The 13th National Culinary Skill Contest was held at the Pyongyang Noodle House in February. The eye-catcher was the impromptu contest, the first of its kind in the event.

As a good show of culinary skills, it drew the interest of all and inspired housewives to try their hands.

The star of the contest was Yang Un Chol from the Tongmun Noodle House of the Taedonggang District Restaurant.

With food culture developing day by day, impromptu cooking services are gaining popularity as they give the diners an unusual experience of seeing and tasting the foods cooked in front of their eyes and with the flavour of raw materials preserved, an official of the Cooks Association of Korea said.

Therefore, the impromptu event was added to the national culinary skill contest, according to him.

Before the contest the association announced 22 kinds of impromptu dishes, three of which were to be chosen on the day of the event.

The contest brought together three cooks selected from each of different groups, such as ministries and national agencies, the Guidance Bureau of Public Catering Service, the catering service facilities in Pyongyang and provinces (municipalities) and the external service establishments.

“It was more like an indiscriminate examination than a contest. For all my ten-year-long career I felt my heart beating fast when I stood before the crowd. I was nervous about the selected dishes to be announced,” said Yang Un Chol.

According to the announcement of the organizers, the contestants were to cook three pieces of roasted salmon, fried pork and fried breaded chicken respectively in an hour.

It was not easy to cook the three kinds of dishes at the same time in such a short span. Moreover, the amounts of the raw materials were fixed and there was no spare in case of failure, recalled Yang.

Unlike the others, he turned on two gas stoves together and performed a balancing act of frying and roasting in consideration of the time when the foods would be sauced. His garnished foods submitted to the jury in time caught the eyes of spectators.

In particular, the roasted salmon, light brown, smooth, mouth-watering and delicious, ranked first among the dishes presented by over 10 cooks.

Salmon looks like trout but it is fleshier, and it leaves the smell of raw fish if not done well, Yang says.

“So you need to take care when slicing, saucing, coating with powder and shaking, and placing on the frypan. What matters is saucing. It is needed to ensure a proper mixture of sauces and fish and adjust the fire adeptly. This is the key to the dish’s good taste and colour,” Yang adds.

Salmon is good for recovering strength and contains elements effective for the treatment of diabetes, acute hepatitis and urinary system disorders. The unsaturated fatty acid in the flesh has good effects of retarding aging, treating circulatory system disorders and preventing cancer.

Now many are visiting the Tongmun Noodle House to taste the roasted salmon and see the chef Yang.

“Cooking is science and art. I will try to cook more dishes favoured by our people with a better understanding of the traditional culinary skills and current world trend,” Yang said.

Jong Hwa Sun