Actress Seo Hyo-rim recreated the flavors of her late mother-in-law and senior actress Kim Soo-mi.
On the afternoon of the 23rd, Seo Hyo-rim appeared as a guest on the MBN entertainment show 'Altoran.' She presented the dishes shrimp soy sauce braise and pollack braise, recalling her mother-in-law Kim Soo-mi, who passed away last year.
Regarding her appearance on 'Altoran,' which she decided after much contemplation, Seo Hyo-rim revealed, "After my mother passed away, I received many proposals for shows related to her. I said I wasn't confident, but they mentioned that the theme was about cooking something I wanted to make for my mother. So I felt I had to do it."
He said, "When we eat rice on our set, my mother always brought this much side dish with barley-gulbi. I started looking forward to the Monday sets every week just to have that rice. There are people who say I got married because I saw my mother-in-law. I've learned so many dishes after coming to this household. Even the same dish tastes different when made by my mother. There are various secret recipes, you know."
Seo Hyo-rim was actually visiting Kim Soo-mi's favorite shops to recreate her flavors. He particularly noted, "I felt it while reading my mother's diary. She wrote it from 1983 until just before she passed away. Her character was that of a foul-mouthed grandmother, and she knew that being tough and strong was necessary to be useful somewhere, so she acted that way. Inside, though, it seemed like there were parts that were really tough for her, which was very upsetting."
He added, "I thought, if only she had shown me that diary before she passed away. She listened to everyone else's troubles and difficulties, but it seemed like she had no place to speak herself," which moved viewers.
The flavors that Seo Hyo-rim recreated from Kim Soo-mi were shrimp soy sauce braise and pollack braise. Each was the first dish Kim Soo-mi taught and the last one she made, respectively. Seo Hyo-rim explained, "During a previous broadcast, she once said that even if I die, I hope you will definitely cook this dish. That's shrimp soy sauce braise. The other one is pollack braise. It was her last dish while alive. Despite not feeling well, she still made the pollack braise for me. That was the last side dish."
He added, "My mother was the one who introduced pollack to Korea. When I was young in Gunsan, we used to eat the leftover small pollacks that were sold as side dishes. That's how pollack braise came about."
At the end of the show, Kim Soo-mi's son and Seo Hyo-rim's husband, Jung Myung-ho, appeared. Tasting the dishes his wife learned from her mother, he commented, "The taste is very similar. Just as there are prodigies in singing and dancing, it seems there are prodigies in flavors too. Honestly, I thought I wouldn't be able to taste that flavor, but she does it well. Because she cooks well, she looks even prettier. I think my mother would have been happy to taste it."
[Photo] Provided by MBN.