A taste of the Lowcountry

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Cuisine is defined as a set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture or region. South Carolina’s Lowcountry provides the perfect example of a culinary tradition that incorporates ingredients and methods from Native Americans, British colonists, African slaves, Gullah communities and the modern chefs who interpret old dishes in new ways. 

Narrowing the list of signature Lowcountry dishes to four was a tall order, so, we collaborated with experts and tastemakers along the coast to help us craft this consummate sampling of Lowcountry cuisine. 

Okra Soup 

According to B.J. Dennis, a Charleston chef, caterer, the culinary director of Lowcountry Fresh in Bluffton, and one of the state’s top experts on Gullah and Lowcountry cuisine, okra soup should be at the top of any list of iconic Lowcountry dishes.

“If you were to ask blue-blooded country folks of all backgrounds, they would tell you okra soup,” he says. “It’s signature for us around here.”

A cousin of gumbo, okra soup starts with a meat stock, then it’s loaded with okra, tomatoes, butterbeans, corn and shrimp, and stewed to let the flavors marry. For Dennis, he uses whatever smoked meat he has available, and sometimes opts for a vegetarian version by charring the tomatoes or adding in some Liquid Smoke. He also prefers the smallest shrimp he can find. “I like using the creek shrimp we grew up on,” he says.

Up for debate is whether to prepare the okra in larger chunks so that it maintains its shape, keeping the soup a bit soupier, or whether you prefer more of a saucy stew consistency by cutting the okra into smaller pieces and breaking it down further. Dennis says that there is no right or wrong and that it’s really a personal preference. 

B.J. Dennis’ Okra Soup

SERVES 4–6

½ pound of smoked meat, such as pork or turkey 

2 pounds fresh tomatoes, diced, or one 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

5 cloves garlic

1 hot pepper

1 bay leaf

3 to 4 thyme sprigs

1 pound okra

1 small onion

2 cobs of corn (optional)

½ pound fresh butterbeans, shelled

Salt, to taste

½ pound of shrimp, cleaned

Add smoked meat to the pot with tomato, garlic, hot pepper, bay leaf and thyme. Pour water over meat to just cover. Cook over medium-high heat until meat is tender.

Slice okra into half-inch pieces. Dice onion. Cut each corn cob into four pieces. Add okra, onions, corn and butterbeans to pot; cook until okra is tender, approximately 10–15 minutes.

Salt shrimp and add to pot. Cook shrimp for 2–3 minutes. Salt to taste throughout cooking process. Serve with rice.

Chicken Bog

A list of the Lowcountry’s greatest hits would be remiss without a perloo of some sort. Also known as pirleau, perlo or the original spelling of pilau, perloos represent a multitude of coastal rice dishes. They come in almost 30 varieties like Charleston red rice, Hoppin’ John, okra rice, Limpin’ Susan, crab rice and one of the more familiar versions—chicken bog.

Chicken bog starts with sauteed vegetables and spices and the slow boil of a chicken for just the right amount of time to create juicy and tender meat. Rice is then cooked in the savory broth low and slow, Southern style, so that the grains do not stick together. The dish is a particularly big deal in Horry County, where local cooks compete each fall in the annual Loris Bog-Off, scheduled this year for Oct. 16 (lorischamber.com/loris-bog-off-festival-1).

Murphy Skipper, the 2019 winner, is a lifelong connoisseur of chicken bog. Competing for the first time, Skipper took top honors for his cream of mushroom and white and yellow rice version of what he calls his “pot.” His secret? “I never measure anything, I never let anyone touch my pot once it gets going, and I never rush because no one likes a pot of crunchy rice.” 

Big M’s Chicken Bog Recipe SERVES 10–12

1 pound Hillshire Farms smoked sausage, sliced2 large onions 5 pounds boneless chicken thighs1 10½-ounce can cream of mushroom soup2 cups Blue Ribbon long grain white rice2 cups Par Excellence yellow rice with saffron In a 12-quart pot (preferably cast iron), brown sausage well. Remove and set aside.Dice onions. Wash chicken. Place chicken in pot skin down and add onions.

Turn heat to medium and allow chicken to make its own broth. When chicken is rendered, add can of cream of mushroom soup. Add sausage back to the pot.

Add 8 cups of water. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir and mix well. Allow pot to simmer for 15–20 minutes. Bring pot to a boil and add 4 cups of rice, stir to combine. Bring pot back to a boil. 

Reduce heat, cover and cook until rice is tender and liquid has absorbed (30–40 minutes).

Frogmore stew

Brimming with the state’s peak summer delicacies like shrimp, crabs, corn, onions and red potatoes, Frogmore stew—often referred to as a Lowcountry boil, since the liquid is poured off—is a staple along the coast and pays homage to South Carolina’s bounty.

Although many versions abound, most agree that the legit Frogmore stew was created just outside of Beaufort in the tiny town of Frogmore, which today is known as St. Helena Island. It started out as a weekend throw-together dish imagined by John Henry Gay—known to all as Buster—the owner of Gay Fish Company, which has been in the same location on St. Helena since 1948. 

According to Buster’s son, Charles, who still owns Gay Fish Company (facebook.com/GayFishCo) along with his son, Tim, and brother, Richard, Buster cooked it for friends and family as far back as the early 1950s.

“It didn’t have a name then,” Charles Gay says. “He just called it supper. They put newspaper on a wooden table and just dumped everything on it and ate.”

Richard first coined the name in the early 1960s. Since the name of the town was Frogmore, he just called it Frogmore stew. To this day, when people come into the shop and say they want to make Lowcountry boil, Charles Gay corrects them and tells them it’s called Frogmore stew.

“It’s just a part of the area,” he says. “When folks ask me what’s in Frogmore stew, I tell them, ‘Whatever you want, whatever’s fresh.’”

Gay’s Frogmore Stew

SERVES 5–6

4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning or 1 bag crab boil

2 pounds Hillshire sausage

1 large onion

2 pounds medium new red potatoes (optional)

Half-dozen crabs, cleaned and halved (optional)

5 ears of corn

3 pounds medium shrimp (40 to 50 per pound)

¼ pound butter (for dipping)

Fill an 8-quart pot half full of water. Add crab boil (or Old Bay seasoning), pieces of sausage, onion, potatoes (optional) and crab (if desired). Bring to a boil. Add corn. Stir and bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Add shrimp and stir for 4–6 minutes or until shrimp start to float to the top of the water. Turn stove off and let ingredients set for 4 minutes. Drain and place ingredients in a large bowl. Serve with hot butter dip or seafood sauce. 

She-Crab Soup

The bisque-like she-crab soup is a signature Lowcountry dish that typically shows up on everyone’s list of favorites. Rich and velvety, she-crab soup is the perfect blend of butter, cream, fresh crabmeat, the red-orange roe from the female crab—which is how it got its name—and a splash of sherry. 

Although versions of it can be traced to Scottish settlers in the South as far back as the 1700s, legend has it that the she-crab soup we think of today was created by the butler of Charleston’s mayor, Robert Goodwyn Rhett, at the John Rutledge House in the 1920s. It seems that President William Howard Taft was scheduled to visit, and Mayor Rhett asked his butler, William Deas, to “dress up” their typical crab soup. Adding in the orange eggs of a female crab, the soup took on a bright color and added a new depth of flavor.

Many longtime Charleston residents swear by the she-crab soup served up at 82 Queen (82queen.com). Created by the founding chef and now-owner, Steve Kish, and on the menu since they opened their doors in 1982, the recipe hasn’t changed much. 

“I tweaked it just a bit in 1991 just before the first Charleston She-Crab Cook-Off,” says Executive Chef Steve Stone. “We won first place in the People’s Choice Award, and it has never changed since.”

82 Queen Award-Winning She-Crab Soup

SERVES 12

¼ pound butter

¼ pound flour

3 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped onion

2 cups fish stock or water and fish base

1 pound crab meat

¼ pound crab roe

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Sherry for garnish

In a saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour and whisk until it makes a pasty roux. Add milk and cream; bring to a boil. Add lightly sauteed carrots, celery, onions and remaining ingredients. Simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with sherry.---        

From farm to market

The tastes of the Lowcountry will be easier to find—and savor—when Lowcountry Fresh Market and Café opens for business in Bluffton. The new concept is a highly anticipated collaboration between the Lowcountry regional farming community, including members of the Gullah Farmers’ Cooperative Association of St. Helena Island, and Andy and Cindy Rolfe, longtime residents of the area who wanted to give back to the community..

The Rolfes saw an opportunity to partner with local farmers, fishermen and culinary artisans in the area—many of them third- or fourth-generation—providing them with a way to sell more local goods. “Our hope is that Lowcountry Fresh will expand markets and profit for the next generation of South Carolina growers and makers so that they can continue the long tradition of connection to the land and cuisine of the region and the state,” says Cindy. 

In addition to local produce and seafood, the 11,000-square-foot market will be stocked with milk, eggs, meat and dry goods from within a 250-mile radius. The cafe will serve breakfast and lunch specialties curated by chef B.J. Dennis, an expert on Gullah and Lowcountry cuisine. The market will also host regular cooking demos showcasing Lowcountry culinary traditions. For updates, visit lowcountryfresh.com and gullahfarmerscoop.org.