Korean fried chicken

The Korean word chikin (치킨) refers to fried chicken (and occasionally also to roasted chicken), while the name for the domesticated fowl is dak (닭). The word is shortened from peuraideu chikin (프라이드 치킨), which is a transliteration of the English phrase "fried chicken".[3] According to the National Institute of Korean Language, the word chikin (치킨) refers to "a dish made by coating chopped chicken with flour, and frying or baking it".[4][5] Fried chickens that are not chopped before frying are called tongdak (통닭, "whole chicken"). Both chikin and tongdak are occasionally referred to as dak-twigim (닭튀김, "chicken fritter").[6]

The unshortened form peuraideu chikin, despite being the "correct" transliteration,[7] is not as popular in Korea. The more commonly used form, huraideu-chikin (후라이드 치킨), may have been adopted in Korean owing to residual influence from the Japanese convention that persisted in Korea in the 1970s. (The Japanese forced occupation only ended in 1945.) The phrase huraideu-chikin is often shortened to huraideu (후라이드) and refers to a fried chicken dish without the added seasonings post-frying. This is often used to differentiate it from yangnyeom-chikin (양념 치킨, "seasoned chicken"). The National Institute of Korean Language does not recognize huraideu-chikin as the conventional name, but insists on the transliteration (and transvocalization) peuraideu-chikin, which it also insists should be "refined" to dakgogi-twigim (닭고기 튀김, "chicken meat fritter").[7]

The concept of frying chicken in Korea has its beginning during the Korean War, when American troops were stationed in South Korea during the late-1940s, and the early-1950s. Traditionally, Koreans steamed chicken for consumption, and chicken dishes usually came in soups and broth. This all changed however, when Americans began placing stalls selling soul-food American fried chicken, focusing on the four areas of Seoul, Busan, Pyeongtaek and Songtan.[8]

The modern trend of eating chicken began in Korea during the late 1960s, when Myeongdong Yeongyang Center in Seoul began selling whole chicken roasted over an electric oven.[9]

The first Korean fried chicken franchise, Lims Chicken, was established in 1977 in the basement of Shinsegae Department Store, Chungmu-ro, Seoul [10][9] by Yu Seok-ho. Yu stated that his idea of selling smaller, individual pieces of fried chicken in Korea came along in 1975 when he went to go study abroad in the United States. He began frying chicken there, and received accolades for creating 'ginseng chicken'. He started his business in Korea with six pieces of fried chicken between ￦280 to ￦330, and sold around 900 pieces as his beginning career.[8] It was "embraced as an excellent food pairing for draft beer"; the word for the pairing, "chimaek", is a portmanteau of "chicken" and "maekju", the Korean word for beer.[11]

The well-known variety with spicy coatings, also known as yangnyeom-chikin, had its history begin in 1982 by Yun Jonggye, who was running Pelicana Chicken at Daejeon. He noticed that customers in his restaurant were struggling to chew on the hard, crisp layers of the fried chicken, and led to inconveniences such as scraped palates. Yun decided to pull a twist on the traditional fried chicken to soften the hard shells of the chicken, and appease more Korean customers by marinating it sweet and spicy.[9] Yang states that despite the spicy flavor, the very first yangnyeom-chikin did not include gochujang as one of their marinating ingredients.[8]

Fried chicken was further popularized when Kentucky Fried Chicken opened stores in South Korea in 1984.[12][13]

The Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s contributed to the number of restaurants selling fried chicken as laid off workers opened chicken restaurants.[14] In recent years, owing to market saturation in Korea, many of Korea's major fried chicken chains, such as Mexicana Chicken, Genesis BBQ, Kyochon Chicken and Pelicana Chicken, have expanded to set up new presences in the United States, China, Canada, and Southeast Asia.[15]

By 2013 there were more than 20,000 fried chicken restaurants in South Korea serving fried chicken and by 2017, 36,000.[16][17] Almost a third of the chicken consumed in South Korea is fried; Smithsonian calls it a "ubiquitous staple".[18][19]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, international chain Bonchon was one of few restaurant chains to continue to add stores.[20]

• bb.q Chicken (an acronym for “best of the best quality”, not barbecue), which has featured in numerous Korean dramas like Guardian: The Lonely and Great God and Crash Landing on You[25][26]
• BHC[27]
• Bonchon Chicken (본촌치킨)
• Buloman Sutbul Barbecue (불로만 숯불 바베큐)[28]
• Chungman Chicken (충만치킨)[29]
• Dasarang (다사랑)[30]
• Goobne Chicken (굽네치킨)[31]
• Kyochon (교촌)
• Mexicana (멕시카나)
• Nene Chicken (네네치킨)[32]
• Norang Tongdak (노랑통닭)[33]
• Puradak (푸라닭)[34]

• Chimaek