I’m unsure what led me to hunt out fried hen wings lined in cheese powder. Perhaps it’s that my penchant for fried poultry reached so excessive a degree that I wanted to search out the subsequent dimension of hen. Or, it was the universe. A number of new Korean fried hen chains in my fast neighborhood have began pushing cheese-dusted hen. Nevertheless it occurred, I’m hooked.
I used to be first launched to cheese hen at a spot referred to as bb.q Hen, a fast-growing chain of hen retailers that began in Seoul, South Korea, in 1995. There are greater than 3,500 places in 57 international locations, together with greater than 50 eating places in California.
Cheesling hen at bb.q Hen
Cheesling hen from bb.q Hen, a sequence of Korean fried hen eating places in Korea and the US.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Instances)
The corporate is so critical about fried hen that it established Hen College, an academic compound in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, the place new franchise store managers and workers spend two weeks studying recipes and advertising and marketing. There are even plans to show the varsity into an precise instructional heart and theme park open to the general public.
The restaurant’s cheesling hen is coated in a stark white powder comprised of a mix of mascarpone and cheddar cheeses. It clings to the floor of the hen, filling in each nook and groove. There’s sometimes a small pile of extra seasoning in a nook of the serving basket.
The cheddar hits first, then the mascarpone, imparting a candy, buttery richness to the hen.
The quantity of powder and coloration might range relying on the situation, and the way lengthy your hen sits earlier than you eat it. After 10 minutes within the automobile, the powder darkens in coloration, reworking right into a pale yellow paste. Whatever the coloration and texture, it has that very same candy cheese taste that jogs my memory of these twin tubs of cheddar and caramel popcorn.
Although you may order the cheesling on an entire fried hen and bone-in wings, I desire the boneless, for max crevices to entice the powder.
Bburinkle hen at BHC 
Bburinkle hen from BHC restaurant in Koreatown.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Instances)
Bburinkle, a powder that comes with cheddar, blue cheese, onion and garlic, is the bestselling taste on the BHC on the Unique Farmers Market, the primary U.S. location for the Seoul-based hen chain.
“It’s the bestselling flavor by far,” says restaurant supervisor Bobby Shearer. “We went through a period where we had a shortage and it made customers really upset. It’s really the main thing people ask for.”
The powder offers the hen a golden hue, with flecks of inexperienced parsley all through. The dominant taste is savory cheddar, with the slight funk of blue cheese and a zesty kick of onion. It’s a mixture that faucets into the identical serotonin receptors that used to fireside on overdrive when 12-year-old me crushed a bag of bitter cream and onion chips and a Squirt on the varsity yard: equal elements aggressively seasoned and addictive.
The sheer quantity of powder used to coat the hen could seem extreme, however Shearer says that’s the thought.
“We make sure it’s very finely coated and then after we finish tossing it in a bowl, we look for any spots that haven’t gotten cheese powder and then we will sprinkle more on,” he says.
I admire the diligence.
Whereas cheese hen now could be discovered at Korean hen retailers everywhere in the world, BHC was an early adopter of cheese powder-coated hen. In 2013, workers on the firm’s analysis and growth heart in South Korea have been tasked with creating new objects based mostly on client evaluation from common eating places.
The restaurant launched Bburinkle hen in November 2014. Inside two weeks, the flavour accounted for 25% of the model’s whole gross sales. It bought 6.6 million orders within the first yr.
On the Fairfax location, Shearer says folks request to purchase “tubs” of the seasoning. Whereas that’s not an possibility in the mean time, you may ask for a facet of the powder to sprinkle on every part you order.
Cheese and garlic hen at Louders 
The garlic cheese wings from Louders in Koreatown.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Instances)
This perennially busy restaurant in Koreatown has among the most creative hen flavors in all of Los Angeles. Wings lined in shishito peppers and child anchovies and “honey nutty butter” can be found choices.
As an alternative of a cheese powder, the Louders cheese and garlic hen is a kind of garlic Parmesan/mozzarella stick hybrid. Every bone-in wing is blanketed in each Parmesan and melted mozzarella cheese and suffering from chopped garlic and inexperienced onion. Hen wings reimagined as tacky garlic bread.
The place to search out cheese fried hen
bb.q hen, a number of places all through California at bbqchicken.com
BHC hen, 110 S. Fairfax Ave., #A11, Los Angeles, (323) 424-3733, bhcchicken.us
Louders, 3470 W. sixth St., #2A, Los Angeles, (213) 263-9492
