The Path to Perloo

THIS LOWCOUNTRY DISH HAS ROOTS WELL BEYOND THE COASTAL SOUTH

- TRELANI MICHELLE,JASMINE SMITH,GREG DUPREE,EMILY NABORS HALL,JULIA BAYLESS

THE FIRE STARTS WITH PECAN WOOD, burning down to glowing coals. Three cinder blocks hold up a well-worn cast-iron pot. Chef BJ Dennis crouches low to spread the coals just right to control the heat. He begins with the aromatics: onions, garlic, and herbs. Then come the meat and water, followed by the rice. It’s an ancestral choreography, rooted in memory and muscle.

The result is perloo: a comforting one-pot Gullah Geechee dish that traces back to the days when rice was locally harvested rather than imported; when sweetgrass fanner baskets were made to separate rice grains from their husks rather than to hang on walls as art; when cookware was limited, seasonings were minimal, and cooking outdoors over coals was simply how it was done. Not many people are more qualified to talk about perloo than Dennis. The Charleston-reared Gullah Geechee chef has become one of the leading voices on the cuisine as he works to conserve his culture and honor those who shaped it.

Perloo is a nod to the Gullah Geechee people, whose tongue carried more African than English words, and to their ancestors before them, who brought the blueprint for this meal from Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone during the transatlantic slave trade. Sometimes spelled purloo, pirlou, pilau, or even preloo, it’s a staple throughout the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, a federally designated region stretching from North Carolina to Florida that recognizes the historic coastal communities of the descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans.

BJ Dennis lets his perloo simmer in a cast-iron pot over an open fire. In 2023, he hosted a dinner at the Charleston Wine + Food festival in collaboration with Rollen's Raw Grains, a nearby producer of Carolina Gold rice.