Chicken Bog
Continuing with my Southern/lowcountry-inspired dishes, we have chicken bog. What the heck is it? I’d say its kind of like a southern risotto with much, much less stirring. You end up with creamy rice laced with chicken, mushrooms and sausage (or whatever you want) without having to stand over a stove constantly stirring for 45 minutes!
I had never heard of chicken bog and was actually searching for a pilau/perlow recipe (something I actually did eat in Charleston). Both are rice-based dishes but according to this site, bog is a bit creamier whereas pilau would be more of a soupy rice. The pictures made it look very similar to a risotto, so I added mushrooms (I always sneak in veggies when I can) and reduced the amount of butter (a whole stick, Paula Deen?!). I’m boiling a whole chicken and 1 lb of sausage–I think there’s enough fat rendered so you can probably eliminate the butter entirely.
I have a large ziploc bag I keep in the freezer where I store chicken necks, wings, and other parts left over from roasting chickens or other recipes. When the bag gets full, I boil it up and make a broth. This chicken bog was the perfect way to use up the chicken bag. The bits and pieces of chicken was just the right amount of meat–I suspect I wouldn’t want to put the entire 3 lbs of chicken back into the bog at the end and would set some aside for another use.
Warning: this makes 6-8 servings! I put some in the freezer for another time and am really looking forward to eating this again.
[update] 6/9/13: I’m sure this is Southern food sacrilege, but I was out of white rice so used brown rice instead. Tastes great but the brown rice takes 45 minutes to an hour of low simmer time to cook through. I just put the lid on and gave it a stir every ten minutes until the rice was done. I also used turkey andouille and trumpet mushrooms with the brown rice and it was yummy!
Chicken Bog (adapted from Food Network and Home Ec 101)
- (1) 3 lb. chicken cut into pieces
- 1 lb smoked andouille sausage, sliced and quartered or halved
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2-3 handfuls of sliced mushrooms (to taste)
- pat of butter
- 2 tsp Lawry’s seasoned salt
- 1 tsp ground red pepper
- 2 tsps ground black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 3 bay leaves
- 8 cups water
- 3 cups long-grained white grace (Carolina Gold if you can get it)
- green onions or parsley for garnish
- In a large stockpot, combine chicken, sausage, onions, butter, seasonings, and bay leaves.
- Add water, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a low boil for 40 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the pot and let cool. Pick the meat and discard the bones & skin.
- Add rice and mushrooms to the pot & bring to a boil. Stir well to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom and burning. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer for another 10 minutes or until the rice is done.
- Remove bay leaves and return chicken to the pot.
- Garnish with green onions or parsley and fresh cracked pepper!
Thank you for linking to my friend Andre’s recipe. When I make it, I also omit or drastically reduce the butter.