Chicken Bog

The first dish my boys fell in love with when we moved to South Carolina was Chicken Bog.

Chicken Bog is a slickery, spicy dish of protein and carb overload.

When I first saw it, I realized it's just Chicken & Rice. But no...it's really so much more and a little less. First, you notice there is no Campbell's Cream of a (Something) soup there. Second, you notice it has sausage in it.

I did some searching around and found this recipe by Paula Dean. Good stuff. But it's a complete waste of a good stick of butter.

So here is my recipe, with some tweaks:

1 Whole Chicken, skin on (This is why you don't need butter!), cut up

8 Cups water

1 # Sausage, cut into chunks (I use Carolina Pride, but you can use pretty much any sausage you like)

1 Tbsp or so Canola Oil

1# One large onion, halved and cut thin

1 Bay Leaf

2 tsp any seasoning blend you like (I used Penzey's Smoked 4S)

1/2 tsp Red Pepper flakes, optional

2 Cups rice

Black Pepper and Salt, optional

Steps:
1. In a 5 Qt Dutch oven, cook the chicken pieces in the 8 cups of water until done (flesh is all white). Let cool.

2. Drain the chicken, RESERVING THE COOKING LIQUID!

3. Pull the skin off the pieces and discard, pull the chicken off, and break it up to bite-sized pieces.

4. Heat the oil in the Dutch oven until warm, add the sausage pieces and brown, stirring occasionally. Add the onion when the sausage starts to brown, stirring enough to brown all sides and melt the onions down a bit.

5. Add the seasoning and rice, stir to combine, then add the chicken.

6. Add the chicken cooking liquid to the mixture, stir well and bring it to a low boil. Once boiling, turn the heat back to a very low simmer and cover. Cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

7. Adjust the seasoning with pepper and salt, if necessary.

Ready to serve.