SUPERPAN Recipes

Netflix 〈Culinary Class Wars 2〉 contestant Chef Woo Jung-wook, who appeared as the “Black Spoon” nicknamed “Seoul Mom” and presented Seoul-style home cooking, has released a recipe book containing her culinary life. Chef Woo left a profound impression on Culinary Class Wars by winning the Pohang monkfish battle against “White Spoon” Chef Jung Ho-young with her “Spicy Braised Monkfish.” The nickname “Seoul Mom” is a special name for her. After being unable to have children for about 15 years after marriage and spending those days in tears, the production team gave her the title “Seoul Mom.” She says that she feels deeply moved just by the fact that many people who watched the broadcast call her “Seoul Mom,” and she feels as though she has been compensated for her lonely years. Seoul is the hometown of Chef Woo and the foundation where her family has lived for four generations. Her cooking skills come from her maternal lineage. Her maternal great-great-aunt worked in the royal kitchen, and her mother, who inherited the culinary talent of her grandmother, made food for 700 people every week at a church for 10 years. Her father was a gourmet who was so sincere about food that he went on pilgrimages to famous restaurants in Seoul with his family. To her, cooking is family, friends, and memories.

Chef Woo Jung-wook opened SUPERPAN, a Korean dining restaurant specializing in Seoul-style home cooking recipes, after gaining recognition as a cooking instructor in Daechi-dong and Ichon-dong, Seoul. SUPERPAN Recipes is filled with her culinary life and hit recipes. The book is full of memories about food and people, such as her mother’s culinary touch, the dishes her father-in-law enjoyed, and the menus that moved her husband. The composition of SUPERPAN Recipes reflects her kindness and attentiveness well. It provides detailed guidance on ingredient preparation as well as her own secrets for creating the clean and deep flavors unique to Seoul-style home cooking.

In the book, a banquet of Chef Woo’s style of cooking that brings out the flavors of Seoul unfolds, including the most popular menu at SUPERPAN, seorithae (black soybeans) mascarpone, as well as dried radish greens risotto, croaker bulgogi, royal court tteokbokki with dried vegetables, and mugwort terrine. Woo Jung-wook is not stubborn and enjoys applying new ingredients or cooking methods, and she constantly strives to create her own unique flavors within them. She completes wonderful recipes like royal court cuisine even with a single vegetable, and she tames tough ingredients to become soft so that the original taste of the ingredients can be felt. The table settings that convey temperature, flavor, and aroma are impressive, featuring steamed shredded squid, soft beef top blade jeon, autumn radish soup, and beef aralia elata jeon. For those who are curious about the heartfelt home-style recipes of “Seoul Mom” shown in 〈Culinary Class Wars 2〉, SUPERPAN Recipes is highly recommended.

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Editor.Jung-­Ah Shin (Culture Critic, Adjunct Professor, Division of Performing Arts, Baekseok Arts University)

A TV documentary writer who has scipted over 400 episodes, the author is deeply interested in the intersection of cultural content and humanistic imagination. With a love for the stories of people and the world embedded in media, she believes in the power of good content to change the world. Major publications include Elderly in Media, Elderly outside Media, Living with AI, New Media and Story-doing, Cultural Content and Transmedia, and Media Literacy Education for Digital Literacy, etc.