On October 24, 1960 leader Kim Jong Il came to Okryu Restaurant to acquaint himself with the preparation of a dinner party for a foreign delegation on a visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Hearing a report that the preparation was going on well, the leader told the officials and cooks of the restaurant a story about the world famous dishes.
The leader began to tell the story, saying Chinese are good at cooking and it has been told that the Chinese and French dishes are the finest ones in the world and Cixi developed cooking techniques in China and Napoleon in France.
He continued to tell them a follow episode.
Cixi was only concerned with all sorts of arbitrariness and dissipations, taking the reins of the throne after the emperor died in Ch’ing dynasty. She had lots of cooks in the imperial palace and forced them to prepare more than 500 dishes at a meal. In the process of serving Cixi who fell in luxurious habits and was full of vanity, the cooks gradually got the knack. It is told that the cooks used to put counterfeits on one the corner of the table where Cixi’s hands could not reach.
Napoleon in France who occupied vast area of many European countries, making war and plunder his life works, used to take the cooks with him even to the battle fields. After tasting different national dishes served by the nobles in the conquered countries, he saw to it that the finest cooking techniques became the French ones. Hence, the people call the French dishes the “combined dishes” containing all the dishes from many European countries and Napoleon the one who developed the French dishes.
His story was so interesting and entertaining one that not only the officials but also the cooks stopped working and strained their ears to him.
Looking around them, leader Kim Jong Il changed his topic into the dishes to be served for the foreign delegation at the party. Stressing that the people in that country were fond of dishes made of trepan, crab and lobster, he instructed to prepare and serve the dishes at the party.
When an official informed him of that the trepan dish was ready, the leader told him to bring a plate of the dish.
The leader wore a light smile on his face, looking at the plate full of trepan dish. The leader gave advice that it was too much to be wasted as one was unable to have it all and important was to put befitting quantity of dish into the plate so as to let a person leave other one or two pieces after having two or t
The leader taught the officials and cooks in detail not only the common sense in world dishes but also the national dishes fond of by the members of delegation and the etiquette of dressing. Looking up to the leader transcending the specialists in his profound cooking knowledge, they were filled with admiration.
