Andong Jjimdak (Soy-Braised Chicken with Glass Noodles)

Many diners assume Andong jjimdak is an heirloom of Andong's aristocratic households. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture says otherwise: it was developed in the late 1980s in the "fried chicken alley" (tongdak golmok) of Andong's old market (gusijang) in North Gyeongsang. In the early-to-mid 1980s, shops there began selling chicken cooked with glass noodles, a few vegetables, chili powder and factory-made soy sauce as stews and braises — a change from the greasiness of fried chicken. By the late 1980s, with more potato, carrot, green onion, onion, cabbage, starch syrup and sugar added, the dish had reached its present form and the name jjimdak. The encyclopedia suggests the name came from the steamed chicken those same shops sold for local ancestral rites.

The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture gives the same chronology, with fried chicken followed in the late 1970s by garlic chicken, then chicken stews and braises in the early 1980s, and today's jjimdak by the late 1980s. The Korean Food Promotion Institute, quoting a curator at the Andong Folk Museum, places the market traders' invention a little earlier, in the late 1970s, and dismisses the story that it came from the wealthy "inner neighborhood" (an-dongne) of Joseon-era Andong.

The dish spread outward in stages. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, it reached Andong's university district in the mid-1990s as a cheap student meal; in October 2000 a young Andong native opened a jjimdak business in Seoul, and in October 2001 a KBS program featured it, setting off a nationwide boom. The encyclopedia links that boom to Andong's traditional, aristocratic image — strengthened by Queen Elizabeth II's 1999 visit — and to mad-cow and other meat scares that pushed diners toward chicken. Around 2004 the alley's shops renamed themselves from tongdak to jjimdak, and the street became "jjimdak alley." In Andong it was a snack, a treat or drinking food; in the capital region it became a full meal. See Andong and traditional markets.

• Protein and vegetables in one pan: chicken provides protein and niacin, while potato, carrot and onion add potassium, fiber and vitamin A (from the carrot).
• A shared dish: the folk encyclopedia stresses it is cooked by the whole chicken and eaten together, which encourages modest individual portions.
• Adjustable: trimming skin and fat, and adding more vegetables in place of some noodles, makes a lighter pan.

• Andong market style (Andong): cooked a whole chicken at a time in a large frying pan over high heat with glass noodles, vegetables and factory soy sauce — braised rather than steamed, despite the name, as the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture points out.
• Capital-region versions (Seoul and Gyeonggi): after 2000 shops outside Andong made it in many different ways; the folk encyclopedia records that Andong cooks felt this muddled the taste and began stressing their original recipe.
• Milder home version: fewer chilies and extra potato and carrot for children.
• Spicy chicken cousins: dak-bokkeumtang uses a red chili-paste sauce instead of soy sauce.