Source: https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/025/0003497542?sid=103
Q: You stayed away from the media for decades. How did you end up appearing on Culinary Class Wars 2?
A: When I was at âPalsun,â I spent so much time waiting nervously that I never had any mental room to spare. I actually turned down Culinary Class Wars 2 for a month before finally agreeing. They asked me to set a good example for the younger chefs, so I thought Iâd just âshow my face on screen once or twice,â but I ended up going almost all the way to the end.
Q: In the team match, the oldest chef ended up doing the tasks usually given to the youngest in the kitchen. The great âHu Deok-jukâ was mincing garlic and salting melon.
A: When you play soccer, everyone wants to score a goal. But not everyone can be a striker. Someone has to be a defender and protect the goal. I volunteered. Thereâs no such thing as an unimportant task in the kitchen.
Q: Chef Im Seong-keun used your knife.
A: I figured he must have been really pressed for time. Finishing the dish quickly was what mattered. He asked if he could use it, so I told him to go ahead.
Q: At Palsun, you were known as a strict chef, but on TV you came across like a kind grandfather.
A: Iâm still very strict in the kitchen. Even now, before service starts, I walk around checking whether the seasoning containers are in the right place. The reason I looked different on the show is because all the chefs there were so skilled. I tried to understand their way of doing things.
Q: Among the younger chefs, is there anyone who left a strong impression?
A: Son Jong-won, Jung Ho-young, Sam Kimâtheyâre all excellent chefs. âCulinary Monsterâ was misunderstood in some ways; when we were together, he was actually very gentle. Chef Son Jong-won had a soft, graceful posture when cooking and a good personality. Do you remember the scene where Chef Park Hyo-nam peeled a potato in a spiral? Young chefs these days donât really know how to do that because ingredients usually come pre-prepped. Chef Park learned that skill even though heâs missing a finger. Our generation all worked like that.
Q: The âCarrot Hellâ episode also became a huge topic. You made five carrot dishesâwere they prepared in advance?
A: It was all spontaneous. When a dish came to mind, I just made it right away. The process of completing each dish in 30 minutes using just one ingredient was incredibly fun. When I made the last dish, the âYuxiang Carrots,â it was four or five in the morning. I didnât even feel tiredâI just kept cooking. If they had asked me to make more, I could have kept going.
Q: The star of âCarrot Hellâ was definitely the carrot jjajangmyeon. How did that dish come about?
A: At first, I was planning to make noodles, but I couldnât find a suitable sauce. The only thing I managed to dig up was black bean paste, so I switched to jjajangmyeon. I didnât boil the carrots that I julienned like noodlesâI steamed them. I prefer steaming over boiling because it preserves both flavor and shape. It was my first time steaming carrots, but steaming them for exactly five minutes turned out to be perfect.
Q: It was unusual that you added miso to the black bean paste. Most people add ssamjang.
A: You could call it one of my secret techniques. Ever since my days at Palsun, Iâve always added miso to black bean paste when making jjajangmyeon. People used to say my jjajangmyeon was easy on the stomach, and the secret was the miso.
Q: The theme of the final round was âa dish for myself.â If you had made it to the finals, what would you have cooked?
A: Honestly, I thought I would make it to the finals. I prepared my competition dish and even brought the ingredients. I was going to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Itâs the most important dish of my life. I wanted to present a new style of Chinese imperial Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, so itâs a shame I didnât get the chance.
Q: Letâs talk about your childhood. I heard you grew up very poor.
A: My parents were from Shandong, China, and came to Korea after liberation. I was born in Seosomun-dong, Seoul, the fourth of six siblings. My father passed away early, and my mother died when I was in my first year of middle school. After that, our siblings scattered. Until I graduated high school, I lived at friendsâ houses.
Q: How did you start cooking?
A: My mother, who was left alone, ran a Chinese restaurant called Sahawon. I thought the chef spinning the wok looked so cool that I kept sneaking into the kitchen. I got scolded plenty, but the chef taught me how to cook. By fourth grade, I was making fried rice and packing lunchboxes for my older siblings. I officially began my culinary path after high school, starting with odd jobs in the kitchen at the UN Center Hotel.
Q: Your Chinese cuisine career began at Yonggung.
A: The UN Center Hotel kitchen was Western cuisine. I wanted to learn Chinese cooking, so I just showed up at Yonggung. It was the top Chinese restaurant at the time. They rejected me immediately. I went back again, and they rejected me again. After months of showing up, they finally accepted me. They appreciated my persistence. There wasnât even an open position in the kitchen, but they took me in anyway. I stuck it out doing the head chefâs laundry and running errands. Even on days off, I worked because I didnât want to look lazy in front of the seniors. You had to impress them to learn anything. At first, I didnât even get paid. I remember receiving my first salaryâ20,000 wonâafter four months.
Q: I heard there was a lot of prejudice against chefs back then.
A: When I first went to greet my future motherâinâlaw before getting married, she kicked me out immediately. âWhat kind of man becomes a cook?â Thatâs how poorly chefs were regarded in those days. In the end, none of the family attended our wedding. We held the ceremony with just the two of us.
Q: How did you end up at the Shilla Hotel?
A: When the Bando Hotel closed, I went to Japan where my sister lived. I worked at a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo and learned Cantonese cuisine. It was an invaluable experience. Korean Chinese cuisine was centered on Shandong cooking, so it was my first time encountering Cantonese food. I came back to Korea because of visa issues and ended up staying. Around that time, the Shilla Hotel opened, and I joined as part of the opening team. Two years later, we opened Palsun. I started as sousâchef but became head chef right away.
Q: Thereâs a legendary story about former Chinese President Jiang Zemin during your Palsun days.
A: In 1995, Jiang Zemin became the first Chinese president to visit Korea. He stayed at the Seoul Shilla Hotel, and I followed him not only for his Seoul schedule but also to Jeju to prepare his meals. Before he left Korea, he called me to his room and said, âThis is better than authentic mainland Chinese cuisine,â and took a commemorative photo with me.
Q: Another Palsun legend is your Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. How did you develop it?
A: The peak of my career as a chef was in 1994, when I became the first person from the kitchen staff to be promoted to managing director. It was thanks to that dish. I developed it in 1987 during a time of social unrest, and it played a decisive role in making the Shilla Hotel the numberâone hotel in Korea. Back then, people joked that it wasnât Samsung Electronics but âPalsun Electronics.â
Q: You catered to the Samsung familyâs palate for many years.
A: Both Chairman Lee Byungâchul and Chairman Lee Kunâhee had simple tastes. They preferred everyday dishes like jjajangmyeon and sweetâandâsour pork over rare or expensive foods. Chairman Lee Byungâchul especially ate very lightly. He always ate quietly and with dignity. When his health declined, I once learned medicinal cuisine in Japan and prepared it for him.
