Thick porridge
I entered the culinary world as a Western cook at the age of 20 and switched to Chinese cuisine at the age of 23.
In the 60s and 70s, the Korean Chinese cuisine scene was at its peak centered on Chinese restaurants in high-class hotels (the era of the so-called four major Chinese cuisine schools).
Chef Hu Deok-juk was scouted as a chef in Hong Kong at the time and became the youngest member of the famous Peninsula Hotel “Yonggung”.
Then, I went to study abroad in Japan and encountered Cantonese-style Chinese food at a restaurant where I worked part-time (unlike Korea, where there are many ethnic Chinese from Shandong, Japan has many ethnic Chinese from Guangdong).
After studying abroad, he returned to Korea and became a founding member of the Shilla Hotel Palsun in 1977, and maintained the Palsun kitchen for the next 42 years.
Buldojang, which was first introduced to Korea in 1987 as an eight-skilled chef, has become Chef Hudeokjuk’s signature menu item and one of the must-have menu items at high-class Chinese restaurants.
During Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao’s visit to Korea, they were in charge of the Chinese food. After eating Hu Deokjuk’s Buddhist stamps and dishes, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao famously praised them, saying, “Wow, it tastes better than the Chinese food you eat in China.”
Thanks to his skills and reputation, he started out as a director of Samsung Group in 1994 and rose to managing director of Samsung Group in 2000, holding the record of being the first chef to become an executive of a company.