Korean fried chicken lives or dies on the crust: twice-fried, shatteringly crisp, and sauced at the very last second so it stays that way. That last-second rule is also the dosing rule. Nothing dosed goes in the fryer — the oil is too hot, the crust is too precious, and a dosed fryer is a fryer you can never cook clean in again. The chicken fries clean, twice. The dose lives in the yangnyeom glaze, whisked in off the heat, tossed at the table, counted per piece.
🔥 Decarboxylation: Wake the Flower Up First
Raw flower will not do the job — the THC is still wearing its acid jacket as THCA, and heat is what takes it off. So before anything gets infused, the flower gets activated:
- Decarb: 3.5g flower, broken up by hand (never ground to dust), spread on a parchment-lined sheet pan, covered tightly with foil, baked at 240°F for 40 minutes. Cool completely before opening the foil — the good stuff is in the trapped vapor, and you want it in the jar, not in the kitchen air.
- Why 240°F for 40 minutes: This is the house standard — hot enough to convert THCA to THC reliably, gentle enough to keep the terpene character from boiling off.
🧈 The Infusion: The House Small-Batch Butter
- Method: Melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter with the decarbed 3.5g flower in a small saucepan or double boiler, hold at 160–180°F for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Strain through cheesecloth, squeeze gently, and jar.
- Base: Unsalted butter. Temp: 160–180°F. Time: 2 hours. Yield: About 1/2 cup of dosed butter.
- Dosing math: 3.5g at 20% THC = 3500mg × 0.20 = 700mg THCA × 0.877 = ~614mg THC × 0.75 efficiency ≈ ~460mg THC per 1/2 cup → ~58mg per tablespoon, ~19mg per teaspoon.
- Storage: Fridge 4 weeks, freezer 6 months. Label the jar: strain, date, mg per teaspoon. Keep it far away from the undosed butter.
🍗 The Recipe: Yangnyeom Chicken, Glazed Clean, Dosed at the Toss (4 servings, ~10mg each)
For the chicken (clean):
- 2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup potato starch (or half potato starch, half cornstarch)
- 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Oil for frying (peanut or neutral vegetable oil)
For the yangnyeom glaze (clean, until the last step):
- 3 tbsp gochujang, 2 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 clove garlic (grated)
- 2 tsp dosed butter (~38mg THC total)
- Toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions, for finishing
Method:
- Fry clean, twice. Toss the chicken in the starch and seasonings. Fry at 340°F for 4–5 minutes, rest 5 minutes, then fry again at 375°F for 2–3 minutes until deeply crisp. Drain on a rack. No dose has touched this chicken, and that is the point.
- Build the glaze clean. Simmer the gochujang, ketchup, honey, soy, vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic for 2 minutes until glossy. Take it off the heat completely.
- Dose at the toss. Whisk the 2 teaspoons of dosed butter into the warm (not boiling) glaze until melted and emulsified. This is the only dosed step, and it happens off the heat.
- Toss and count out loud. Toss the chicken in the glaze, plate four equal portions, and say the number: ~10mg per serving. Serve with pickled radish and steamed rice. The rice stays clean — the glaze carries the whole count.
📐 Dosing Math
- Dosed butter: 2 teaspoons ≈ 38mg THC total
- Four servings → ~10mg per serving
- Half a serving → ~5mg — the gentle starting point
- The glaze is the scale. If you double the dosed butter, you double every plate — so measure the teaspoons, not the pour.
🧬 Terpene Pairing
- Primary terpenes: Caryophyllene (warm, peppery, made for gochujang heat), limonene (bright, cuts the sweet glaze), pinene (herbal lift against the fried richness)
- How to use it: The sweet-heat glaze wants a strain with spice and citrus in its profile, not a heavy diesel note — the glaze is already loud, and the strain should harmonize, not shout over it.
- What to avoid: Strong skunk or diesel strains in the butter — at glaze temperature the funk concentrates, and there is nowhere for it to hide under the gochujang.
🌱 Strain Suggestions
- Sour Diesel (Sativa-dominant, ~20% THC) — Caryophyllene, limonene. Citrus-spice energy that stands up to the glaze.
- Girl Scout Cookies (Hybrid, ~21% THC) — Caryophyllene, limonene. Sweet, peppery warmth — a natural glaze companion.
- Jack Herer (Sativa-dominant, ~19% THC) — Pinene, limonene. Herbal brightness that keeps the fried richness from feeling heavy.
📏 Dosage
- Per serving: ~10mg THC — a full, honest serving; respect it
- Half serving: ~5mg — where a first-timer starts
- Onset: 60–90 minutes — the fried coating and the glaze fat carry it steadily
- The gentle rule: Fry clean, glaze last, dose off the heat. The fryer never learns what the glaze knows.
Start with one serving. Wait 90 minutes before even thinking about a second. For adults 21+ only. Consume responsibly and in accordance with local laws.
🍗 Chef Smoke's Yangnyeom Rule: "Crisp is a contract. The fryer keeps it, the glaze breaks it — so the glaze goes on last, the dose goes in off the heat, and every plate gets counted before the first bite. Fry clean, toss once, count out loud."
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