''Buldak'' () or fire chicken is a heavily spiced, barbecued

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

dish. The literal meaning of the name is "fire chicken", where ''bul'' means "fire" and ''dak'' translates to "chicken."

History

''Buldak'' became popular in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

during 2004, primarily for its extreme pungency, as the country's long-term recession and economic downturn caused the local population to seek out spicy food to relieve stress. The rise in popularity of ''buldak'' set the trend for extremely hot dishes in South Korea, which led to the rise of ''buldak'' franchise restaurants. However, the name ''buldak'' was registered at a patent office in April 2001 by Buwon Food, who claimed copyright to the name. This led to strong opposition from Hongcho Buldak and other leading ''buldak'' restaurants, who claimed that the term had been used as a common noun. On 30 April 2008, the Patent Court of Korea agreed that term was generalized and ''buldak'' became free for public use. Although the popularity of ''buldak'' has declined in recent years in South Korea, the dish has led to the development of other successful dishes inspired by it, such as ''buldak''-flavored instant noodles by

Samyang Food Samyang Foods Co., Ltd. is an international South Korean food manufacturer and the first instant ramen company in South Korea. Samyang Food was founded on September 15, 1961 by Jeon Jung Yoon. In 1963, Samyang Food debuted the first Korean insta ...

Preparation and serving

''Buldak'' can be grilled or deep-fried using bite-sized chicken pieces, and is served with a spicy sauce usually including ''

gochugaru Korean chili peppers or Korean hot peppers, also known as Korean red, Korean dark green, or Korean long green peppers according to color (ripening stages), are medium-sized chili peppers of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. The chili pepper is long ...

'' (chili powder),

gochujang ''Gochujang'' (, from Korean: , ) or red chili paste * is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. It is made from gochu-garu (chili powder), glutinous rice, ''meju'' (fermented soybean) powder, ''yeotgireum'' ...

(chili paste), soy sauce, ''

jocheong ''Cheong'' () is a name for various sweetened foods in the form of syrups, marmalades, and fruit preserves. In Korean cuisine, ''cheong'' is used as a tea base, as a honey-or-sugar-substitute in cooking, as a condiment, and also as an alternativ ...

'' (starch syrup), garlic, and ginger. Chili powder made from

Cheongyang chili pepper The Cheongyang chili pepper ( ko, 청양고추) is a medium-sized chili cultivar of the species ''Capsicum annuum'', with intensity of 10,000 Scoville heat units. Cheongyang chili peppers look similar to regular Korean chili peppers, but are man ...

is preferred as it is spicier than regular chili powder used in Korean recipes. Sliced ''

garae-tteok ''Garae-tteok'' () is a long, cylindrical ''tteok'' (rice cake) made with non-glutinous rice flour. Grilled ''garae-tteok'' is sometimes sold as street food. Thinly (and usually diagonally) sliced ''garae-tteok'' is used for making ''tteokguk'' ( ...

'' (rice cakes) and melted

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

are common additions to the dish. Mild side dishes such as ''

gyeran-jjim ''Gyeran-jjim'' (), ''Dalgyal-jjim'' () or steamed eggs is a type of ''jjim'', Korean steamed dish. * It is a custardy, casserole-like ''banchan'' (side dish), often seasoned with ''saeu-jeot'' (salted shrimp) or ''myeongnan-jeot'' (salted polloc ...

'' (steamed eggs) or boiled ''

nurungji Scorched rice, also known as crunchy rice, is a thin crust of slightly browned rice at the bottom of the cooking pot. It is produced during the cooking of rice over direct heat from a flame. Varieties Cape Verde In Cape Verdean Creole, the bu ...

'' (scorched rice) are often served with ''buldak'' to help counteract the spiciness. The dish is usually accompanied with an alcoholic beverage such as beer.

References

{{Chicken dishes, state=collapsed South Korean chicken dishes

History

Preparation and serving

See also

References