Street Food · 4 of Grills · Four of Grills

Yennal Tongdak

Yennal Tongdak (Old-style Whole Fried Chicken) · 옛날통닭

Difficulty: Medium
Time to plan: 75–85 min
Serves: 3 servings (1마리)
Recipe: 5 steps
Listed places: 2

Food notes and context

This whole-chicken preparation uses a light flour coating. Unlike small fried pieces, an intact bird requires attention to the thickest parts as well as the crisp outer surface.

Check the bird’s size instead of equating “one chicken” with a fixed number of diners. Small additions of salt and pickled radish let you compare skin and meat; be careful of heat when separating the pieces.

Cook this version

Images are AI-generated illustrations, not records of a kitchen test. Follow the written ingredients and steps. Ingredients and substitutions guide

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 23–30 min
Wait: Refrigerated soak 30 min + rest 5 min
Ready in: 75–85 min

Range for a 1 kg chicken. Time alone is not proof of doneness; verify that the thickest breast and thigh hold 75°C/167°F for 1 minute.

Ingredients (3 servings (1마리))

Ingredient	Amount	Substitute abroad
Whole small chicken (about 1 kg)	1 bird	Cornish hen or a small broiler
Milk	2 cups (for soaking)	For gaminess; salted water works
Korean frying mix	1 cup	Flour 2 : starch 1, plus salt and pepper
Salt, pepper, curry powder	1 tsp curry powder (optional)	The secret of the old-days flavor
Frying oil	Generous (1.5 L or more)	Enough to submerge the bird
Pickled radish cubes	On the side	Chicken-mu from Korean grocers
Dipping salt	A little	Salt mixed with pepper

Step by step

1.Dry and soak
Do not rinse the raw chicken. Pat the inside and outside dry with paper towels. The 30-minute milk soak is optional and must be done in the refrigerator. Drain and season thoroughly, including the cavity.
2.Dust the coating
Mix the curry powder into the frying mix and dust the bird thin and even, into every fold of the wings.
3.First fry
For a 1 kg chicken, fry at 160°C/320°F for 20–25 minutes, ladling oil over the top for even cooking. Do not use this time alone as proof that the center is done.
4.Second fry and check
Rest the bird for 5 minutes, then fry again at 180°C/356°F for 3–5 minutes. Without touching bone, check the thickest breast and thigh and verify that the center holds 75°C/167°F for at least 1 minute.
5.Into the paper bag
Drain, then cut into pieces or bag it whole in paper. Serve with pickled radish and dipping salt.

Measurement, doneness and storage references

Make your cooking notes

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Your notes

Places to check when planning a meal

Candidates to investigate for this food. Maps use sourced location records; confirm the current menu, opening and booking directly. This list is not a tasting review or an award certification.

Jinmi Tongdak

Suwon Chicken Street, Gyeonggi

Exact current location is not verified here. Confirm the venue through its official information before planning a visit.

Yongseong Tongdak

Suwon Chicken Street, Gyeonggi

경기도 수원시 팔달구 정조로800번길 15, 지하1~지상1,2층 (팔달로1가)Checked 2026.08.09

Public-record location check, not a live opening-hours guarantee. Confirm with the restaurant before visiting.

Location source 1

Directions Naver Map

The fictional face of this dish

Earth element · a round, full face

While the flashy chicken brands parade past, you quietly guard the cauldron. A warm provider's face, like the heat of a brown paper bag carried home on payday evening.

Upright: The warmth you carry becomes someone's happiest dinner today. Do not go home empty-handed; buy something warm on the way, for that bag is your luck.

Reversed: You have schemed so long about feeding others that your own stomach is empty. Of the two drumsticks, one is yours by right. Serve yourself first today.

The K-Roast take: Grandma's roast

Fictional food metaphors inspired by traditional face-reading, not measurements of your face or personality.

That nose sits plump and lucky: a storehouse face. Generous nostrils gather wealth and dependents. You are yennal-tongdak itself, child: fried, seasoned, every fashion passes by, and you keep feeding the household with one cauldron. No one starves beside you. But since you will be the one treating most nights, mind that wallet.

Those eyes are big and round, and your heart floats right up in them. A rich-feeling face with no talent for hiding. That is the whole chicken, no? Not cut up, not costumed in sauce, served exactly as it is. Your charm is that transparency. But the world holds those who would use those gentle eyes, so open the paper bag for them, never the bank book.

That chin is thick: an easy late life, with the loyalty of those under you. They say the regulars of an old chicken house come in three generations: the boy who came holding his father's hand returns holding his own child's. The affection you are stacking is exactly that kind. No dazzling repayment today? Do not sulk. Your blessings arrive late, with interest.

Half a century of cauldron in the republic of franchise chicken: that is your fate. You did not fail to follow the trends; the trends failed to beat you. Stay warm as that brown paper bag, and live long and toasty.
Grandma's blessing

Table compatibility

Cold draft beer against your fresh-fried skin is a match proven by the whole chicken street. But beside the rice thief ganjang-gejang, you two fight over the lead role until the table turns awkward, so reign each over your own table.