Jagalchi Market · Grilled Hagfish
Ggomjangeo (Grilled Hagfish)
Photo: creepyblues / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Hagfish have no jaw and no scales — they're more closely related to lampreys than to true eels, which is exactly what gives this Busan favorite its uniquely rubbery bite.
Live hagfish, skinned right at the stall, is grilled over charcoal or briquettes — either salted plain or coated in a spicy gochujang glaze — until the flesh turns springy and smoky. An alley of hagfish grill houses near Jagalchi Market has sold it for decades, best eaten with soju.
Why it's made this way: Jagalchi, Korea's largest seafood market, made hagfish cheap and abundant on Busan's docks, and grilling it whole over coals became the classic way locals turned this jawless, scaleless fish into a beloved late-night anju.
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