Chef Hasset Go Bloggers Night: The Il Mercanti Experience

Photo by Dessert Strip. Poster by Gian Pisuena. 

Free Recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Springrolls

Ingredients

1 cup creamcheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 can/cup strawberry preserves, filling
springroll wrapper / lumpia wrapper
cooking oil for frying
white sugar

Sauce
Prepared strawberry sauce

Procedures

1. Beat the creamcheese. Add powdered sugar. Mix for 10 minutes until creamy and well combined.
2. Fold in crushed grahams.
3. Add strawberry filling. Chill for 3 hours.
4. Scoop a tablespoon of the cheesecake mixture and place it on a springroll wrapper. Wrap and roll. Seal with water or flour-water paste.
5. Heat the oil and deep fry the springrolls.
6. Drain well and roll in sugar or crushed grahams.
7. Top with strawberry filling and dust with powdered sugar.

Free Recipe: White Chocolate Almond Cream Puffs

Choux Pastry

1 cup butter
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
8 pcs eggs

Pastry Cream
4 cups fresh milk
1 cup sugar
4 pcs egg yolks
4 pcs whole eggs
1 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp. vanilla
½ cup butter

Garnish
500 grams white chocolate, melted
toasted almond flakes

Procedures

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Choux: Combine first 3 ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it simmer and butter has melted. Add flour at once. Stir very well until it forms like a ball or a dough.
3. Beat using wooden spoon until slightly cooled. Add eggs one at time.
4. Transfer dough in a piping bag or you can just use ice cream scooper. Scoop dough and place it in a cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until it puffs. Set aside.
5. Pastry Cream: Combine 3 ½ cups of fresh milk and sugar in a saucepan. Let it boil.
6. Meanwhile, you can now dissolve cornstarch in ½ cup milk. Add eggs. Set aside.
7. Once the milk mixture boils pour half of the mixture unto the egg mixture. When the egg mixture has been tempered, you can now bring that mixture back unto the fire and continue cooking until thick. Turn off heat, add butter and vanilla. Let it cool.
8. Assemble: Fill each choux puffs with pastry cream by using piping bags. Dip each puffs unto the melted white chocolate and sprinkle top with almond chips.

Chef Hasset's Top 5 Favorite Desserts

So what’s your favorite dessert?

We can’t help but ask this burning question to Chef Hasset Go- undoubtedly one the youngest and one of the most awarded pastry chefs in the country.

I’d say we never expected his answers. While we imagine highly complicated desserts and ultra expensive chocolates in our minds, Chef Hasset gave us answers that left us all in awe and lost for words.

Instead of expensive cakes and pastries, Chef Hasset gave us for answers ordinary desserts that we can practically find anywhere in the Philippines- something that continually reminded him of what used to be back in his hometown.

And so, ladies and gents, presenting Chef Hasset Go’s Top 5 Favorite Desserts!

Favorite Dessert #1: Leche Flan

Is this all-time Filipino dessert part of your list too? Chef Hasset confesses that this is on top of his list. Leche Flan, as we all know it, is a custard dessert with caramel syrup. It’s made of egg yolks, milk and sugar and is widely eaten throughout the world.

"Halayang Ube"
Photo Credits: www.atetesskitchenette.blogspot.com

Favorite Dessert #2: Halayang Ube

Now this got me nodding at Chef Hasset Go. Definitely, Halayang Ube is on my list too. Halayang Ube is a kind of jam made of purple yams that were boiled altogether with milk, coconut milk, sugar and for some, vanilla. My favorite Halayang Ube are the ones that can be bought in Baguio- made by Golden Shepherd.

Favorite Dessert #3: Buriki

Wow! Too bad we can’t find a photo of this one over the internet but Chef Hasset said that this one is a native dessert in Mindanao. It’s a kind of kakanin that is shaped into a thin saucer topped with some latik or caramelized coconut. (Please, if anyone of you have a picture of this yummy native dessert, please do send our team at once. Thank you.)

Favorite Dessert #4: Bolanghoy

"Nilupak"
Photo Credits: www.capalonga.blogspot.com

In our province in Batangas, we call this one balinghoy. In some areas it is also known as kamoteng kahoy. In Mindanao, Chef Hasset Go said they used to call it bolanghoy. This goody made of grated cassavas  were being steamed and topped with bukayo or sugared coconut.

Favorite Dessert #5: Nilupak

Nilupak sounds familiar but I realized me and my teammates haven’t eaten one yet. Nilupak is made of mashed saba banana mixed with grated coconut. Yum! We should be knowing where to get some of these right? Or better yet ask Chef Hasset to make some for us?

There you have them all- Chef Hasset Go’s Top 5 Favorite Desserts!

Were you as surprised- even a bit?

Chef Hasset Go may be widely known as a chef who creates mouth-watering cakes and yummy-tasting pastries, but his personal taste is very much Filipino.

I can’t wait for the time that he’ll be able to incorporate his love for native Filipino desserts into his future creations! I have a gut feel that this is going to be a great idea!

Good luck, Chef Hasset!

-Mediactiv8 Team

Chef Hasset Go at 700 Club Asia

Free Recipe: Chocolate Whoopie Pie

Ingredients

3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 pcs. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup lukewarm water or brewed coffee

Vanilla Filling
½ cup vegetable shortening
½ cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup corn syrup

Procedures

Chocolate Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (can also use a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating well. Beat in the vanilla extract. 
4. In a small measuring cup, mix the buttermilk and coffee (or water). With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk/coffee mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. 
5. Drop heaping tablespoons (can also use a small ice cream scoop) of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm.) apart. 
6. With moistened fingers or with the back of a spoon, smooth the tops of the cookies. Bake for about 9 - 10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies, when lightly pressed, spring back.
7. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling 

1. Beat the shortening and butter until soft and creamy. 
2. With the mixer on its lowest speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. 
3. Then, with the mixer on low speed, beat in the vanilla extract and slowly drizzle in the corn syrup. 
4. Continue to beat until the filling looks like soft mayonnaise.

Chef Hasset Go at Kabuhayang Swak na Swak

Chef Hasset Go at UNTV's Bread and Butter

Free Recipe: Cashew Butterscotch Bars

Ingredients
½ cup butter, melted
½ cup liquid glucose
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 pcs. eggs
2 cups cashew nuts

Procedure

1. Line and grease 9x9 square pan. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Combine butter, glucose and brown sugar. Beat well.
4. Add eggs with vanilla one at a time.
5. Add sifted dry ingredients (all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda).
6. Fold in cashew nuts.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes until done. Cool.

Free Recipe: Ube Jackfruit Cake

Cake
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/8 cups vegetable oil
3 pcs eggs
1 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 cups, boiled, shredded pure ube

Filling
1 can condensed milk
1 cup thinly sliced langka/jackfruit
12 pcs egg yolks

Frosting
2 cups whipped cream
drops of violet food color

Garnish
toasted almonds

Procedures

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line and grease 9 inch round pan. Set aside.
3. Cake: Sift together all the dry ingredients except for sugar. Set aside.
4. Mix together oil and sugar. Stir very well. Add eggs one at a time.
5. Add mashed ube.
6. Add dry ingredients. Mix until well blended. Do not overmix.
7. Pour unto prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes.
8. Filling: Combine everything in a double boiler and cook over medium heat until thick. Cool.
9. Assemble: Divide cake into 3 portions. Fill each layer with jackfruit filling. Frost all over with whipped cream. Garnish all over with toasted almonds. Chill.

Chef Hasset Go's Top 5 Baking Secrets

Chef Hasset Go is undoubtedly one of the youngest and one of the most locally and internally recognized chefs in the country. With his numerous awards such as the 2010 Asian Star Achiever Award for Culinary and being named as one of the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs by Go Negosyo, we got curious. What are some of the secrets behind his success as a pastry chef?

And we’re lucky. He gave us not just one, not even two. But five simple baking tips that he would like to impart to all baking enthusiasts out there who would like to learn from him. He said that these tips are simple, but often overlooked by some.

Let's take a look at them one by one.

1. Good mood makes good cakes. Chef Hasset Go said he starts with a good mood whenever he bakes. He reminds himself every single time that baking is his passion and what he always wanted to do. He said love is the single most important ingredient that will complete a cake or a dish. Be sure to fill everything that you do with it and your work will never go wrong!
2. Precision and accuracy. The Sweets Master never undermines the power of precision and accuracy whenever he bakes. He said that getting the right ingredients at the right amount and cooking it within the right time frame using the right tools is what made all his cakes right.
3. Keep it fresh! Chef Hasset Go reminded us that if we want to bake or cook something really good, we must strive hard to use only the freshest ingredients as much as possible. One of the greatest reasons of his success with MedChef is because he always work hard to deliver only the best products for his clients using only the best ingredients.
4. Patience is a virtue. Aside from getting all the ingredients and materials right, baking also requires a great deal of patience especially when you’re starting to learn. Following the procedures correctly is the key. Also, patience is what makes us wait for our goodies before we let them out of the oven.
5. Trust your tastebuds. Chef Hasset Go shared the importance of trusting one’s own taste bud for the simple reason that the first judge of whatever you baked or cooked is you. He also stressed the importance of taking risks sometimes- to play with herbs, spices and other ingredients in order to create something new. Never be afraid to try. Who knows? This can be your chance to be discovered as a new great chef in the making!

-Mediactiv8 Team

MedChef: The Sweets Master's Factory

Hasset never went to college. Right after high school, he went to Manila to enroll himself at the Heny Sison Culinary School to pursue his passion for baking. During our interview with him, he recounts that his days at the culinary school was one of the most challenging but also one of the most fulfilling part of his life as a chef.

He won’t forget the time when he literally got nothing to eat nor anything to pay for his fare to the school. Ironic as it may sound, he became a hungry chef back then. But he also said that it became a great moment to experience the power God. He said that God sent him the people who eventually helped him out of the great distress that he was once in.

When we asked him what his greatest achievement is so far, he said that it’s finishing his course at the Heny Sison Culinary School. He said that it’s where everything started for him. When he graduated, he worked as a pastry chef and also accepted other jobs such as food styling and consultancy for various cafes, restaurants and shops. When he finally got enough money from his savings, he decided to put up a shop of his own.

He created MedChef.

MedChef is a small but quaint pastry shop that you will find along Mother Ignacia Avenue in Quezon City. It’s just right in front of ELJ Building within the ABS-CBN compound. He built it with his friend and business partner, Jayson Carlos, who was a medical technologist by profession but now working as a full-time entrepreneur just like him.

MedChef came from the two words: Medical Techonolgist and Chef.

Today, you won’t only find Chef Hasset’s Go’s homemade cakes and pastries at MedChef. They also join bazaars such as Mercato Centrale in BGC and Il Mercanti in Metrowalk to introduce their products to more people.

When it comes to bestsellers, Chef Hasset Go proudly declared that his clients' all-time favorite Bread Pudding Crème Brulee as well as his newly-introduced Pastry Tower were on top of the list.

Last October 2010, Chef Hasset Go received for himself and for MedChef the prestigious 2010 Asian Star Achiever Award for Culinary as well as the 2010 Outstanding Pastry and Consultancy Restaurant during the 12th Annual Asian Star Awards. He was also recently named as one of the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs by Go Negosyo.

MedChef is located at 139 Mother Ignacia Ave., Diliman, Quezon City. You may contact them at 585-6052 or at 0917-3659415.

-Mediactiv8 Team

Chef Hasset Go: A Short Blogiography

Chef Hasset Go grew up in Oroquieta City in Misamis Occidental with his mom and two brothers. He is the middle child of three. Being a single mom, her mother had to find other ways to earn for their family aside from being an employee during daytime.

Fortunately, his mom knows how to bake. And so she was able to use this skill to supply cakes and baked goodies to canteens and offices in their hometown. And the young Hasset, she will fondly recall to us during our interview, was her right-hand assistant.

This is how the story of Chef Hasset Go, the Sweets Master, begins.

Growing up from a broken family was never easy. Hasset told us that he had to stand up on his own at a very young age. He had to sell his own creations such as brownies, pastillas and yema to his classmates and teachers just to have his allowance. But this hardship, he recounts, is what made him the successful chef and entrepreneur that he is today.

Hasset never went to college. Right after high school, he went to Manila to study at the Heny Sison Culinary School to pursue his passion for baking and cooking. This is where he met his mentors Chef Ed Quimson and Chef Jane Paredes who advised him to start a commissary first before putting up his own shop or restaurant.

When he finally got his certificate, that’s when he started to bake his own cakes and pastries and supply to coffee shops and restaurants in Quezon City. He used to do his creations in a small kitchen in a small apartment where he used to live. Time came when he can no longer cope with the growing demands for his products and that’s when he started to think of taking in a partner who will help him grown his venture.

MedChef was coined from the words Medical Technologist and Chef. His business partner, Jayson Carlos, was a medical technologist by profession. Jayson was Chef Hasset’s friend from church who also used to resell his cakes and pastries to friends and officemates. He invested PhP50,000 to Chef Hasset Go’s business and that’s how MedChef was born.

This year, 2012, MedChef is going to celebrate its second year anniversary. Since it was founded, Chef Hasset’s life never became the same again. Aside from helping his own family, he is also now an employer to 15 workers in his business. For the past few years, he was receiving prestigious awards such as the Young Achiever for Culinary by Global Excellence. Also recently, he was named as one of the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs by Go Negosyo.

Despite the many successes he had attained, Chef Hasset Go never failed to look back. Every weekend, he will fly to Mindanao to teach aspiring bakers and pastry chefs at the Culinary Institute of Cagayan de Oro. From time to time, he will also share his story to students during career events to encourage them to pursue their passion to succeed in life. In all that he had achieved, is achieving and will achieve, Chef Hasset never fails to thank God as the source of his blessings and inspiration.

-Mediactiv8 Team

Welcome Message

Dear friends, bakers and countrymen,

Welcome to Chef Hasset Go.com!

This blog is an online resource of everything about Chef Hasset Go- his life as a pastry chef, entrepreneur, brand ambassador, culinary school instructor and even a bit about his personal life!

Through this blog, Chef Hasset Go would like to share his tips to everybody (baker or not, young or young-at-heart) on topics such as baking and starting one’s own business to following one’s passion and becoming a successful entrepreneur!

Join us as we discover more about this young chef from Mindanao who at the young age of 23 had already started his own business and how he triumphed over all his trials and finally become a locally and internationally recognized chef that he is now.

We hope that you enjoy your journey with us as we start our work of sending you, through this blog, inspiring stories and exciting treats- straight from the Sweets Master’s kitchen!

-Mediactiv8 Team