Here’s a little interesting article from The Korea Times about a former chef for the Blue House, the South Korean Presidential residence. An excerpt:
When Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan was invited to the presidential house, he suggested the main kitchen use Korean wheat, recalled Lee. “But Korean wheat is low in gluten, which makes it very slippery. They even used to say that Chong Wa Dae kalguksu is served with a spoon.”
The dedicated cook said the entire kitchen was on a search for the nation’s top kalguksu experts to improve the noodle dish, which was former president Kim Young-sam’s all-time favorite.
“We got some in-house tutoring by veteran kalguksu makers and I was even hospitalized for straining a muscle from using the roller so much,” Lee said. “But all the hard work we put in is what made the simple dish become so famous.”
Yummy naengmyeon! I can’t get enough of it and your picture looks incredible!
Just a little FYI, however. Naengmyeon is a northern dish as opposed to a North Korean dish as in when Korea was one Korea.