By its third week on the air, the k-drama Bon Appétit, Your Majesty reached the Netflix Top 10 in 73 countries and surpassed 100 million total viewing hours globally. While the chemistry between the drama’s leading actors Yoona (King The Land) and Lee Chae-min (Hierarchy), is enticing, the real star of the time slip drama is the food. Yoona plays Yeon Ji-young, an award-winning chef who travels back in time and prepares a succession of delicious modern dishes with a Joseon era twist. The person she serves is King Lee Heon (Yeonhuigen), a tyrant who also happens to have a very demanding palate.
The Studio Dragon production team set the table for this ongoing feast by collaborating with several culinary experts. One of those experts was Professor Lee Jung-min, a researcher of royal court cuisine and ancient cookbooks, based on knowledge passed down from the Skills Holder of the Royal Culinary Art of the Joseon Dynasty (National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 38). Lee verified the accuracy of the food used in Bon Appétit, Your Majesty based on his research into the history of Joseon palace life.
“The Surasang (royal table) in the Joseon Dynasty was more than just a meal; it was a symbol of the royal family’s authority and health,” said Lee .” It was prepared with the highest quality ingredients from all over the country that were presented as tribute. Ingredients that are common today, such as beef and abalone, as well as basic staples like suyu (a type of dairy fat similar to butter), sugar, flour, and oil, were difficult for ordinary people to enjoy. They primarily ate grain and vegetable-based dishes, much like the bibimbap that appeared in Episode 1.”
Many of the dishes Ji-young cooks for the king are modern dishes with clever adaptations. All the ingredients for French cuisine were not available in Korea during the reign of Lee Heon.
“Yeon Ji-young time-slips to the 1500s,” said Lee. “At that time, chili peppers had not yet been introduced to Korea, so red seasonings like chili powder and gochujang were not available. Common ingredients in French cuisine such as onions and carrots, as well as staple crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn were also nonexistent.”
One example of her culinary adaptations is the Snowflake Schnitzel that Ji-young prepares in the fifth episode.
“Since breadcrumbs were not available in the Joseon Dynasty, she substitutes them with a batter made from flour (jingaru, or refined wheat flour) and a unique ‘snowflake frying’ technique,” said Lee. “When making macarons in Episode 6, she makes her own butter (suyu) by boiling and solidifying milk (tarak) to use.”
Fortunately, Ji-young is not only good at cooking with modern day ingredients. She’s familiar with the cooking techniques of the time.
“Yeon Ji-young grew up with a father who was a historian with a great interest in cooking and naturally, she became an avid reader of ancient cookbooks,” said Lee. “In Episode 2 at the Gyeonggi Governor’s Office, Jiyoung uses a ‘sous-vide technique’ to tenderize beef. While modern sous-vide requires vacuum-sealing food to block contact with water, Jiyoung thinks of a Joseon-era cooking method called ‘Jeonchisu cooking.’ She recalls the technique of slowly cooking pheasant wrapped in wet hanji (traditional Korean paper) while continuously brushing it with water, and adapts it by wrapping the beef in oil-treated hanji.”
While modern cooking methods may seem more convenient and innovative, there were also attempts in the Joseon Dynasty to cook food slowly to make it tender, using tools available at the time like hanji.
“It seems that the accumulated efforts to make food more delicious throughout all eras have led to the development of today’s cooking methods,” said Lee.
Every dish that Ji-young prepares gets a positive reaction from those who taste it. Sometimes that reaction borders on an out-of-body experience. Coming up with a menu inventive enough to elicit such a dramatic reaction required culinary collaboration.
The overall menu development was led by Chef Shin Jong-cheol, executive chef of Ambassador Seoul Pullman Hotel. Chef Oh Se-deuk and Chef Kim Jong-hyo were in charge of French cuisine, Chef Choi Kang-rok handled Korean and fusion cuisine, Lee Jung-min and CEO Lee Chae-yoon consulted on royal court cuisine, and Chef Lee Sung-woo advised on Chinese cuisine. The final dishes for Yeon Ji-young overseen by Chef Shin Jong-cheol—including the Beef Tartare (Episode 3), Doenjang Pasta (Episode 4), Snowflake Schnitzel (Episode 5), Clear Dried Pollack Consommé (Episode 5), and Black Sesame Macarons (Episode 6), as well as various menus that appear in the latter half of the drama—are all the result of extensive historical research and experimentation.
“The key criteria for specific menu selection were Yeon Ji-young’s character identity, its connection to the drama’s narrative, director Chang Tae-you’s directorial intent, and historical verification of Joseon-era ingredients,” said Shin. “When the director and writer proposed a suitable menu, I took on the role of bringing it to life. Each menu went through a development process that included a minimum of five cooking experiments and demonstrations, with over 15 hours—and sometimes even several days—of work for a single dish. The biggest challenge was expressing Yeon Ji-young’s modern sensibility as a French chef using the limited ingredients available during the Joseon era.”
To create the Doenjang Pasta that appeared in Episode 4, the experts referenced the Nanmyeon recipe from a Joseon era cookbook, Eumsikdimibang, to create the pasta noodles with buckwheat and egg, and then used a combination of four different types of doenjang (fermented soybean paste) to complete the sauce.
“Notably, we wanted to use Jeju Blue Soybean Paste, a near-forgotten ingredient registered on the ‘Ark of Taste’ that was not mentioned in the drama’s script,” said Shin.
Ji-young needed to come up with an alternative side dish for the Snowflake Schnitzel.
“While schnitzel is typically served with potato fries, potatoes were not available as a staple crop in that era,” said Shin. “Instead, we used fried burdock, a root vegetable that Yeon Ji-young could have used in the drama and which paired harmoniously with the schnitzel.”
Based on records from the 5th year of King Sejong’s reign, the Daejeon Suragan (the royal kitchen responsible for the king’s meals) had a total staff of 388 people. Centered around the Daeryeong-sugsu (the head chef), the staff was divided into specific roles, including 14 Byeolsaong who were in charge of meat dishes, six Sugong for drawing water, and four Tangsutakban for boiling water. It’s unlikely that a woman would have run the kitchen during that era.
“According to the Gyeongguk Daejeon (a code of law completed in the Joseon Dynasty), the gender ratio in the Suragan (royal kitchen) was overwhelmingly male,” said Lee. “Key positions such as Daeryeong-sugsu (head chef), sugsu (chef), and bangam were held by men. Women were in charge of auxiliary roles such as warming food and setting the table. Bon Appétit, Your Majesty uses dramatic imagination to appoint Yeon Ji-young, a modern chef, as the Daeryeong-sugsu of the Suragan by the tyrant Yeonhuigun. This is why, within the drama, there is much opposition to a woman taking on the role of Daeryeong-sugsu, and Yeon Ji-young must overcome these difficulties with her own skill. This unconventional setup serves to highlight the tyrant Yeonhuigun’s character while also keeping the drama engaging.”
The drama is based on the web novel Surviving as Yeonsangun’s Chef, written by Park Guk-jae. Bon Appetit Your Majesty was produced by Studio Dragon and airs on Netflix.
