Koreans’ strange love of chicken

My old neighborhood in Yongsan, Seoul, is famous for quaint patisseries, specialty coffee shops and authentic, hole-in-the-wall Japanese bistros. Oddly enough, a modest diner that sells good old casual Korean food is a rarity on this narrow strip that likes things lush.

But last month, in came two new businesses challenging the existing snobby mix.

Just three blocks apart, the two franchise takeout joints coincidentally sell the same thing: “dak gang jeong.” The deep-fried, boneless crispy chicken, diced and smothered in a sweet and tangy sauce, is a popular traditional dish. Nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary. But day after day, the line for a 2,000 won cup of chicken nuggets stretched out the door at both shops.

Being a visitor in town, I wasn’t familiar with the new franchise names at first. But I quickly noticed that dak gang jeong is the new fad food. Ah, another chicken trend.

Anyone into Korean food should know chicken is a popular protein used in all kinds of dishes. The bird is so loved that no part of it, including the liver, gizzard or feet, is wasted.

You have your common home-cooked chicken dishes like “dak bokkeum tang’’ (spicy chicken stew) and “samgyetang’’ (ginseng chicken soup), but it’s the restaurants that really hatch the new poultry trends. Which takes me down a little trip along chicken memory lane.

Back when I was in college, people’s go-to menu was “dak galbi’’ (stir-fried spicy chicken with vegetables and rice cakes). Everyone was into scraping the last crunchy bits of the chicken, rice and veggies right out of the already-scratched and beat-up giant griddle pan.

All the hand and muscle work must’ve made the nearly-burnt bits taste better than they really were.

But not long after, “jjimdak’’ (chicken and vegetables simmered in soy sauce) took over with a plate full of flavor that’s a whole lot milder and sweeter. There was no scraping involved, but maybe people liked the fact that they didn’t have to do the extra work.

And then came the era of “buldak,’’ literally meaning “fire chicken,’’ which went on to lead a super spicy food boom. I personally never dared try it, so can’t say how good ― or bad ― the fiery dish is.

This already seems like plenty but there’s also the extensive selection of fried chicken variations we can’t leave out.

Pelicana and TwoTwo Chicken are some of the most ancient local franchises that quickly got run over by new names like BBQ, Kyochon, BonChon, Ne Ne, Goobne and the list goes on.

Fried chicken alone wasn’t enough though so someone decided to throw in a pile of shredded green onions, which made “padak’’ an instant hit.

So that’s basically your roundup of popular Korean chicken fads in a nutshell.

Some of it even managed to head overseas, making chains like Kyochon and BonChon familiar names in parts of the U.S., where chicken is even more wildly loved and consumed.

So what makes the Korean flavor special all the way there?

The common take is that Korean fried chicken is smaller and crispier, hitting a range of unusual flavor profiles with ingredients like garlic, ginger and soy sauce.

It hasn’t been all that long since homegrown franchises started branching out but will they be able to continue pleasing people’s palate in the long-run? Or will the glory be short-lived like many of the instant food fads in Korea?

Who knows, but what’s almost certain is that dak gang jeong’s popularity in Korea probably isn’t going to last any more than a few years, given the past track record of local food trends.

That’s what trends are all about though. They don’t last forever and waiting for the next big thing is the fun part for us wanna-be foodies. <The Korea Times/Jane Han>