Tongyeong Kkulppang

Kkulppang grew out of postwar Tongyeong, where in the warm southern climate a sweet that kept well became a practical snack for boatmen, said to date to around 1959 at the Saeteo market. Its most famous maker, Omisa Kkulppang, traces its start to about 1963, when a baker, the late Jeong Won-seok, fried the buns from rationed flour and sold them from a stall in front of his house; honey was scarce and costly, so he coated them in rice syrup (mullyeot) instead, and because the syrup looked and tasted as sweet and glossy as honey, the snack came to be called kkulppang. The Omisa name itself was borrowed by local schoolgirls from a laundry next door, and the shop later registered it as its name. The defining form, a fried red-bean bun glazed in syrup and sesame, has stayed constant.

A thin, crisp fried shell gives way to soft, slightly chewy dough and a smooth, sweet red-bean center, all wrapped in a sticky, glossy syrup glaze and the nutty crunch of sesame. It is sweet and rich without being cloying, the warm bean filling and the toasty sesame keeping it grounded; best eaten fresh while the outside still has snap.

Frying sets the texture: hot oil quickly cooks and crisps the dough's exterior through the Maillard reaction while the inside steams soft, giving the crunch-then-pillow contrast. The rice syrup glaze, brushed or rolled on while the buns are still warm, clings as a thin sweet lacquer and, being a sticky sugar syrup, both sweetens and seals the surface, which slows staling and helped the original snack keep in Tongyeong's warm climate. Sesame seeds adhere to the tacky glaze and add aroma and a final crisp bite.