A master descends the mountain: Legendary Chinese chef Hu Deok-juk inspires with his humility on 'Culinary Class Wars'
Published: 21 Jan. 2026, 13:40
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Hu Deok-juk, 76, is an active chef with 58 years of experience. Known as a living witness to Korea’s Chinese cuisine, he appears on the recently concluded cooking survival show ″Culinary Class Wars″ season 2. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/26f1d99c-e32f-4382-a366-1e3f922b88ea.jpg)
Hu Deok-juk, 76, is an active chef with 58 years of experience. Known as a living witness to Korea’s Chinese cuisine, he appears on the recently concluded cooking survival show ″Culinary Class Wars″ season 2. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]
A “Hu Deok-juk mindset.”
That’s the catchphrase that took off after the second season of Netflix’s “Culinary Class Wars.” It can be understood as “the generosity or grace a master shows by yielding.”
Viewers were moved by the sight of a 76-year-old working chef with 58 years of experience — someone who didn’t hesitate to run errands and tackle the kind of grunt work others might avoid — and a new slang term was born.
The man behind it is chef Hu Deok-juk, a living witness to the history of Chinese cuisine in Korea. For 42 years, he was synonymous with Palsun, the Chinese restaurant at The Shilla Seoul; he is credited with introducing the legendary Chinese dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall to Korea; and he is now the executive chef of Haobin at the Ambassador Seoul — A Pullman Hotel, which earned a Michelin star two years in a row in 2024 and 2025.
Simply put, among ethnic Chinese chefs in Korea, he is the most successful figure of his generation.
Hu’s appearance on the second season of “Culinary Class Wars” came as a complete surprise. Although he has long reigned at the top of Korea’s Chinese-restaurant scene for more than half a century, he has been extremely cautious about dealing with the media.
![Chef Hu Deok-juk grips a wok in the Haobin kitchen. He says, “Chinese chefs have to battle over the fire and the wok, so we can never let our guard down.” [KANG JUNG-HYUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/6c913220-2234-4eb6-8d9f-ac4b2bc68f78.jpg)
Chef Hu Deok-juk grips a wok in the Haobin kitchen. He says, “Chinese chefs have to battle over the fire and the wok, so we can never let our guard down.” [KANG JUNG-HYUN]
Hu repeatedly emphasized two Chinese idioms during his interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday. The first was uisikdongwon, meaning "medicine and food share the same roots." The medicinal dishes he once cooked for the late Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull, and even Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which is packed with healthy ingredients, are foods born of that philosophy.
Hu stressed that throughout his life, he has never used chemical seasonings — or ingredients artificially colored with additives.
The second was sanggyeonghaae, meaning “respect those above and love those below.” He said he teaches, “Don’t make your juniors do work you wouldn’t want to do yourself.” Perhaps that’s why the veteran chef, now nearing 80, was seen mincing garlic. Hu’s Haobin is fully booked through May.
It felt as if a reclusive master of secret martial arts had descended from the mountains into a world dominated by mukbang, as Korea's genre of streamed food broadcasts are called — so the first question naturally had to be why he came down in the first place.
![The hands that made Chef Hu Deok-juk a legend. His hands are small, with thick fingers. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/f86b7407-eef8-401c-8a30-85338a1bc4bd.jpg)
The hands that made Chef Hu Deok-juk a legend. His hands are small, with thick fingers. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]
Q: You stayed away from the media for decades. How did you end up appearing on “Culinary Class Wars” season 2?
A: When I was at Palsun, I often had to stay on standby, so I didn’t really have any breathing room. With “Culinary Class Wars” as well, I turned it down for a month before I finally agreed. They asked me to show an example that could serve as a model for younger chefs. I thought it would just be “show my face once on camera,” but I ended up going almost to the end.
In the team competition, the oldest chef did what the youngest kitchen staff usually does. “The great Hu Deok-juk” was chopping garlic and salting Korean melons. Why?
In football, everyone wants to score. But not everyone can be a striker. Someone has to be a defender and protect the goal. I said I would do it. In a kitchen, no task is unimportant.
Chef Im Seong-keun used your knife. How did you feel about that?
I thought he must have been in a real hurry if he did that. What mattered was finishing the cooking quickly. He asked to use it, so I told him to go ahead.
At Palsun, you were known as a strict chef, but on the show, you came across like a kind grandfather. How did that happen?
Even now, I’m quite strict in the kitchen. These days, too, I walk around before service to check whether the seasoning containers are in the right place. If I looked different on TV, it’s because the chefs I worked with were all heavyweights. I tried to understand their methods.
Is there anyone among the younger chefs who left an impression on you?
Son Jong-won, Jung Ho-young, Sam Kim — they’re all good chefs. “Culinary Monster” was misunderstood in some ways, but when we were together, he was very gentle. Chef Son Jong-won had a soft, fluid posture while cooking and a good personality.
Do you remember Chef Park Hyo-nam turning potatoes in his hand to peel them? Young chefs today often don’t know how to do that, because ingredients come already prepped. Park learned that skill with a hand missing a finger. That’s how our generation worked.
![Chef Hu Deok-juk, center back, poses with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, front right and his wife in 1995. [HU DEOK-JUK]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/884b0fa4-bfa0-487a-b093-02176f04bf70.jpg)
Chef Hu Deok-juk, center back, poses with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, front right and his wife in 1995. [HU DEOK-JUK]
The “carrot hell” episode also became a big talking point. You made five different carrot dishes — did you prepare those in advance?
It was all improvised. When a dish came to mind, I made it right away. The process of completing a dish every 30 minutes with just one ingredient was so much fun. It was around 4 or 5 a.m. when I made the last dish, “yuxiang carrots.” I didn’t even feel tired — I just cooked. If they’d told me to keep going, I could have.
The breakout star of “carrot hell” was clearly the “carrot jajangmyeon.” How did that come about?
At first, I wanted to make noodles, but I couldn’t find a suitable sauce. What I finally settled on was chunjang (black bean paste), so I switched to jajangmyeon. I didn’t boil the carrots I cut into noodle-like strips — I steamed them. I prefer steaming to boiling. When you steam, the flavor and shape stay alive. It was my first time steaming carrots, but steaming them for exactly five minutes turned out to be the right call.
It was unusual for you to add miso to the chunjang. Usually, people add ssamjang, don’t they?
You could call it one of my secrets. Ever since my Palsun days, I’ve added miso when I make jajangmyeon. People used to say my jajangmyeon felt easy on the stomach even after eating. That’s because of the miso.
The theme of the final was “a dish for myself.” If you had reached the final, what would you have wanted to cook?
Honestly, I thought I would make the final. I had prepared a head-to-head dish, and I brought the ingredients with me. I was going to do Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. It’s the most important dish of my life. I wanted to present a new-style imperial version of the dish — it’s a shame.
Let’s talk about your childhood. I’ve heard you grew up very poor. What was it like?
My parents were from Shandong, China, and came over after Korea’s liberation in 1945. I was born in Seosomun-dong, Seoul, the fourth of six siblings. My father died early, and my mother died when I was a first-year middle school student. After that, the siblings scattered and lived separately. Until I graduated high school, I stayed at friends’ homes.
![Chef Hu Deok-juk’s signature dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall [THE AMBASSADOR SEOUL - A PULLMAN HOTEL]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/c531b1e6-17c6-4b30-8049-f542c84b4752.jpg)
Chef Hu Deok-juk’s signature dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall [THE AMBASSADOR SEOUL - A PULLMAN HOTEL]
How did you start cooking?
My mother, left to raise us on her own, ran a Chinese restaurant called “Sahawon.” The sight of the head chef working the wok looked so cool that I kept sneaking into the kitchen. I got scolded badly for it at times, but the head chef taught me. When I was in fourth grade, I made fried rice and packed lunch boxes for my older siblings. I started walking the path of a professional cook after graduating high school. I began in the kitchen of the Seoul UN Center Hotel, doing odds and ends.
Your Chinese-cuisine career began at “Yonggung.” What was it like?
The kitchen [at the Seoul UN Center Hotel] mainly dealt with Western cuisine. I wanted to learn Chinese cooking, so I went straight to “Yonggung.” It was the finest Chinese restaurant at the time. At first, they rejected me immediately. I went again, and they rejected me again. After I kept showing up for months, they took me in. They must have seen my persistence in a good light. There was no vacancy in the kitchen, but they hired me anyway.
I endured it by doing the head chef’s laundry and running errands. There were days off, but I only worked because I worried about how the seniors would see me. You had to win the seniors’ favor to learn even one thing. At first, I didn’t even get paid. I got my first paycheck in the fourth month — I remember it as 20,000 won.
I’ve heard there was strong prejudice against cooks in those days. Is it true?
Before I got married, the first time I went to greet my future mother-in-law, I was kicked out right away. It was an era when cooks were treated very poorly — “Why would a man be a cook?” In the end, none of the family attended the wedding. We held the ceremony with just the two of us.
How did you end up joining the Shilla Hotel?
When the Bando Hotel closed down, I went to Japan, where my older sister was. Working at a Chinese restaurant in Tokyo, I learned Cantonese cuisine. It was a valuable experience. Chinese cuisine in Korea centered on Shandong cooking, so it was my first time encountering Cantonese food. I came back because of visa issues, and then I ended up staying. The Shilla Hotel happened to be opening, so I joined as one of its founding members. Two years later, we opened Palsun. I started as sous-chef, but I became head chef right away.
At Palsun, there’s a legendary story about former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. How did that go down?
In 1995, President Jiang Zemin became the first Chinese president to visit South Korea. He stayed at The Shilla Seoul, and I followed his schedule not only in Seoul but also in Jeju to cook for him. Before he left Korea, he called me to his room, said the food was “better than in mainland China,” and even took a commemorative photo with me.
![A still from the second season of ″Culinary Class Wars″ (2021-) [NETFLIX]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2026/01/21/396462bd-e2d1-4064-980b-1cf2a435f0ef.jpg)
A still from the second season of ″Culinary Class Wars″ (2021-) [NETFLIX]
Another Palsun legend is Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. How did you develop it?
The moment I hit the peak as a chef was in 1994, when I became the first person from the kitchen to be promoted to executive director. It was thanks to Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. It was a new menu item I introduced in 1987, when society was in turmoil, and it played a decisive role in The Shilla becoming the country’s No. 1 hotel. Back then, people even joked that it wasn’t Samsung Electronics — it was “Palsun Electronics.”
For a long time, you captured the tastes of the Samsung family. How do you feel about that?
Both Chairman Lee Byung-chull and Chairman Lee Kun-hee had simple tastes. Rather than rare, expensive foods, they preferred everyday dishes like jajangmyeon and sweet-and-sour pork. Chairman Lee Byung-chull, in particular, was a small eater. Even the way he ate was always quiet and dignified. When his health wasn’t good, I once learned medicinal cuisine in Japan and cooked it for him.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON MIN-HO,BAEK JONG-HYUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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