Extra Crispy Fried Chicken!! 🍗 STREET FOOD KOREA + My New Favorite Korean Food!

This is for sure the spiciest Korean dish I've ever had. Today we're continuing with our ultimate Korean food road trip. Mmm, that is so crispy. After breakfast in Gwangju, we'll continue to a legendary restaurant known for their hay barbecue, where they literally light your meat on fire. Wow, that's amazing. What a process. Another Korean pyromaniac food. Oh, that's so good. That's so many flavors going on in your mouth all at once. And then we'll be driving to Masan to meet the queen of monkfish. Considered the most ugly fish in Korea and making it one of the most feistiest dishes you can possibly imagine. And to taste what just might be my new favorite Korean food. We are beginning at the Yangdong Market. This is one of the biggest markets in this entire region of South Korea. And although we passed a lot of fresh seafood that looks incredible, and I'm sure there's many restaurants where you can eat seafood, one of the most popular things to eat at the market is not seafood at all. And we're going there now. Oh, this market is huge. It's like a whole just indoor covered city. Oh, I can smell the aroma. Look at these massive bags of dried chilies. Oh, one of the most important ingredients in Korean cuisine. Oh, man, they're so fragrant, they're so aromatic. There's so many bags. That's millions of chilies. Oh, man, they have all the walks going full of oil. The aroma of the fried chicken fills this entire lane. And this place that we're going to, it's legendary. It's been featured in so many TV shows. So many celebrities have visited. But they're legendary for their whole fried chicken, Korean fried chicken. Oh, veggie powder, magic powder, okay, magic powder. So the first step is, of course, the raw chicken and making the batter. And they make it by the batch. It's approximately, I think, one full chicken. And they make, they don't have like this master giant batter. She mixes up the batter for every batch of chicken. And they said that they have this magic powder, which is the seasoning, which includes a variety of different things. That's their secret seasoning that cannot be replicated, that you can only get here. So that's definitely one of the secrets, what makes their Korean fried chicken different from anywhere else. So they're just continuously frying chicken. And they have a real strategy down. And apparently, they used to, formerly, they used to deep fry the entire chicken and then chop it up for you. But now, because the demand is so high, because they serve so much, the chicken already comes pre-chopped. It's chopped up already. It's battered. They put on quite a, it's quite a heavy batter, actually, quite a thick, sticky batter. And then that goes into the hot oil. They kind of just spread it out throughout the oil. And then they really like make sure each piece doesn't stick together, making sure that oil is perfectly hot. And then they just monitor it perfectly until it's golden brown, crispy. That smells incredible. That's like serious amounts of just clouds, puffs of hot steam oil coming at you, fried chicken oil. And they even test it with this huge knife, tested to make sure the chicken is perfectly cooked on the inside. Not overcooked, still remaining juicy, but cooked all the way through. They even do a little bit of a moving from one pan to the next, kind of for that double deep fry. So actually, I was wondering, and you might be wondering, what is different about this style of fried chicken at the Yangdong market? And one of the secrets, or one of the reasons it's different from any other fried chicken in Korea, is that they use pure cottonseed oil for deep frying. They're just lining up the fried chicken orders. The lunchtime rush, boxes, boxes of chicken. Oh, that's so crispy. You can hear it as it hits that stainless steel. Here comes the sauce. Oh, wow, that's a lot of sauce. Okay. Oh, the flip. Oh, that was amazing. Thank you. Okay. That is a huge plate of fried chicken, yeah. Wow. So we got two different versions. One is just their classic, original, deep fried chicken, no sauce added. It's so crispy. And then the second is mixed with the sweet, salty gochujang chili sauce. And so they just toss that, actually a lot of sticky sauce, toss it. It's fully coated. Sprinkle it with sesame seeds onto the plate, ready to go. Can't wait to try it both, but we gotta start with the original. I'm just gonna grab this piece. Sometimes you, it's almost unidentifiable pieces because there's heavy batter on it. There's the whole parts of the chicken, actually, but it's all just chopped up already. I think this is maybe from the chicken breast or so. Let's try it. First bite. Man, you can just feel it in your fingers how crispy it is. Okay, here we go, first bite. Feels like it's still boiling in the oil. It's so hot and fresh. And it's so crispy. Yeah, because of that heavy batter, the magic seasoning. It's so crispy, so perfectly golden. And you could see them as they were frying it. They were so particular in the way they fry it and the length in which they fry it. No batch is the same, no chicken is the same. And so they really tested it to see if it's done or not. Make sure it's juicy at its juicy prime without being overcooked. The chicken remains, yeah, very moist on the inside, even though this is the chicken breast. And something you'll notice is that the batter is actually not that salty. I think that's because they provide you salt on the side. They provide you some sauce on the side, even for the original version. For this one, I'll dip in the salt a little bit. Oh yeah. With the salt, brings out the flavor even more. And let's try the sauce. I'm not sure if this might be the same sauce that they tossed the chicken in, just on the side for dipping. Kind of sweet. Definitely tastes sesame and garlic, I think. And amazingly, their method of frying, keeping the oil at the perfect temperature and using the congeed oil, the chicken itself doesn't absorb the oil. It doesn't feel that greasy. And then also, usually when you eat chicken in Korea, you'll get radish, pickled radish. And that's just plain pickled radish. Kind of sweet, kind of sour, acidic, crispy, refreshing. Totally contrasts the oil of the chicken. Let's try the next version. Tossed in the sauce. Man, you can almost, you can kind of just like, you don't even totally know what type of piece you're gonna get, because there's so much batter and crispiness and friedness. This might be a wing, possibly. Even though the chicken has been tossed in that sauce, it still remains crispy. That's incredible how crispy it remains. Oh yeah. Sweet, sesame, garlicky, and still crispy. That sauce is so sticky as well. Oh yeah, that's good. I guess when you compare the two, I'd probably go for the original, because then you can control the amount of sauce. That's an insane amount of sauce on that tossed one. But both good, you can't go wrong. I think my favorite combination, just the original with salt, chasing it with the daikon radish. Oh yeah. Because that crispiness really shines when you have that original one. It's definitely extremely tasty. Moving in for, we've got the chicken wing. Oh man, it really is some of the crispiest chicken you'll ever have. That batter, the perfect way that they fry it. So crispy. And I thought, I was thinking it might be heavy on the batter. Actually, it doesn't taste heavy on the batter. The way they mix it with egg, maybe because of the egg lightens it up, makes it fluffy and airy. It's not thick batter, even though it looked thick when they were frying it. It just goes down. Huge boxes. And Koreans really do have it totally figured out. When you eat something heavy, oily, greasy, you counterbalance that with something fermented, refreshing, fresh, like pickled daikon radish. I mean, that combination is, it just works so well. I saw people parking their car over here, sprinting to the corner to get their takeaway fried chicken, and then sprinting back. So that just goes to show how famous, how extremely popular it is locally. From here, we're gonna continue this food tour today, and it's about an hour drive to the next place, which is gonna be something totally unique, something I've really been looking forward to, a style of Korean barbecue. Here we are in the south of South Korea. The area is called Muan, and we're along a road which is called Mongtan, which is quite legendary, because this is the number one place that's known for hay barbecue, Korean barbecue. So they grill pieces of pork belly over hay, roasting them, giving it a unique fragrance and a scorched aroma. What a place, and you absolutely gotta love that mural on the wall outside of the smokehouse. This is where it happens. And a lot of Korean media has been here, TV stations, celebrities. The original hay barbecue. Okay, so the pork goes in a grill. The hay is lit on fire, and it burns so hot. Oh, that's why it, I mean, that's the benefit of the hay is it burns so incredibly hot. You can literally instantaneously hear the crackle. Look at that blaze. Oh, wow, that's on, literally it's pork on fire. Man, that's an insane amount of heat. Wow, and the aroma that comes off of it, it takes less than 50 seconds to cook, and you just immediately hear that crackle, all of that pork belly just sizzling over that insanely hot heat. Wow, that's amazing, what a process. Another Korean pyromaniac food. Wow, that is a hot fire. Wow, I'm ready. Yeah, the heat coming off of that fire feels like we're coming out of a mine here. Kamsahamnida, props to the chef. That's just, it sizzles so fast, cooks so fast. Oh, that's like instant pork. Okay, we're gonna run to the dining room to eat. I cannot wait to try it. Mm, that is crispy, smoky, completely melts in your mouth. The fat has just rendered and just reacted with that flame to create this sensational smokiness in your mouth. Mm, oh, that's so good, and the fat just melts in your mouth. Okay, and then they actually have a certain strategy and method to eat it, the style of eating. So you'll see there's no rice on the table, and that's because the next round is supposed to include rice. So the first round is supposed to include the pork belly with all of the different banchan wrapped in lettuce. So I'll take a piece of the lettuce, and they do have some combinations written on the wall for you to try. They specifically want you to try the pork belly dipped into their special patty crab sauce. Oh, it's kind of thick. Put into the lettuce. Then you add some of the onion kimchi to the bite, and that's the combination that they recommend, one of the combinations they recommend. Mm, oh, wow, that brings out the flavor potential. That onion is so juicy, and the incredible smokiness of the pork belly, and then that sauce definitely has this fermented, seafood-y, crab-y flavor to it, but that contrast also adds a saltiness that adds to, complements everything, and the acidity of the onion kimchi. Oh, what a combination. Oh, that's so good. That's so many flavors going on in your mouth all at once. I'll do another piece of pork belly into the lettuce, and I'll do another classic. It's all slippery. Garlic into the bean paste, onto the, and this is like just the classic wrap combination combo bite. Stuff it all in. The umami of the fermented bean paste, the harshness of the garlic. Again, a tender, smoky pork belly, and then you can chase that with some of the banchan, some of the kimchi. Mm, to add that acidity, but it's so good. It's such a unique process of cooking, and that makes it even more tasty, more fun, and just entertaining. I gotta say, their time-proven combination recipe that's written on the wall with that crab paste, with that onion kimchi, that is the best combination, and a combination that's unique. I mean, yeah, they make it. They know what they're doing. They know the right combination. That is the greatest combination. Mm, mm. Oh, yeah. I also have some green chilies under the basket, which I just noticed. Let's give this a try. Mm. Really crisp. Mm, really refreshing. Next tray. Kamsahamnida. Okay, here's the bibimbap. Oh, with the egg. Oh, and with soup, too. So, there's egg. Oh, you can see there's also that crab paste within the bibimbap. There's seaweed, there's bean sprouts, there's lettuce and kimchi. Oh, you smell the sesame seeds, the sesame oil. Let's mix it up with the yolk rice on the bottom. Fully, fully bibimit. Mix it with crab paste, seaweed. Oh, that's a wonderful, chunky mixture. Beautiful. All the stringly, all the, yeah, the stringly bean sprouts, radish, all that aroma of the crab paste, too. It's one of their signatures here. Grab a piece of lettuce, piece of the pork belly, fully glistening. Dip it into the crab paste. Into your lettuce, a piece of the onion kimchi on top of the pork. And, things could not get better, a dollop spoon of the bibimbap into your lettuce. And, by the way, it absolutely has to be mandatory eaten in one bite. Mm. And taste of the chili. Mm. Oh, yeah. Oh, man. There's so much going on. I love it with that warm rice. The fragrance of that crab paste. And even with 20 ingredients in your mouth at once, you still taste the smokiness of the pork. And it just liquefies on your tongue. That is extremely tasty. Another just excelling, genius combination. And then we got a soup with some, I think fermented soybeans as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, that soup is fantastic. Like miso. Really salty, really fragrant. That fermented taste to it. So, lettuce, pork belly, dip, clove of garlic. Gotta add a garlic to the mix as well. I think I'll go regular kimchi this time. And bibimbap. Mm. You have to fully extend your jaw to fit that many things in your mouth at once. And it's so worth it. Oh, yeah. That's so good. And I love this place. I mean, we're in the middle of the countryside. This is just a dish that you can tell as a result of creativity from a farm. Burning the dry hay, rice hay, and just being resourceful, and using that as a vessel for grilling fresh pork. And it works so well. It's so tasty. That was tasty. There's no doubt. This is a gem of Korean food in the countryside. Well worth making the effort and the journey to get here. Just a quick update on this ultimate South Korean road trip. We started in Seoul. We made our way down the west coast. We are now in the very southwest corner of South Korea. And from here, we are gonna continue with this road trip on to the east. And we're driving to the east. We're on our way to a place called Masan, which is just outside of Busan for the next food where they invented something very special. Oh, welcome to a place called Masan. And we're about an hour outside of Busan, which is the biggest city, one of the major cities of South Korea. But we specifically came to this city to eat a dish that originated right here. You'll find it across Korea, but it's from right here. And they make it from one of the oddest, most bizarre fish on earth. We found the whole monkfish. I mean, it literally is just like a, almost like a piece of blubber with eyes coming out of it. Those teeth, that tongue. And I believe that in the markets in Korea, they sell it upside down so that you can see the liver because the liver is the most prized part of the entire fish. It's the delicacy. This is a really cool restaurant, family-run restaurant. Very homely feeling. You take off your shoes to come inside. I love the restaurants in Korea when you take off your shoes. That just automatically adds another level of homeliness. This restaurant is specifically a monkfish restaurant, and they're known for a dish called agujjim, which is a preparation of monkfish originating right here in Masan. And this is gonna be my first time to ever see the dish. We're gonna have a chance to watch them as they prepare it in the kitchen. But in our room here, they have some aprons hanging up. I guess things might get messy. So we're in the kitchen. We're gonna see some of the cooking process with Andy, who is hilarious. This dish has a really unique story because in Korea, it is known, the monkfish is known to be one of the most ugly fish in all of Korea. And so it was actually not really eaten that frequently for many, many years until the 1940s. But then in the 1940s, during tough economic times, the fishermen had monkfish, and they wanted to make something tasty with such an ugly fish. And so they brought it to nearby restaurants in this area of Masan, and they were able to create this dish, agujjim, as well as some other similar dishes, one fermenting the fish and aging the fish for 15 to 30 days, and another with the fresh fish. And they were able to create something extremely tasty, which has now become a delicacy, even though it's made with Korea's ugliest fish, and also made with a fish that was avoided for so many years. It has a really unique history. And this is such a cool kitchen. All the pots are boiling. Okay, okay. Okay. It's an amazing amount of bean sprouts go in. All the seasoning powders. Bulgogi? The bulgogi version? Agujjim. Oh, this one is the agujjim. This is bulgogi, okay. Man, I love her cooking style. She just flies around the kitchen, darts around, tossing ingredients in masterfully. Just knows the recipes by heart. She's so cool. She's the coolest Korean anti-chef ever. Oh man, and she just like, yeah, just like chucking ingredients in, no measurements. And every pot has a specific dish purpose. So she made, the agujjim is made in this red caramelized pot. The boiling pots for the steaming, and the steaming and the boiling, and then this pot is for the bulgogi, the bulgogi with the monkfish. And so for the agujjim, it includes all these seasoning powders, which she mixes up in that caramelized pot with chili. There's a little bit of what looks like a starch or a flour, and a bunch of seasoning secret powders that she uses, mixes that up with some scallions, with some other herbs. Then the boiled monkfish, which she boils for probably 15 minutes or so, and plus that small mountain of bean sprouts. Then she just tosses that up, mixes it on a low heat, and that's the main agujjim, the main dish. It's a gigantic monkfish feast. We got three different dishes, and so many different side dishes, so many different banchan, so many different combinations. This is, it's all about the monkfish here. We're gonna start with the, this is the original, the classic, the saeng agujjim. And it has the monkfish in it, plus a small mountain of bean sprouts, some of the longest bean sprouts I've ever seen in my life. And all these incredible sauce, look at that. It's so thick and rich. Okay, let's dish some out. Yeah, like that. Let me make sure I get some pieces of the monkfish. Okay, let's start with this piece of monkfish. I got a nice nugget of the monkfish for my first bite. I can't wait. This is my first time to ever try this dish. Oh, wow. Oh, that's incredible. The meat of the monkfish is so meaty. Almost, I mean, you could almost think that it's chicken, like a really soft, fluffy chicken. And then oftentimes when you get this red sauce, it can be kind of on the sweeter side sometimes. This one is not, it's not sweet. It's just salty, a little bit spicy, and just magnifies the spongy fluffiness of that monkfish. Okay, let's try the bean sprouts. Mm-hmm. The tangly bean sprouts, a little bit chewy. And again, they're some of the longest bean sprouts I think I've ever seen in my life. They're so, oh man, what a dish. I mean, from the moment I saw her in the kitchen, I knew you could trust her with all of your monkfish needs and desires. For the next version, we need to dish out some soup. This is the broth with more bean sprouts, with scallions, with seaweed. This is the broth from the bones. And they said this definitely goes together with the steamed version. They also said to eat it with soy sauce and wasabi. Get some bright green wasabi. This is the steamed monkfish. I'm gonna take one of these center consoles that's from the tail. The meat, look at the amount of meat, the thickness of the meat. Dip it into the wasabi soy sauce. Oh, mm, oh, I mean, I think I was expecting it to be a little bit chewier, but this is just melt-in-your-mouth tender. It's such a hearty fish. There's so much meat, and yeah, the texture is incredible. It's not chewy at all. This is steamed. I think all she added was the bean sprouts when she steamed it to give it that fragrance, and then some, looks like some celery on top, and then sprinkled it with sesame seeds, but it's not altered the flavor. The flavor is so neutral of the fish, and you just dab on a little bit of wasabi and soy sauce. Oh, that's clean. Oh, that's tender. Taking one of the most ugly fish, considered the most ugly fish in Korea, and making it one of the most tastiest dishes you can possibly imagine. And then you're supposed to chase that with some of that broth. Oh, that's very light, plain, but fragrant. Oh, I love the sesame seeds in there. A little bit of a, I mean, those crunchy scallions, and a little bit of a, just a not too salty, just, again, clean, like the fish itself. Okay, next up for the organs. She added, added in all the organs. I think this one is the liver, monkfish liver. Oh, one of the ultimate delicacies. And for the organs, you should dip it into this sauce, which is a mixture of gochujang and vinegar. Oh, wow. That just completely melts in your mouth. Mm, so clean tasting, so pure, so just completely dissolves on your tongue. Oh, that's good. Again, we have the third dish that's made from the monkfish. Okay, this one is the bulgogi, again, with big nuggets of monkfish, all the gochujang, all the sauces, scallions, onions, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and more bean sprouts. Oh, you can already feel how tender it is just in your, in the tongs. Okay, let's give this a, oh, mm, oh, wow. Dish after dish, so good. This one, you really do taste the gochujang flavor, that kind of fermented pepper paste aroma, the sesame seeds. Again, the fish just melts in your mouth. And I mean, she knows exactly what she's doing. She boils it or steams it for at least 15 minutes, 20 minutes to get it to that texture, to get it to that tenderness. Knows exactly what she's doing. She could cook with her eyes closed. And that, that bulgogi is amazing as well. I mean, they're all pretty good. All three total different preparations just highlighting this unique and bizarre delicacy. Okay, we got some rice now to eat this along with the rice. Sop up all of the sauce, so much sauce, so many bean sprouts. Those are some of the best bean sprouts you'll ever have as well. The texture. The length. An overdose of monkfish. One of the banchan side dishes of the day is a Korean pancake, scallion pancake with the chili that we're frying in the back. Oh, this looks so good. I'll dip it in some soy sauce. Oh, little pieces of octopus in there, or squid. Plus lots of scallions. Put more of this onto the, with the rice, it's so good. That spicy, spicy sauce and all the different textures. Out of all three dishes, they're all incredible. But I do like that, that original, the agujjim with that chili pepper, with those bean sprouts. What a dish. What a transformation of such a strange creature into something so tasty and delicious and addictive. How's the agujjim? Agujjim? It's great. It's too spicy for me. Yes? Yeah, it is pretty actually spicy. This, this agujjim, the main dish, it looks like so many other Korean dishes with the pepper paste, but it has such a stronger flavor, spicier. Oh, it's just incredible. And she even, she even added in a little bit of starch or flour to thicken that sauce. So that sauce is almost like really hearty, almost even the sauce is filling and it just sticks, clings to everything. Man, that's so tasty. The combination, those bean sprouts are incredible. Oh man, this has now become one of my favorite, my new favorite Korean dishes. I can't believe I've never had this one before. My first time, I'm, I'm in love with it. Oh, what a dish. And as you keep slurping down those bean sprouts, it's like, and the thickness of that sauce, I think just coating it in chili starts to warm you. This is for sure the spiciest Korean dish I've ever had. Oh man, it is incredible. And the level of spice is just perfect. It's that kind of spice that just keeps on kind of building slowly as you keep on eating, just making it even more and more addictive as you keep on eating. But yeah, I'm definitely sweating. That was my very first experience eating agujjim and it has just rocketed to one of my favorite Korean foods. That was outstanding. So flavorful, so tasty, spicy, and Auntie making it, she's just the queen of agujjim, of monkfish. She is a legend, so cool. What a meal, what a spot, highly recommend it. And you can eat this dish all over Korea. I know for sure you can find it in Seoul, but just coming to the location where it originates, where it's the most popular, where it came from, gives it even more meaning. And so what a day it's been from smoky fire, pork on fire, to spicy agujjim. It's been another incredible day. Tomorrow, we continue on to Busan, where we will continue with an ultimate food tour of Busan, eating a lot of seafood, which you're not gonna wanna miss. I wanna say a huge thank you also to the Korea Tourism Organization for arranging my entire trip here. And I wanna say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you. And if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. Good night from Masan. I'll see you on the next video. Ciao.