Korean Fried Chicken Vs. American Fried Chicken

There's many fried chicken all around the world , but I'm gonna take my two favorite , put them head to head and see if there's truly the best versions .

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So this is Korean Fried Chicken versus American fried chicken .

It almost seems like there's a fried chicken for just about every single place in the world .

You got Japanese fried chicken .

Korean fried chicken .

American fried chicken and then there's different kinds of a fried chicken depending on where you go in America .

I could go on and on about it .

What is the ideal fried chicken ?

Is there a better eating experience ?

A better flavor crunch .

So as these two go head to head , we'll give you the answer .

That being said , let's make this shall we ?

We got two avenues here .

So we're gonna explore both at the same time .

One of these chickens are marinated and one of them is sort of dry cured , but either way we'll get them wet to coat nicely in their dredge .

Let's begin with our Korean fried chicken also called Yang Yum chicken .

That's my pronunciation .

Can't wait to be eviscerated in the commons anyway .

Very simple .

Start with £2 or 900 g of chicken pieces .

You can go with wings , drumsticks , thighs or a nice mix to that .

You'll add one tablespoon or 17 g of grated ginger , one teaspoon or half a gram of fine ground black pepper , generous salt to taste and just toss that bad boy together and let it sit for at least five minutes .

At room temp or covered in the fridge overnight .

So this is essentially curing in a way .

Now for the buttermilk fried chicken , you're going to want the same exact amount of chicken added to a buttermilk marinade consisting of two cups of 475 mL of buttermilk , 1.5 teaspoons or 8 g of optional .

Mm .

Is she sorry to break your heart ?

But it's completely fine to eat one tablespoon or 12 g of kosher salt , one tablespoon or 9 g of brown white pepper , one tablespoon or 12 g of garlic powder .

One tablespoon or 9 g of smoked paprika whi together .

Two combined in homogenous , add the same amount of chicken of choice , make sure it's completely submerged .

Let it sit at room temp for five minutes or in the fridge covered overnight .

Now here's our two chickens side by side already looking completely different but equally beautiful .

Now , let's take a look at the two different kinds of dredge .

But the Korean fried chicken simply one cup or 100 and 65 g of corn , starch and a quarter teaspoon or half a gram of baking soda , whiskey .

It together and that's it .

Now for the southern style , there's a lot more ingredients .

It'll be 2.5 cups or 375 g of all purpose flour , two teaspoons or 2 g of dried thyme , one tablespoon or 12 g of garlic powder .

One teaspoon or 3 g of onion powder , two teaspoons or 5 g of celery powder , which phonetically sounds terrible .

Two tablespoons or 18 g of smoked paprika , two teaspoons or 10 g of and two tablespoons or 23 g of kosher salt .

Give that a whisk .

And that is your dredge .

I know .

Wow .

Oh , this other one has swayed too many ingredients .

Look , that's the point .

It's got a spice kick right in your goddamn draws .

Now , the Korean one seems light on flavor so far or so you'd think you see the flavor for the Korean fried chicken will be added after cooking with a sauce consisting of half cup or 100 and 60 g of goi jug six tablespoons or 100 and 4 g of ketchup , a quarter cup or 50 g of soy sauce .

Five tablespoons or 160 g of brown rice , vinegar , a quarter cup or 60 g of min six tablespoons or 46 g of palm sugar or light brown sugar .

If you don't want to be a true culinary , add it to a pot whi till homogenous and heat it over medium heat just until it begins to simmer and let that brother reduce for only one minute immediately cut off the heat and mix in eight cloves of finely chopped garlic .

Yes , eight gloves .

All the quirky quotes of 02 cloves of garlic is enough .

Is this enough for you , Karen ?

Because now you got commit to the bit jokes aside .

Uh please do not cut back on this garlic ratio .

It's what makes it extra special .

Ok .

The time to fry has come , the frying process here are completely different .

So pay close attention for the Korean fried chicken .

Gently toss in the corn starch mix and aggressively press the dredge into every nook and crane until the wet spots are dry .

Shake off the excess and place it into fry oil that's been preheated to 325 °F .

And you'll probably want to do this in 2 to 3 batches by the way , let that bad boy fry for about five minutes or to cook and light golden .

Immediately remove and drain on a wire rack and fry the rest .

And this is the secret here , increase your oil temperature to 375 °F and place your chicken back into the fryer for 1 to 2 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown ultra wispy wafer , thin crisp exterior emerges .

You know , obviously , the chicken should have been cooked through prior .

This is just a crisp finding process .

Now , pop that into a bowl , cut it with as much or as little sauce as you want and make sure that that coats every square microscopic inch of the chicken .

Leaving these Korean style wings bald .

We'll unlock a satanic portal into culinary dune from which you'll have to crawl with your bare hands and nails out of So please sauce them as directed .

Now , the Southern American style chicken is a little simpler .

Add a tablespoon or two of your marinade to the seasoned dredge and toss together .

This is the technique that will get you those nice thin flaky bits on the fry .

You know what I'm talking about , remove from your marinade toss in your seasoned dredge and again , press that dredge aggressively to the chicken .

So it's completely coated .

Then in 2 to 3 batches just gently lay that chicken into a pot filled with at least 2 to 3 inches of fry oil .

That's been preheated to about 350 °F and fry for 5 to 7 minutes or until you have a deep golden brown flaky , crispy buttermilk fried chicken that of course has an internal temperature of 165 °F probably should mention that the same rule of 165 internal temp applies to the legs as well .

Pal lest you want medium red chicken .

Now , please set on a wire rack to drain and simply repeat that frying process with all of your chicken .

Now , it is the moment of truth .

Just looking at these two , you can see how extremely different the breading is and even then they both look like exotic stones , retrieve from two opposite corners of the world with their own secret story .

And yes , the Korean style 1 may be sauced and the southern one is not , is that going to make a difference .

My gut in a weird way says no , but I think an even better judge of that would be my tongue .

Time for a taste test .

Wow , we have two pieces of chicken .

Let's get a smell test .

So this one smells nostalgic to me because this is what my mom would make .

This one spanks you a little bit .

There's a little bit of spice to it .

You get that first whiff and it's just kind of like what the fuck happened .

So got this beautiful breading and we're gonna do a sound test on that first .

It's one of them things .

You just gotta pop it .

Just give it a good old .

Oh I was gonna jump and throw my ass in the air .

Uh texturally the crunch , the juiciness of the skin .

The salt levels are perfect .

Jump me over to this .

I suspect we're not gonna have as much of a crunch .

Oh Wow .

This is a hard choice .

I'm not sure if there's one that's better than the other in this .

I normally lean towards Asian food in general .

So do I go nostalgia or do I go current favorite ?

Oh This one ?

It's sweet .

It's sour .

It's acidic and it's got that peppery background note .

If I were to pick a favorite right now , I don't think that I can .

So I need someone to step in and be a determiner here .

Yeah .

The breading is just nostalgic always surprises you a little bit .

That's so good .

It's a tough call because like if I went to a restaurant hadn't had drumsticks in a while , wanted something different , I would go for the go to John ones .

But trying both .

I would just want both bowls , make both and find out yourself .

Thank you for nothing .

What I've learned is that it comes down to what you desire in that moment .

These are completely different .

There isn't one that's better than the other .

I feel like I could eat 40 of these , but I feel like I could only eat two of these both styles of chicken .

Beautifully done .

I guess you're just gonna have to make it to find out why the fuck does that keep happening ?

You know what else has big juicy legs carved into my mind ?

Be all right guys .

And that is it .

So we made our chicken .

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So we have our Korean fried chicken versus American fried chicken , both beautifully done delicious .

Aside from it , obviously tasting different visually , there are whole or opposites .

One of them is a thick , beautiful rich butter , milk flaky crust .

And then the other one is sort of like this thin wispy wafer , like crispy crunch .

It not only affects the texture but it affects the flavor the way you eat it and it also how it satiates you , which is a big part of eating .

I feel like my palate sort of leans towards the Korean fried chicken .

But at the end of the day , there is no winner here .

They're all equally delicious .

It just is how you prefer to have it in that moment in time when you want fried chicken , when the hunger strikes so you can make your goddamn decision .

But I hope this was somewhat helpful that being said if you enjoyed this video or you learn something , leave a like , subscribe and I will see you .