The story behind Korean fried chicken is salty, spicy, earthy and just a little sweet, the profile of the gochujang, the fermented red chili paste that’s key to these extra-crispy, double fried wings.

I can distinctly remember stumbling into the Kyochon in Koreatown in 2008, a little drunk and very hungry. I was with friends from graduate school and we’d just finished losing our voices at a nearby ...