Jukkumisamgyeopsal: Korean Stir-Fried Small Octopus and Pork Belly (쭈꾸미삼겹살볶음)

Jukkumisamgyeopsal: Red Sauce Fried in Pork Fat, Then Small Octopus

Pork belly goes into the pan first and gives up its fat. Red sauce loosens in that fat, the vegetables follow, and only when the onion turns translucent does the small octopus join them over high heat. Jukkumisamgyeopsal (쭈꾸미삼겹살볶음, also written 주꾸미삼겹살볶음 and known as 쭈삼불고기) joins two words: jukkumi (주꾸미), a small octopus, and samgyeopsal (삼겹살), pork belly.

This recipe uses one formula from a home cook's post on the Korean recipe site 10000recipe, by 춤추는루나. It serves 3, and the post lists a time of within 60 minutes. Its spoon measures are rice spoons (밥숟가락), and they are kept here rather than converted. Sekai Gohan has not kitchen-tested this version, so use the visual cues in the steps along with the amounts.

For more from this cuisine, see Korean recipes on Sekai Gohan.

Ingredients: 3 Servings, Measured with One Spoon

Use the same spoon for every seasoning to keep the proportions steady.

Equipment

• Prep bowl
• Colander
• Kitchen scissors
• Cutting board and knife
• Saucepan
• Small bowl and spoon for the sauce
• Frying pan and spatula
• Clean food thermometer
• Separate utensils for raw and cooked food
• Serving dish

Choosing and Substituting: What Changes When You Swap

Every swap below changes the dish.

Small octopus. Use octopus sold as food at a shop or by mail order, labeled 주꾸미 or, in Japanese, iidako (イイダコ). Frozen and properly thawed is fine. It can be hard to find and expensive. Retail names may not always match the exact species, and this article cannot guarantee the legal status of any product or advise on catching or importing it.

Method: Clean, Blanch, Then Build the Pan in Order

When Something Looks Off in the Pan

Variations: Related Dishes and Where Each One Differs

The Korea Tourism Organization's Japanese-language page on jukkumi-gui also describes small octopus stir-fried with pork belly, scallion and onion, so the combination is not unique to this post. Its quantities are not used here, and neither are the raw, roe or charcoal-grilled versions it mentions.

Background: Table, Region and the Small Octopus Itself

No source we found establishes where jukkumisamgyeopsal began, so this article does not name a birthplace.

The Korea Tourism Organization describes Korean meals built from rice, soup and side dishes, with variety across regions and households. It also describes eating samgyeopsal out, wrapped in leaves with ssamjang. That is general background for Korean food. The recipe here does not require any particular side dish or way of serving.

Incheon's city magazine has featured Manseok-dong's jukkumi alley and a spring shabu-shabu passed down from local restaurant owners. That shows one place's relationship with this octopus, but it does not explain the origin of this stir-fry.

Korea's National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) lists 주꾸미 as Amphioctopus fangsiao. Its species entry marks the octopus under capture control and shows a dash in the separate marine-protected column. A NIFS table gives the Korean seasonal capture restriction as May 11 to August 31. These are not a year-round ban or an endangered listing, and they are not a guide to retail or import law.

In Japan, a Kagawa Prefecture fisheries report describes iidako as an important catch for small bottom trawlers in the Bisan Strait, handled as a seafood item at Takamatsu's central wholesale market. Another prefectural document reports catches at six local fisheries cooperatives falling from about 200 tonnes in 2002 to about 2 tonnes in recent years. It also notes a rise in the Tōsan area from about 1 tonne in 2021 to about 1.9 tonnes in 2024. Its conservation measures are releasing caught octopus and asking anglers to cooperate on fishing seasons and hours. These figures cover one prefecture, not all of Japan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a rice spoon the same as a tablespoon?

Do not assume so. The post's measuring note says 밥숟가락, and spoons differ between households. Use the same spoon for all the seasonings so the proportions hold.

How much sauce goes in at each stage?

The post says 2 spoonfuls with the pork, 2 more with the vegetables, and the rest with the octopus. It does not map those additions exactly onto the total, so this article does not calculate a split.

Can I use a large octopus cut into small pieces?

That would be a different dish. The recipe is built around small jukkumi, and its blanching time is not verified for other species. A small common octopus is possible as an editorial swap, with the differences noted above.

Does the 30-second to 1-minute blanch make the octopus safe?

No. The blanch is a preparation step before the stir-fry. Cook the finished dish thoroughly and check a thick piece of pork as described in step 15.

Can the octopus be served raw, or with the innards left in?

Not in this recipe. It removes the innards, beak and eyes and cooks the octopus thoroughly. It does not cover raw serving.

Is jukkumi endangered or banned?

Do not read the NIFS listing that way. It shows seasonal capture management, with marine-protected status shown separately as a dash. That listing says nothing about any particular product, so buy octopus sold as food. This article gives no legal assurance and no advice on catching or importing it.

Sources