no prob Tex, it's a regional dish.....here's an article I wrote a few years ago about it..
Doesn't sound too good at first, does it? I mean, the chicken part does, but what the heck is a bog?
In Loris, South Carolina, near the North Carolina state line, there is an annual Chicken Bog Festival.
Loris is a small southern town, and if you go, don't expect the World's Fair. What you will find is good Southern people making huge pots of chicken, rice, and sausage, from recipes handed down through generations.
And of course, there is disagreement over the precise recipe. Some use bacon instead of sausage, and the types of sausage used is also a point of debate. And don't even ask which type of rice to use!
Following is a basic recipe, followed by some chicken bog lore.
Chicken Bog
1 whole fryer chicken
1 cup rice (anything but instant..I use white long grain)
sliced kielbasa or spicy Italian, or Polish
chopped onion and celery
1/2 stick of butter
1 bay leaf
4 cubes chicken bouillon
salt
pepper
Boil the chicken, celery, onions, bay leaf, salt and pepper together until the chicken meat falls from the bone. The amount of each ingrediant is up to you, but I use 2 large onions for each chicken, and just a little
(maybe 3 stalks) of celery.
Drain broth and set it aside. Sautee sliced kielbasa and set aside. Remove any skin from chicken pieces. Add 1 cup chicken broth for each cup of rice. Add the rest of the ingrediants and bring to a low boil, then turn down to a low simmer and cover for 25 to 30 minutes. Turn heat off and cover pot with tin foil, then put lid back on pot and let sit for 30 minutes.
Now, here's a list of ingrediants that I've seen others use in their bogs...if it sounds good to you, try it!
Bacon...fry and sautee the onions in the grease. Add the crumbled bacon to the rice during the last
15 minutes.
Chicken Broth...can be added to your homemade broth or
just use it as the base and add your chicken meat.
Tomatos...peeled and chopped. I've personally never had it like this.
Lemon Juice
Worcestshire Sauce
Nutmeg
Green Pepper
Chicken seasoning
Lemon pepper
Carrots
Parsley.
Now a little history about this dish which is almost unknown even in the Western Carolinas. Chicken bog is a traditional dish that is often used to serve large crowds, and it dates back to before the Civil War.
I was told one rumour about a Yankee soldier who switched uniforms because he like it so much! A good bog is like a juicier pilau, which the sniffy Charlestonians like to call it. There are differences, however. Properly cooked bog should be moist, not fluffy. The grains of rice should not stick together,
although like everything, that is a matter of taste.
The bog will dry out quickly in many settings, because it's often prepared in large, open pots, even huge washpots in the old days. For this reason, I think,
the "bog" was kept wetter, and thus the tradition began.
I also read one story of bog that claimed the tradition started at tobacco barns and warehouses.
This is likely, since barbecue itself was often served at functions like these. Bog can stand alone, but makes a great side dish for barbecue. It's real roots probably lie as a stand alone dish because it was affordable, fairly easy to make in large quantities,
and just about everyone loved it. Rice and chicken
were among the most common foods after the Civil War, when Southerners had to learn to make the most our of what little they had.
I consider it Southern comfort food. As winter sets in, there's nothing like a steaming bowl of bog. The recipe above is primarily a coastal Carolina version.
Back towards the Pee Dee and midlands of South Carolina, you'll sometimes find it served without the sausage, and with bacon crumbled on top. I prefer the slices of sausage, a great compliment to the chicken, "bogged" down in the seasoned rice. I also like to douse mine
with hot sauce. Anyway you like it, chicken bog is
a tradition in the eastern Carolinas.
