Ojingeo bokkeum — squid stir-fried in a gochujang sauce — exploits the squid's rapid cooking time: the squid must hit the maximum-heat pan, sear for 90 seconds, and be removed before its proteins tighten and make it rubbery. The gochujang sauce is prepared separately and added in the final 30 seconds — sufficient to coat, insufficient to continue cooking the squid.
- **Squid preparation:** Cleaned, scored on the inside surface in a crosshatch pattern (which allows the squid to curl decoratively when cooked and increases the surface area for sauce adhesion), cut into pieces. - **The sauce:** Gochujang, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil — mixed before cooking. - **Maximum heat:** The wok or pan must be at maximum temperature before the squid enters. The protein tightening that makes squid rubbery happens at the same temperatures at which the surface sears — only the fastest possible cooking sears before toughening. - **90-second maximum:** From the moment the squid hits the pan to removal: 60–90 seconds. The sauce coats in the final 20 seconds. - **The vegetables:** Onion and green pepper added before the squid — they require slightly longer cooking and set up the aromatics.
Maangchi