When I was little, one of my favorite times was when my father would bring home a whole rotisserie chicken. In the old days in Korea, it would come in a brown paper bag, with grease spots slowly growing on the package, foreshadowing the delicious, hot, crispy chicken inside.
When we saw my dad coming up the walkway, I would run and jump in excitement, happy that one again he was bringing home one of my favorite foods.
A little sadly, when I was younger, I always wanted a chicken leg. My mother though, knowing that her three children would fight over the two legs, would rip them off and give one each to my two older brothers. These days though, I can always get a chicken leg!
Also, here in Korea, we have a pickled radish side dish with our chicken. We call it “Moo” which is actually the name of the root. This pickled radish is cut into cubes and comes in a plastic container with the pickling water included. “Moo” is a great compliment to fried chicken as the sour taste helps to offset the greasy flavors of the chicken which can be overwhelming if you eat too much at one time.
With these fond memories, you can imagine my surprise when I was in a convenience store and I saw a brown paper bag that said it was whole rotisserie chicken jelly!
The memories flooded back, as the writing on the package was almost identical to many of the restaurants or trucks that would sell this chicken during my childhood.
The package also had a couple of wonderful little additions! On the one side of the little brown paper bag was a simple map, which was almost always included on the take-out bags from the chicken restaurants.
The other side said that a father should not forget the “Moo”, and luckily for me, the convenience store was also selling a package of marshmallow pickled radishes!
After getting home and I quickly opened the packages.
Inside there were four whole jelly chickens, each individually wrapped.
The “Moo” candy was inside a plastic container just like we still often get from many fried chicken shops today!
I took the four chickens out and prepared a few small meals with a nice glass of cola to go with it.
Then, it was time to eat the chickens! Unlike my childhood, I could definitely get some chicken legs today!
The dark brown chicken was the first one that I ventured to try. Being a little apprehensive at the look of it, as it was not very appealing, I gathered my courage and gave it a go. The texture is not my favorite. The jelly is almost slimy, and much too soft to make it palatable. The flavor of the dark brown chicken jelly is cola. This flavor I liked, as cola jelly is something I have enjoyed in the past. I would give this one an 8 out 10 on flavor.
Up next was the yellow chicken. This one I was more interested in because it looked like the color of a regular lemon jelly candy, so I had a lot more anticipation for this one. The texture was just like the cola chicken, but unfortunately, the flavor was not lemon. In fact, it tasted like a drinkable yogurt that we have here in Korea, called Yakult. It was a little bit sour as well. This flavor I did not enjoy nearly as much as the cola. It was not terrible, but not what you’d expect for a jelly candy. I give this one a 5 out of 10.
The last chicken to try was the flesh colored one. This is the one that looks the worst, as it has the appearance of uncooked chicken, which of course you should never eat! Like the previous two chickens, these two flesh colored ones had the same soft, slightly slimy, texture. Unfortunately, the flavor was, for me, not good. It tasted like a blackstrap molasses! Now these days, black sugar bubble tea is a very popular drink here in Korea and I actually really enjoy a black sugar bubble tea. The difference is, the bubble tea has lots of milk in it to dilute the strong flavor of molasses. These two black sugar jelly chickens were just pure, undiluted flavor. I give these chickens a 2 out of 10. However, if you really love the flavor of molasses, then these two might be the stars for you.
The marshmallow radishes were very delicious! They start out with a light, fruity bubblegum flavor, with just a touch of fizz to them (similar to the Pop Rocks sensation). As you chew through them, the flavor of marshmallow starts to come out, and it makes for a very wonderful and enjoyable snacking experience! These were my favorite of the snacks I tried today!
Overall, this was not a great snacking experience. While there was a nostalgic feeling when I saw the jelly chicken in the store with the marshmallow radishes, the flavors of the jelly as well as the texture were not wonderful to me. I would not buy this again, although I’m sure there are people who would really like the flavors in this snack.