The lightness of Chef Jung’s choux pastries
BECAUSE I love cream puffs, I was immediately attracted to Choux, a stall across the supermarket at Gaisano Country Mall in Banilad that is selling an assortment of cream puffs, profiteroles, eclairs, and cheesecakes. (The green puff logo with wings is eye-catching.) I will later learn that Choux’s owner Pastry Chef Jung In Young himself created it. Choux literally means “cabbage” in French. Since the cream puffs are shaped like cabbage heads, the puff was called choux. Choux pastry or pate a choux is a light dough used to make cream puffs, profiteroles, croquembouches, eclairs, French crullers, which contains only butter, water flour and eggs.
When Choux opened last July, the stall gave out sliced samples of his cream puffs to shoppers. While food shopping at the supermarket, my granddaughter Sabrina who was visiting from New York kept going back to the stall enjoying the sample. So I tried a piece and it truly delighted my palate. Such refined cream puffs, I thought! Choux cream puffs come pretty close to Beard Papa’s choux pastry filled with whipped cream custard, which I first tried in New York City. Beard Papa’s, an international chain of cream puffs in Japan, has outlets worldwide. In fact, there is one in Greenhills in Pasig City.
The 42-year-old Korean Pastry Chef Jung In Young hails from Ulsan, South Korea. Ulsan is the industrial powerhouse of South Korea where cars are manufactured. He came to Cebu in October 2012 to study the English Language and instantly fell in love with the city. He closed his bakery in Ulsan, packed his belongings and relocated his family to Cebu City. He wants his children (a girl and a boy) to be proficient in English. And then he decided to open Choux in Gaisano Country Mall. Chef Jung tells me that cream puffs are very popular in Japan as well as Korea and he feels Cebu will love the pastry, too. In his halted English, he related his culinary background as an accomplished baker and pastry chef. I was captivated by his friendliness and his excitement in sharing his impressive credentials. Chef Jung studied in Japan and earned his certificate in baking from East Japan College of Baking Science & Art. It’s there that he honed his love for baking and pastry, having worked in Tokyo Hyatt Hotel and the internationally renowned Papillon Bakery in Sung Nam and Nam Chang, also in Japan. In the course of his career, he excelled and garnered awards from the Japan Baking Society and from his native Ulsan Baking and Confectionery Society.
Choux offers the classic cream with light and velvety cream filling, Fruit Choux, Swan Choux, Ice Choux that is frozen with cream filling that tastes like ice cream. Chef Jung also offers light and fluffy cheesecakes in plain and chocolate flavors. His cheesecakes are baked bain-marie (water bath) style so the cheesecakes are moist and soft. His cinnamon sticks are delicately crisp and his assortment of cookies is just as good. Since Chef Jung took a serious course in Creative Packaging, all his products are packaged attractively. But more than the packaging, Choux cream puffs are delightfully light and truly melt in your mouth.
