Food journeys: Part three Paris-Brest and so much more with choux

The Paris-Brest was invented in 1910 by a pastry chef called Louis Durand, to honour the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race. Its design resembles a bicycle wheel, and its high-calorie content reportedly made it popular among the cyclists.

Paris-Brest certainly demands a level of skills in making choux pastry and praline. We're very pleased to showcase it at our Feasts, as one of three desserts to share. I love the crunchy praline in sweetened whipped cream and yes, it's not the most healthy thing to eat, but after all it is a dessert!

When we are on holiday in France, we often wander in and out of patisserie shops: I can't help myself. You see so many other choux pastry varieties there, from little choux buns filled with decadent creams to religieuses. These comprise two different sized choux buns filled with pastry cream, with the smaller sitting on the larger, topped with chocolate ganache and decorated with a whipped cream ‘collar’. Our wedding cake was the the famous croquembouche: a tower of profiteroles filled with different pastry creams.

And of course choux doesn't stop at being used in the pastry world. Pommes dauphine has choux pastry in it; beignets flavoured with Gruyère and deep fried is all choux; and gougères are cheesy flavoured versions of profiteroles.

In the UK, more often than not the choux we see will just be a slightly soggy eclair. But there is a whole world of variations out there - and it's worth giving making choux a go!