COASTAL NEWS: Chicken Bog anyone?
By Carson Turner, Coastal Carolina University

It seems that every community in the nation boasts of a particular local culinary delicacy. In Chicago it is the deep dish pizza; in Philly it is the cheese-steak. No trip to San Antonio is complete without a bowl of chili and in Cincinnati you can have it "three-ways." Throughout the Carolinas, they argue over whether barbeque pork should be covered with Tabasco, a tomato sauce or mustard, and whether it is best cooked over an open wood fire or on gas. Here in the PeeDee and Coastal region of South Carolina the debate (sometimes very heated) is over chicken bog.

A dish dating back to the time when our area boasted a large rice trade, chicken bog is set into the hearts of many locals. Imagine for a minute a chicken casserole made just a little soggier than most of us would consider; add some sausage or bacon; pepper it and enjoy. Senior Kathy Kee was asked what she thought of the chicken bog recently served at CCU by a campus fraternity and she replied by merely smiling and taking another bite.

Debate begins when you start considering whether to include sausage or bacon. It seems that some pork is required in a real chicken bog but that our friends to the west in Florence County insist that the pork should be bacon while those here in Horry and Georgetown Counties seem to prefer sausage.

Either way, if you are going to live in Horry County for a couple of years you might as well take a taste, and what better place to try it than at the annual Chicken Bog-off in Loris this weekend? Maybe not exactly free but you were going to eat anyway and it is a chance to finally see where Loris is. Even if you do not partake of the chicken and rice offerings, the festival itself is free to attend and they promise some good entertainment.

The Bog-off parade is Friday at 4:30 (free) and Chicken Bog plates are available for $6 on Saturday from 9-5 at the Chicken Bog Festival. Loris is 25 miles west of Myrtle Beach.

Grand Strand Chicken Bog
(Found in the Vertical File of Chapin Library, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)

• 2 1/2 lb. chicken pieces
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 1 1/2 lb. smoked sausage
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 c. long grain rice

Boil chicken and onions in 4 c. water until tender. If desired, debone chicken. Slice sausage in 1/2" pieces, add sausage, pepper and rice to chicken. Simmer until all broth is absorbed and rice is cooked. Serves 8.

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Chicken Bog
A real Southern gourmet delight with a colorful history.
Sandlapper magazine - January, 1968 - By: Edward B. Borden

The dish looks as if the cook went on a binge the night before, but legend has it one Yankee officer liked it so much he switched uniforms. It's called Chicken Bog, and it's a conglomeration of rice spices and chicken, topped with bacon. To Pee Dee natives, the dish is as traditional on Fourth of July and other holidays as barbecue and cole slaw is to the rest of the south.

A distant, but more savory cousin of pilau, Chicken Bog combines the best qualities of both chicken & rice. Cooked properly, the chicken is juicy and tender and piqued with spices. The rice assumes the flavor of the chicken and other ingredients, and in best Southern style, the grains don't stick together. Chicken Bog apparently gets it's name because the "chicken is bogged in rice." An out-of-stater, who now claims South Carolina as her home, however claims it is named so because it is a "boggy, soggy mess." (It's a favorite dish of hers however.)

The recipe is liked by many Palmetto State residents because it is easy to prepare; it can accommodate large crowds (10 or more people); and can be served formally or informally. One Darlington native remembers when men cooked Chicken Bog on the banks of the Pee Dee River in big black iron pots and served it with butter beans, artichoke relish, and tomatoes. "That's all we had on holidays," she recalls, "and it was the best thing ever." Old-timers believe that is probably had its origin years ago at the tobacco barns or warehouses since it was served traditionally at the barn supper, usually held at the season.

A well known cook of this dish is Mrs. M. Chisollm Wallace of Florence's Red Doe Plantation. Mrs. Wallace's recipe has been carefully reproduced here so that this specialty dish can be enjoyed by all sandlappers. She says, "We like it. With a little bit of cole slaw, it's a meal in itself."

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CHICKEN BOG - Serves 10

• 1 5 to 6 lb fat hen
• 1 small onion (about the size of a lemon or smaller
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 stick butter (1/4 lb.), if needed
• 2 lb. long grain white rice (DO NOT GET INSTANT RICE!)
• 1/4 lb bacon
• Salt & Black Pepper

You will need a six quart heavy aluminum pot with top - (Use top while cooking all phases except bacon.)

TO COOK: Put chicken in pit; cover it with hot water (be sure there is enough water so that there will be at least six cups of broth after cooking chicken); bring water to a boil, cut stove down so that water just continues to boil and cook until chicken is very tender (usually at least an hour or more) While chicken is cooking: (1) Slice and chop one and bell pepper into very small pieces (2) Put 4 cups of rice into a bowl and cover with cold water from spigot and let soak When chicken is very tender, take from stove and let cool until you can handle the chicken; take chicken from pot; pull meat from bones in large pieces (do not cut up); discard and fat heavy skin. Pour broth from pot into a bowl (if chicken was very fat and broth is very fat, pour off about 1 cup of fat from broth).

Wash pot; put bacon in pot and cook slowly until bacon is crisp; take bacon from pot and drain; leave bacon grease in pot; put in chopped onion and green pepper and brown slightly; add 6 cups chicken broth to pot; season to taste with salt and pepper (at least a tablespoon of each -- use a heavy hand since rice will absorb salt); cut stove to high and bring broth to a boil; put chicken in pot; drain rice and put rice in pot; put stick of butter in pot; mix well; cut stove to low and cook very slowly for about an hour. Stir as seldom as possible, since stirring makes the rice gooey. When rice is tender and has absorbed the liquids, it is done and can be removed from stove. Serve hot; you can crumble bacon and put on the top of serving or not, depending on taste. Chicken bog can be kept in refrigerator and reheated or it can be frozen and later reheated. On your first try you may have to add salt and pepper at table if you didn't used enough in cooking.