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Chicken Perlo



A Southern specialty, Chicken Perlo refers to a South Carolinian rice dish. Perlo is the low country pronunciation. Other parts of the United States call it rice pilau. I used my cast iron dutch oven to make this in.
1 cut up chicken fryer, skin removed.
1 green bell pepper sliced
1 onion sliced
4 slices of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces.
1 cup white rice
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tbsp. minced parsley
2 Tbsp. oil
Heat oil over medium-high heat in dutch oven or large fry pan. Add chicken pieces and cook about 10 minutes or until golden, turning once. Transfer chicken to plate. Reduce heat to medium and add bacon. Cook for approx. 4 minutes until browned. Remove bacon and discard all but 2 teaspoons bacon fat from pan.
Add onion and green pepper to the same pan and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rice and stir until evenly coated. Stir in bacon, salt, pepper, wine and chicken broth. Return chicken to the same pan or dutch oven. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered for 40 minutes or until rice is soft and chicken is thoroughly cooked.
You can enjoy this as a one dish meal or serve it with a nice salad and warm bread.

17 comments:

  1. This recipe sounds amazing but I don't see how much rice you put in. Thanks.

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  2. I remember hearing about this South Carolinian dish from a novel I read. The recipe looks delicious and easy.

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  3. This looks aboslutely delicious! I think I will try it! Thank you!

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  4. The rice ingredient is missing--could it be about 1 1/2 cups?

    Alice

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  5. Oops...sorry ladies 1 cup rice is what is missing... I suppose it is good to add rice to a rice dish...

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  6. I agree... sounds very good! When do you add the wine? With the broth? (Or am I missing it in the directions?)

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  7. Well ladies, about the wine LOL! You add it when you add the broth. Thanks for reading the recipe more carefully than I did!

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  8. Sounds awesome! Cast iron Dutch ovens are the best!!!!

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  9. This sounds really good, but it doesn't look like the classic South Carolina chicken pilau (pronounced 'perlo').

    I'm from coastal SC, and I don't think many people would put whole chicken pieces in pilau. Usually you boil/stew the chicken first, debone it, and cut up the chicken before making pilau.

    You can also throw in other things - a lot of people add sausage; I usually add chopped carrots and a handful of lima beans.

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  10. I think I'll fix this for supper tonight. I wish I had my mom's old Dutch oven, though.

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  11. Hi Clisby,
    Thanks for filling us in on the more classic version. I looked at a lot of recipes and spellings for perlo, etc. on line and there were many variations for sure. I decided the whole pieces would end up being less dry in the end and that's why I tweaked the recipe. Someone on Facebook talked about her mom adding sausage and that would be tasty, too. Thanks for letting us know about the classic version...

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  12. Wow, this sounds divinely delicious and I wish I had some right now! I'm printing this recipe out for my recipe collection. Thanks Ellen!

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  13. Beautiful photo. Love the china.

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  14. Ellen, I want to try this soon. It looks really good!

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  15. this was really good and simple I cook alot of chicken dice it up and freeze it always have lots of chicken in the freezer this is a very light and easy and quick to fix its nice to have recipes that you have all the supplies on hand its also a nice easy recipe if you are a quilter thanks

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  16. I just made this for supper. My husband and I both enjoyed it and will make it again! It is a keeper!

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  17. A tasty side to this meal is bread and butter pickles. Adds just the right balance!

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