Osam-bulgogi

Squid and pork belly cooked together in a spicy gochujang sauce — an unlikely combination that has become a beloved Korean fusion classic.

Osam-bulgogi combines 'o' from ojingeo (squid) and 'sam' from samgyeopsal (pork belly) with 'bulgogi' indicating a stir-grilled preparation, and the dish's name tells its entire story in three characters — an improbable surf-and-turf combination that somehow achieves a harmony greater than its parts. The dish is thought to have originated in Daejeon in the 1990s, where a restaurant owner experimented with combining the leftover proteins from two different dishes and discovered that the squid's oceanic brininess and the pork belly's fat worked in remarkable synergy with a bold gochujang-based sauce. The squid cooks quickly and absorbs the spicy sauce, while the pork belly renders its fat into the pan, creating a cooking medium that simultaneously braises and glazes everything in contact with it. Daejeon has since claimed the dish as a regional speciality, and the Daejeon osam-bulgogi experience — eating at a restaurant near the central market — is listed in Korean food travel guides as a must-do. The dish spread nationally in the 2000s through television food programmes that featured its creation story and unusual combination, and today it appears on Korean pub menus from Busan to Seoul. Koreans say the dish represents the improvisational creativity of Korean home cooking taken to its logical extreme.