A delicious traditional Korean bulgogi recipe with pork and squid

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The wok brushes against the flame and the room is immediately filled with the scent of the East Sea: already salted squid rings shrink next to ribbons of pork belly, all lacquered with a scarlet glaze that crackles and snaps like pine logs. A cloud of gochu-scented steam rises, lightly stinging the eyes and whetting the appetite.

This is Osam Bulgogi, the dish that condenses the dual coastal and alpine identity of Gangwon-do into a single addictive bite. The elastic squid pops with saltiness, the pork belly follows with a creamy fat, and the sauce oscillates between sweetness and heat.

Korean Samgyeopsal Gui on a Wooden Background — This dish can be considered a cousin of the much-appreciated samgyeopsal

In this article, you’ll trace its history born at a market stall, discover the truly essential ingredients, learn the high-heat dance that keeps the squid tender and the pork golden, then find ideas for serving or reinventing it at home. More broadly, it’s an essential of Korean cuisine too often overlooked in our regions.

Roots of Gangwon: when Market Ingenuity Forged a Classic

Walk through the fish market of Gangneung in the late 1960s: you would sense the birth of Osam Bulgogi. At dawn, trawlers unloaded their shimmering catch, while farmers from the hinterland arrived with trays of pork belly, cheaper than luxury beef but just as delicious.

Jeyuk bokkeum on wooden background — Jeyuk bokkeum is also called pork bulgogi

The vendors, mindful of post-war frugality, combined the two proteins in the same fiery stir-fry and offered a hearty plate at a fraction of the price of beef bulgogi. In the frigid highlands of Daegwallyeong, where winter winds whipped cheeks, this reddish pan also served as central heating.

The name spells itself out: O for ojingeo (squid), Sam for samgyeopsal (pork belly) and bulgogi, literally “fire meat”. In short, it’s a bulgogi of pork and squid.

The locals quickly adopted it as the ideal anju, a drinking accompaniment capable of standing up to strong soju. Today, travelers queue along Hwenggye Osam Bulgogi Street, where aluminum foil-covered plates still crackle under mountains of reddish seafood and pork.

The Main Ingredients of Osam Bulgogi

Ingredients for osam bulgogi on wooden background

Authenticity begins with texture. Fresh squid is cleaned until translucent; the mantle is cross-hatched regularly then cut into thin strips of 1 × 5 cm.

These cuts allow the sauce to penetrate deeply and make the squid accordion into a supple chew when heated. The Gangwon pork belly, sliced just over half a centimeter thick, renders just enough fat to soften the squid’s brine without becoming heavy grease. The vegetables remain modest: threads of onion, diagonally cut chives, two or three green chilies, supporting actors who know how to stay in the background.

The sauce is non-negotiable: gochujang made with sun-dried taeyangcho chili for body, gochugaru for punch, soy sauce for saltiness, sugar for shine, minced garlic for bite, a drizzle of sesame oil for aroma and a dash of rice wine to soften any fishy notes. Purists stop there.

Today’s cooks sometimes add oyster sauce, nuoc-mâm or a spoonful of plum extract for layered sweetness, but the goal remains the same: maekomhago dalkomhanssat, that lacquered balance of spicy sweetness that adheres to every groove of the squid and pork.