used the Modernist Pantry’s perfect ice cream with great results. From experience I have learned that leaving out the pint for a 15 min before spinning it in the Creami or microwaving it for 15 sec reduces the need for respins.
I've used my Creami for months and love it! I add tara gum at the suggestion of Steve at Serious Keto and it really makes a difference. When I hit the lottery, I'll go with the Pacojet. :D
I bought a creami, poured a can of Mandarin oranges with the water into the container, froze it and spun. Resulted in a super easy, low cal sorbet treat. I plan to do the same thing with mangos but I may add some greek yogurt in the container as well. Its a pretty cool device, especially at 1/30th the cost of the Pacojet
With summer coming, I'd love to see ways to use fresh fruits out of our yard. Berries, peaches, etc. I'd love to turn them into ice cream, but looking for a new twist on clobber. As many, trying to go a little more low carb. New pie dough or cobbler topping, light and fluffy, but lower carb than Grandma's.
I noticed the small ice crystals in the creami as well, but with some tinkering they come out. Most recipes I get perfectly smooth with absolutely no crystallization. 2g/L Cellulose Gum (from MP) in addition to normal stabilizers and a few hours curing in the fridge before you freeze the base. Also using quite a bit of dextrose and glucose instead of sucrose.
what a great way to help us all make an informed valued judgement going forward ~wonderful video & so well done ~thank you for doing our homework for us ~~ smile ~~full blown fruit season can not get here soon enough !!!!
That's what I did years ago, I bought a used one. It requires a different skill set but when you come to understand it, the machine can last literally a lifetime
Just got my Creami a couple weeks ago and immediately started making Pacojet recipes: oils, soups, etc. Made ice creams and sorbets using Modernist Pantry products!!!! Very, very good results. I would definitely recommend the Creami (at least so far, as I don't know how long it will last). [I'm not paid to say any of this by anyone!!!] I think for $200 the Creami gets you "close-enough" results for the price, where the extra $5800 to $6800 wouldn't make Pacojet purchase economically worth it for the amateur chef or home user. [Like another person said in the comments: win the lottery, buy a Pacojet! Absolutely!] Big fan of Modern Pantry!!! The secret weapon!
The Creami is based on the original Pacojet technology, good to know about the soups! The manual doesn't recommend doing anything but frozen treats in it so we haven't pushed the boundaries on what the motor can handle.
@@Modernist_Pantry ^^^ *** Just for the record, I should add that, yes, I did do everything exactly contrary to what would maintain the warranty for the Creami. That warranty was gone 10 minutes after it came out of the box. Don't do anything that I did. Don't sue me; don't blame me; proceed at your own risk. Different people different results, blah blah blah *** Modernist Pantry should not be held responsible, either, for people making crazy in the RU-vid combox. They made no representations to do anything divergent from the manufacturer's instructions. Don't rely on anything here in making a purchase or doing anything that would be violative of Creami's warranty like I did.
So I got a creami earlier this year to try, mainly because I didn't want to spend the money on the pacojet. I've been using it with a lot of fruit, I've been adding the fresh or frozen fruit to the container then a base made up of yogurt or a plant milk to fill up the voids and freeze. I always run the respin sometimes adding a bit of liquor or something. I've found letting it set for a few minutes before eating lets it melt just enough to smooth out. I do need to start using the perfect gelato and sorbet I also got a few months ago mainly to improve my freezer ice cream machine. I would like to see more ideas with fruit as well as the nut milks. Right now quick and easy are the first things I use to evaluate a recipe. Thanks for you videos I do get a lot of ideas from them.
I have a Pacojet at home, I deserved a treat many years ago. It is the best. But if you do not take care of it properly the main bearing might get wet. If so it will rust as it is just a normal 2RS bearing of steel. I did take it apart and replaced it with a stainless steel bearing that will not rust whatever and I did of course repacked it with food-grade bearing grease (that was hard to get) I got a free sample instead of buying 12*300gram tubes as that was the minimum order size... It has been working just fine since then 15 years ago now.
so here's the thing...i have a regular freezer ice cream maker and after the first tasting, it is awesome. the problem is once placed into the freezer, the next tasting is full of ice crystals. however, after placing that icy mixture into a regular ninja blender and blending...it comes out AND STAYS the creamiest and smoothest of ice creams. and this is a larger 1/2 gallon size, so the entire process is more affordable and actually as eagual to that monster costing machine you have.
Neat idea! The Pacojet is definitely intended for high volume commercial use, and can do way more than ice creams. This episode covers one of its many capabilities.
@@lf4193 it was discovered by accident. after watching a review on the ninja creamy, i thought to myself, hey, why not take that homemade (keto) ice creams of mine that ALWAYS taste great new but ALWAYS are nuthin but ice crystals afterwards...and blend them with MY ninja blender??? it has multiple cutters and seemed like it would work. and, well, it did. it took a container of frozer, crystally keto ice cream and made a splendid, extremely creammy like-new batch. have done this ever since and am happy NOT to have to spend money onyet another machine. i LOVE the ketoice cream mixes.
@@paulpellico3797 You must be really easy to please. All you are doing after putting in your wonder blender is incorporate a ton of air into it. Because no matter what, an unwanted amount of air that will "dilute" the flavour will be going into it. So you will have a mixture free of crystals but lower flavour. Next day back to crystals, lol spin again, yet more air into it. So if aerated things taste "amazing" to you....pffff. Besides putting frozen stuff in a home user blender repeatedly you're only screwing the blade eventually. You will always get an icy texture if you don't know what you are doing regarding sugar content and the use of stabilizers
I have a Pacojet at home (had it for years) bought mine second hand. I also used it a lot in the restaurant trade when I was a pastry chef. I'm very experienced with it and even know things now that Pacojet itself gives poor advice about or doesn't want you to know (eventual repairs equals more $$$) I've tried both machines as someone I know has the Creamy. As your video shows for me there's no comparison, the Pacojet's unbeatable, with the Ninja you can sense a grittiness because it's not as powerful, you can tell the diference if you've had both but it's still better texture than some store bought stuff especially the cheaper ice creams. There's no air control or portion control either so it comes a little "airy", which will be aggravated on every respin, will come "creamier" but also with unwanted air being mixed in, so the vibrancy of the flavour will suffer. Anyone who's never had the "real deal" will obviously be still impressed by it, and once you break it down you'll have to buy another one (may not be as cheap in the future when they've sold a few they may increase the price) With my Paco if you know what you're doing you can have a machine going on for ages. I've had mine about 8 years and hasn't broken down a single time (and I use it quite a lot here) But you need to know what you're doing. I am using software now to calculate the hardness of my bases at different temperatures and other parameters, to not put the machine under unnecessary strain. The price is really good, if it can last you sometime before the breakdown, you spend less than buying the stuff from the shop. It may also help in the future if a Pacojet 3 is ever released with a much lesser price tag, who knows
I'm really scratching my head that you and MP both found the texture of the Paco to be so far ahead of the Cremi, when Chris Young of Chefsteps found the texture to be identical. The blade design is basically the same between the two models, so I guess the only reasoning could be that the Pacojet maintains a higher RPM? Curious
@@BenMargolius The blade is not exactly the same (the Creamy's is smaller) The power in the PJ is superior in output watts, which means it can grind better on "harder" surfaces. Note "harder" does not mean necessarily lower temperature. It is a function of ingredients used, depression point and temperature. You can have a base "A" that is frozen at a higher temperature than another base "B" but still end up harder depending on ingredients and depression point. Not saying is miles ahead but at least for me was noticeably superior, I could feel some crispiness with the Creamy when I tried it that I couldn't with PJ but your mileage may vary. The PJ also has portion control and air control, the Creamy doesn't. The whole point of "Pacotizing" is that you can have portions to order (prevents wastage) The PJ is a commercial machine, it's not a domestic one. It's designed to give you durability, portion control , air control, and a lot of grinding power. It can last you a lifetime if you know how to handle it (but actually most people don't) Actually I would buy a Creamy to do penetration and temperature tests, without a need to jeopardise it on the PJ like I did, whose repair bills are very expensive
@@BenMargolius I am sorry to say but I am not a big fan of Chefsteps. I was a member for a year, and found their Pacojet recipes generally poor. That's without mentioning many other things about it. If you read somewhere along the same thread, they admitted their Pacojet was broken. I am not surprised to be honest. Like 95% who handle these machines, their bases are way too hard. The machine will indeed "grind" through it, but it doesn't mean it's the best for the machine in the long haul. It has to "shave", not grind, there's a difference. But I don't blame them, I blame the pitiful PJ guidance (which benefits them, not the customers) In the restaurants I worked I was seeing this time and time again, chefs breaking down the machines because they don't know one jot of what they are exactly putting on the machine. I was in a place once that broke it 3 times in a year. It's not due to mishandling because the machine is not hard to operate once trained (that's just some BS they're trying to pelter) I also ran into a problem or two at the beginning when I acquired my machine, due to lack of knowledge. So I took some time to educate myself about ice creams, ingredients, sorbets, and run many tests, etc. and try different things. I had to do because I don't have a restaurant owner or "customer" to pay for the machine if it breaks down, so it was out of necessity
@@m1ishkop1shko Well Chris used to work at chefsteps, he has gone his separate way and the video is on his personal YT channel, just search "Chris Young Pacojet vs Cremi". In terms of there/his PJ being broken, I was kinda wondering that in regards to the MP Pacojet, because their grinding times were significantly longer then his. The size of the creamy blade being smaller is just relative to the diameter of the container, I don't think it should have any effect on the function. I am a home user, so really I'm just curious about the functions as they apply to home use. I grant that the PJ is undoubtedly going to function better in a commercial application, but I don't really need to have portion control or the ability to do 20 canisters in a day, at home. Also curious, do you tend to use any stabilizers in your recipes? If so which ones?
Literally in a discussion about the Ninja Creami approximately 30 minutes before this WTF episode landed in my Inbox. Thank you for the review; this definitely gives us a better understanding of the quality of the final product from the Ninja (as compared to the PacoJet). We want to deploy this technology into our curriculum, but may not be ready for the major investment of a PacoJet.
Non-dairy frozen desserts please. Also something savory that could be served along with a main dish and not just as dessert. Mashed potato iced cream? Creamy broccoli sorbet? And frozen cocktails. Maybe even make an entire menu of ice creams, sweet and savory, and alcoholic.
Great ideas! Have you seen our non-dairy ice cream recipe? This one's a couple years old, we definitely want to do more: blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/non-dairy-banana-split/
Finally, a non-biased review. The only issue with Ninja products is their durability, repairability, and availability of parts. If you only plan on occasionally using the Creami then go for it. Otherwise I would just wait for a better product to come out from a reputable brand (assuming the Paco is out of your price range). Thanks for the video guys!
Had another idea for using the cream. The natural nut butters tend to have the oil separate and the solids rest on the bottom making it a bear to remix by hand every time I want some peanut butter, etc. Transferring the nut butter to one of the cramp containers and spinning made this process a breeze and worked like a champ
@@Modernist_Pantry really? I think I've already bought those from you. What would I do, mix it on the first stir and then either of those will keep the nut butter emulsified?
I think the frozen treats I'd be most excited to learn more about are savory ice creams, like mustard ice cream! I love thinking outside the box when it comes to ice cream, and I would love to hear you talk about how to alter a recipe (e.g. with different kinds of sugar like maltodextrin) to make it less sweet-tasting while still keeping the delectable creaminess! Thank you for the video.
This is such a timely video as I got my Creami last month. I have considered making bisques and split pea soup, freeze, and then Creami-ing the pint before heating just to see what happens.
Let us know how that goes because in the manual it said not intended for any other type of use, unlike the Pacojet. Our guess would be that it would have a much harder time with solids.
I have no problem with sugar, but dislike many frozen desserts as they are overly sweet. Would be interested in some takes on tea sorbets, Asian inspired flavors (they do great sweet, but not too sweet flavors), Avocado-lime, etc. I am so fortunate to have bought a Pacojet used from a restaurant that closed. As a home user the learning curve for all things Pacojet is huge. So happy to see this video. If I don’t win, I’ll be buying your stabilizers!
Check out our sugar free avocado lime gelato recipe: blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-avocado-lime-gelato/ And for the more adventurous: blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/savory-parmesan-ice-cream/
Would love to know how the Ninja machine vs the normals ice cream makers. Also, how do the two machines you have played with today work with keto iced desserts which tend to crystallize? In fact have you done a show using you “perfect” products for keto iced treats? If not, please do!
The Ninja is hands down better than any standard ice cream maker. It will also work great with any iced dessert because the micro-pureeing technology will make everything great. We have done sugar free treats in the Pacojet, which taste great and the same recipes can be used with the Creami. blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-vanilla-ice-cream/ blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-strawberry-rhubarb-sorbet/ blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-avocado-lime-gelato/
@@Modernist_Pantry Oh, one thing, though, after reading the recipes at the links you provided, what do you suggest as an alternative to allulose for those of us who have some gastric issues with allulose and bochasweet?
Love your high-quality professional in-depth videos, you can't find these anywhere else! Interesting that you used stabilizer in the paco jet ice cream, I always thought the thing was so powerful that stabilizers didn't add any value.
If you're going to eat all the ice cream right away you probably don't need any stabilizer but if it's going to be stored in the freezer you'll notice a difference over time.
Love your videos!! I recently got a Pampered Chef ice cream maker and looking forward to trying it out. Good to know you have products that can minimize ice crystals.
Lactose intolerant and would love to see some non-dairy ice creams. Not a huge fan of sorbets or any of the other alternatives. And for all the non-dairy recipes I've tried in the past, the texture is never right.
Stay tuned! We're doing research into recipes right now, here is one that we made a couple of years ago: blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/non-dairy-banana-split/
Loved this comparison, never heard of the Pacojet machine so it was new to me. I would love to see a recipe that could compare to a Wendy’s chocolate frosty with that wonderful malt flavor! Additionally, perhaps you could also try some tropical flavors such as mango, pineapple, and/or coconut. Thank you! Love your channel!
Just a question that I never see answered as the Creami is making the rounds on a lot of keto channels. But I am always concerned with amount of plastic parts on Ninja products that break and ruin the food and as well make the machine unusable. How is the build quality on the Creami?
I've had one where the blade shaft went out of alignment after 2 months of near daily use, I got sent a replacement and I haven't used it as much but its still going okay. Its kind of too early to tell, I've heard of others with the same issue and I know one guy who's used his even more than me and had no problems. I'd expect some issues like this with the first home pacojet type device. A metal container would probably solve it.
We haven't stress tested the machine but based on our testing we would say it is not intended for daily use for multiple batches. At one point we were churning back to back and it started smoking a little bit and we were worried we were burning out the motor right before the shoot 😅For casual use it should be fine.
@@Modernist_Pantry thanks. I make a sugar free ice cream with allulose. No machine I make a custard and then whip the cream and fold it together which makes a pretty good ice cream right out of the freezer.
I wish Ninja would add a custom function to the Creami to allow users to choose the amount of time the machine runs. Their presets really aren't great and being able to get it to run for longer would make a huge difference for the quality of the end product. Might run the risk for burning out the motor though I guess.
I do love ice cream. As far as add-ins go, I wonder if adding flavored ice beads (same size or a little larger than Dippin' Dot size) to ice cream in the process of making has ever been done. I'm thinking pineapple or lime ice beads in coconut ice cream.
Thanks for this review! I’d love to see a bean-based frozen treat similar to Arctic Zero. I am trying to “reverse-engineer” it using soybeans (Arctic Zero uses fava beans), but I’d love your take on which other bean besides fava could work. Bonus points if it’s plant-based and low carb… :)
Interesting product - they're using faba bean protein (modernistpantry.com/products/druids-grove-faba-bean-protein-concentrate.html) so it's not made from ground up beans.
You guys need to do a Thermomix vs Robot Coupe Cook, the latter being "the daddy" of all thermomix type of machines. If having a Pacojet is like having a "Ferrari" in your kitchen (garage) the RCC is the Lamborghini!
Nothing will ever beat a Pacojet, it’s like comparing any other blend brand to a Vitamix yea it’s expensive but it saves time and has greater incomparable quality, and when it comes to lasting…. Pacote/vita mix last a life while any other brand…
I have a Creami. I use it almost every day. For low carb/keto peeps out there, use Keto Chow to make your ice cream in the Creami. Fool proof. Obviously not PacoJet, but I can't afford one of those epicurian machines, unfortunately!! Great content as always, thank you!
I'd love to see whether there's a way to use spherification on stuff like goat cheese which I find molds quickly and is hard to portion within a dish in a way that doesnt end up with chunks that are too big or small. If I could make a bowl of caviar shaped goat cheese balls that could be kept in the fridge in water or sodium alginate and then sprinkler them in salads, over roasted beets, etc when needed, that would be awesome. I'm sure many other ingredients could benefit from using spherification like this
You fundamentally have to start with a liquid in order to spherify so you may be able to do something with melted goat cheese and reverse spherification.
You guys are really fun to watch, Love the give a ways. Honestly anything low carb/ sugar free/Gulten free. So please do an ice cream recipe that is Low carb and sugar free.
Noted! Here are a few sugar free ice cream recipes that you can run in a Pacojet or Creami blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-vanilla-ice-cream/ blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/pacotized-sugar-free-strawberry-rhubarb-sorbet/
In the creami, do you think it would be possible to freeze the two plastic containers with ice mix. Then carefully heat the outside of the container with warm water and pop the ice block out? And then store that in a plastic bag? That way it would be possible to keep a lot more different types of ice cream available, and then just pop it into the container before churning?
No idea... you can certainly try it and let us know how that goes. I don't think it will churn as well if the base is not actually frozen to the container since it would end up just moving around when you're trying to do the churn.
Yes, that might be a problem with the spinning. I will try when my Creamie arrives. Ive seen videos where the container was held under lukewarm water one minute before churning to prevent the icy layer on the inside of the container where the blades couldn’t reach. I would believe that also would cause the ice cream block to spin inside the container, but it didn’t. I’ll post the results here:)
Do you have any rules for using cream as an ingredient? To avoid making butter and buttermilk while churning? I’ve heard some people get an oily film when they use cream. (In the Creami)
Has anyone tried using either of these machines to make charcuterie? I would think the combination of freezing the meat mixture and the shaving action of the blades could yield a smooth and emulsified farce when it thaws. Think this might be a good way to make small batch mortedella.
Yes, we've made amazing chicken liver pate in the Pacojet blog.modernistpantry.com/recipes/silky-smooth-chicken-liver-pate/ Per the manufacturer you should not be making anything but frozen treats in the Creami. The motor is probably not powerful enough for solids.
I've considered buying the Creami after working with the Pacojet quite a bit, I'm only worried that the slight difference in smoothness would put it on about the same level as my cheap churn icecream maker. The only difference then being that the Creami would be a bit more versitile and convenient. Has anyone got a rough comparison?
Anyone have experience with comparative texture between these machines and a properly formulated gelato or sorbetto churned in a Carpigiani batch freezer? I’m an experienced formulator and can get fabulous texture out of the Carpi for a vast range of flavors, but of course you have to formulate properly. I’ve had some unusual savory mixes at restaurants out of the paco (like pea soup ice cream) that would be hard/impossible to formulate due to lack of sugars.
@@Modernist_Pantry briefly, and in small quantities, yes 😀 (as I frequently pound out 50L even on my lab Carpi). Can the the Cremi Deluxe do the same, even with a few respins?I haven’t wanted to plunk down $4-6k to experiment with a paco as I never make less than 5-10L of a flavor, but the Cremi is so cheap I’m more concerned about the counter space than the price. I’d also imagine that with a blast chiller (which I have) one could cut the paco/Cremi freezing time drastically for experimentation. Any idea if maturation (aging the cooled mix before churning) has any effect on this drill press technique? It certainly makes a textural difference for proper artisanal gelato.
It's definitely not apples to apples, as you said; I wish I could afford a Paco Jet! I had never even heard of it before this video, but it sounds like da bomb!! 💣 I have seen several reviews of the Creami, and it seems to be a good little machine. 👍 I want to get one soon to make several keto recipes, including Keto Chow and others. I've seen a lot of RU-vidrs eating Keto Chow ice cream for their meal which sounds right up my alley!! 😁 I would LOVE to win the perfect stabilizer set!! I want to try to make several ketofied chocolate gelatos, berry sorbets, and, especially, a lemon meringue pie ice cream! 😋 Thanks for the review! ❤️💙💜 ~Lana
One day the Paco jet will be affordable to everyone if not one day ninja or another brand will get close. It takes time but hey ninja creami finally did it, for the price
Ninja creami is not a blender you can do all the blending before you put it in the pint pot great machine for the money ,the other machine is industrial machine so no comparison
If you acknowledge multiple times that the pacojet takes twice as long for a single "spin", and you're doing a direct comparison of the two, why not use two spins on the creami? Then at least you're comparing equal whip times.
$6000 vs $200 The ninja needs to updsign the blade. The pacojet takes twice as long with more brute force, The pacojets container being wider makes the whipping a multiplyer. One paco run is probably four times ninja. Redesign the blade and you can get it close to the pacojet.
@@Modernist_Pantry You can redesign the blade to give better "action" at lower rpm. The larger container and higher rpm, larger blade diameter and slower run of the paco is what makes it work. The Ninja used a smaller blade for the smaller container. They are not matched. You can tune a blade to work in a "fluid" to give you what you want. Another thing is that the paco running a slower runthrough uses the heat generated to help in it's whipping of the cream. Steel transmits heat or cold in this instance where plastic is an insulator. The ninja's shortcomings are from when the patent is just downsized and not redesigned for the smaller footprint.
The Creami is very under-powered compared to even the Jr, which is now discontinued. It's great for small batches of ice cream but definitely not the same as a Paojet.
I feel like such a loser for buying the Creami now. Like why am I at a point in my life where I can’t even afford a Paco jet…? Idk… I might either sell my car or take out a loan and buy one now, but until then Ill just cry in my corner and eat my slightly less high quality gelato. 😭
So could 3,4,5 or 6 churns with the creami match the Paco Jet? I’d like to see that comparison. I don’t care if it takes 20 minutes, it’s 20 times cheaper 🥲