"Can't just make one dish": Culinary Class Wars' White Spoon Chef Im Seong-keun on his Infinite Cooking Heaven creations

Culinary Class Wars
A still from Culinary Class Wars Season 2 | Image Source: Instagram/ @netflixkr

Culinary Class Wars Season 2 Episode 11 featured the 7 Semifinalists participating in the Infinite Cooking Heaven Battle.

One of them was White Spoon Chef Im Seong-keun. He was happy about the fact that they could prepare multiple dishes for that round.

He was looking forward to preparing many dishes and receiving the highest score. It would take him to the final round, a step closer to the win. While getting ingredients from the Infinite Pantry, he talked to the cameras about his strategy.

Culinary Class Wars' Chef Im Seoun-keun talked about the dishes he was going to make.

"The more stuff I get to cook with, the better. I have worked in this field for many, many years. When it comes to experimenting with different ingredients, I'm kind of an expert. You can't just make one dish. They won't open the Pearly Gates for one good deed. There's no guarantees here. That's why I decided to make as many quick dishes as I could, as fast as I could," shared Chef Im Seoun-keun.

Culinary Class Wars Season 2 Episode 11: Chef Im Seong-keun opens up about his experience, skills, and the dishes he was working on during the Infinite Cooking Heaven

After the Infinite Cooking Heaven battle started, semifinalists rushed to grab their required ingredients. Many of them talked about how they felt after seeing a huge variety of premium ingredients in the pantry.

"Honestly, because there were so many ingredients, I couldn't make a decision. I had too many ideas in my head. If only we weren't competing," confessed Culinary Monster.

Fellow Chef Brewmaster Yun mentioned that mentally, it was hell on Earth. She said that seeing so many ingredients in the Infinite Pantry, her head was hurting. So, she just kept looking around for a bit.

One of the Top 7 semifinalists was Chef Im Seong-keun. He noted that this round couldn't have been more perfect. He was holding back laughter. It was because he was excited to cook more with lots of ingredients.

Soon, he realized he had forgotten a few ingredients. Culinary Class Wars Chef kept running back and forth to the Infinite Pantry. Because of his multiple trips, his legs started to hurt. The timer was at 167 minutes. Soon, he returned with flour, vinegar, and pepper.

"The first dish I'm making today is pogye. It's a Joseon-era dish, said to be eaten by King Sejong, and is the basis of Korean fried chicken. I opted for beef fat since it pairs the best with chicken. Plant-based oils were rare during the Joseon era, which meant if you wanted to roast chicken, you'd use animal fat," shared Chef Im Seong-keun.

He finished cooking and plating his first dish. He rang the bell to call the judges for testing. Seeing his first dish already prepared and plated, fellow chefs were surprised. He presented his first dish, Pogye, to the judges.

Chef Im Seong-keun shared the history behind the dish. Culinary Class Wars judges were surprised to see how fast he had prepared his first dish. One of the judges, Paik Jong-won, mentioned that the recipe for that dish came from an ancient cookbook.

Listening to that, Im Seong-keun was excited that the judge knew about it. He loved to share the history of different food items. Paik Jong-won gave his dish 82 points, while Anh Sung-jae gave 83. Chef Im Seong-keun's total was 165 points.


To know more about other semifinalists' dishes, fans can stream Culinary Class Wars Season 2 Episode 11 on Netflix.

Edited by Sroban Ghosh