Osam-bulgogi (오삼불고기, Squid and Pork Belly Stir-Fry)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •30 cm wide skillet, cast-iron pan, or Korean tabletop griddle
• •Sharp knife for scoring squid
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Tongs or long cooking chopsticks
• •Spoon for removing excess pork fat

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the squid

   Pat the squid very dry. Lay each body inside-up and score shallow diagonal lines about 5 mm apart, then score the other direction to make a diamond pattern without cutting through. Cut the bodies into 5 by 2.5 cm pieces and separate the tentacles into small clusters. The scoring is not decoration; it makes the squid curl evenly, cook quickly, and hold the sauce instead of sliding around the pan.

   If you buy whole squid, remove the quill, beak, ink sac, and guts, then rinse quickly and dry well. Do not soak it. Water is the enemy of this stir-fry.
2. 2

   Mix the sauce

   Stir together the gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, maesil-cheong or rice syrup, mirin, sugar, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and water. Taste it before it touches the pan. It should be salty, warm with chili, and only lightly sweet. Gochujang already carries sweetness, so the two teaspoons of sugar are enough.

3. 3

   Render the pork

   Lay the pork belly in a wide cold skillet or tabletop griddle, then set it over medium-high heat. Cook 5 to 7 minutes, turning once or twice, until the fat renders, the edges brown, and no raw pink remains. Spoon off excess fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pan. More than that makes the sauce greasy; less than that and the gochujang catches before it can gloss the meat.

4. 4

   Fry the vegetables

   Add the onion, cabbage, carrot, and scallion whites to the pork. Stir-fry 2 minutes, just until the onion begins to bend and the cabbage edges soften. These vegetables go in before the sauce because they need direct contact with the pork fat, and because their sweetness will loosen what browned on the pan.

5. 5

   Cook the sauce

   Pour in the sauce and stir hard for 1 minute, scraping the pan so the sauce darkens and clings to the pork and vegetables. This short frying wakes up the gochujang and takes away the raw paste taste. If the pan looks dry before the squid goes in, add 1 tablespoon water, not more.

6. 6

   Add squid last

   Raise the heat to high. Add the squid, green chili, and scallion greens, then toss constantly for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Stop when the squid turns opaque, the scored pieces curl, and the tentacles firm up. Pork can wait for you. Squid cannot. Cook it past this point and it tightens into rubber.

   If the squid releases too much liquid, lift the pork and squid onto the serving plate, boil the sauce alone for 30 to 60 seconds until it thickens, then pour it over. Do not punish the squid for the sauce's sake.
7. 7

   Finish and serve

   Turn off the heat. Drizzle with the sesame oil, scatter over the sesame seeds, and fold in the torn perilla leaves if using. Serve at once with rice, lettuce, and extra perilla leaves for wrapping. The bottom of the pan should have a spoonable red sauce, not a soup. That last spoonful over rice is part of the dish.

Chef Tips

• •Buy squid that smells clean and faintly of the sea, never sharp or ammoniac. Frozen cleaned squid is an honest weeknight shortcut if you thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and dry it well.
• •Ask for pork belly sliced about 5 mm thick. Thinner shabu-shabu slices overcook before they brown, and thick barbecue slabs make the squid wait. If you have a slab, freeze it 25 minutes before slicing so the knife can do proper work.
• •Do not turn this into a gochujang contest. Three tablespoons are enough for 850g of pork and squid because the sauce should carry both ingredients, not bury them.
• •The safe shortcut is buying cleaned squid and pre-sliced pork belly. The unsafe shortcut is throwing squid and pork into the pan together. The order is the recipe.
• •Leftovers keep 2 days in the refrigerator, but the squid will firm when reheated. Warm leftovers quickly in a skillet with 1 tablespoon water and eat them over rice rather than trying to make them new again.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Stir it before using because the gochugaru thickens as it sits.
• •The squid can be cleaned, scored, cut, and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours. Keep it dry and unsauced until cooking, because salt draws out water.
• •The pork can be sliced 1 day ahead and kept cold. Vegetables can be cut the morning of cooking, but keep scallion greens and perilla leaves separate so they stay fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 470g)