Two chefs who have both won at the Singapore International Cooking Contest, one of the "Big 3" annual culinary events worldwide, will compete against each other to contest the "World Best Korean Chef." Chef Park Hyo-nam, head chef at the Hilton Hotel and winner of a gold medal in the 1994 contest, will cross pans with Kong Yeom-ku of 63 City, a 2002 winner, who beat out 100 other chefs with his Herbal Samgyetang in the set menu category.
The two gold medallists have many things in common; they are both small, slim, high school graduates who taught themselves the intricacies of "high Korean cuisine" and studied French culinary arts.
Kong says fermented soybean paste and soy sauce are the best fermented ingredients in the world and are applicable to western dishes. Park on the other hand feels these are an exception said such fermented paste or sauce was exceptional. In the belief that cooking is an art in itself, he practices cutting ingredients with his own knives which he carries all the time.
(Park Jung-hun, Jh-park@chosun.com)
