Renaissance Sausage

Update: no longer in operation.
Update: Back in business with a smaller cart.

This past Sunday was opening day of Headhouse Farmers' Market, and while most of the vendors are welcome faces from last year, Resnassance Sausage, a mobile food truck vending sandwiches made with local and organic homemade sausages, is a newcomer on the scene.

In fact, Sunday at Headhouse was Renassance Sausage's first day of business. Owners Dan Semko and Bret Cavanaugh are not new to the food truck business, though; they got their start in Charleston, South Carolina, vending breakfast burritos and sandwiches from a VW bus before heading back North to grace us with their food.Country herb pork sausage, Mediterranean lamb and beef sausage, Asian chicken sausage, and vegetarian sausage are on the sandwich menu all day. If you make it there before 11am a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich, as well as a brie and fig jam melt can be yours. Sides include coleslaw, potato salad, and a wheat berry salad.Of course, I came for the vegetarian sausage, as well as a whole bunch of other people — the vegetarian sausage outsold the meat sausages during my early morning wait in line.

The veggie sausage is made with vegetables, spices, and wheat gluten, then grilled and split down the center before landing in a hoagie roll with cucumber spears and blue cheese dressing.Carrots and black beans are definitely players in Renaissance's mild and vegetal tasting sausage, but I wish they would up their flavors and spices a bit — or a whole lot. The fat, squat sausage left lots of dead bread space at either end, meaning I slid the sausage to one end and tore off a good two and a half inches of bread to dispose of.

The good news here is that this was Renaissance Sausage's first day, and sausage recipes can be changed (more spices, please), and veggie sausages can easily be shaped into a longer link to better fit a bun. Here's hoping they make those changes.

I also thought the toppings on the meat sausage sandwiches sounded more robust and flavorful, but there's an easy fix to that — just ask for those instead next time.

Thanks, Renaissance Sausage, for thoughtfully including vegetarians in your sausage fest. We really do appreciate it, as I'm sure you saw from all the veggie sausage sales made on your first day.

Renaissance Sausage
Headhouse Farmers' Market, 2nd &Lombard, every Sunday 10am-2pm
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Chicken Bog

Unless you live in or grew up in South Carolina, you're probably unaware of the state's prominent rice culture. And you've probably never heard of chicken bog, either.

The state's rice culture stems from the fact that state was once a large rice producer. The coastal region has ideal rice growing conditions, and slaves from West Africa were specifically sought out for their rice-growing knowledge and expertise.

Everyone eats rice...all the time. It's not uncommon to have rice at every supper. Plain rice, rice pilau, rice with hash, rice with stewed tomatoes and okra, rice with giblet gravy, and on and on. It's one of my favorite foods and I never tire of it.

So, what is chicken bog? It's nothing but a big ol' peppery pot of rice, chicken, and sausage cooked in chicken stock. Why is it called a bog? Because the rice is a bit wetter — boggy — than a pilau. This dish is great for gatherings because it feeds many. Sub turkey for chicken, and you've got a dish perfect for Thanksgiving leftovers. Chicken Bog
serves 4-6

To the ire of many (Hi, Dad!), I'm vegetarianizing the recipe. If you want to use meat, it's as simple as cooking chicken in water, saving the water to use as the stock, and deboning the chicken before throwing the chicken meat back in the pot. Also, use real sausage.

This recipe is based on my Granddad's recipe. Granddad was an avid beer drinker, so beer found it's way into many of his dishes. Beer is not a traditional ingredient in chicken bog, but I'm keeping the recipe true to my Granddad (well, except the whole meat thing).

1/2 stick butter
1 cup diced onion
1 pound seitan, chopped
1 pound link soy sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
2 cups uncooked rice
5 cups water
1/2 can beer

• Saute diced onions in butter until onions are translucent. Then add seitan, sausage, salt and pepper and cook for a coupe minutes.
• Add rice, water, and beer to the pot. Cover pot and reduce heat to low. Cook until the rice is done, about 20-30 minutes. If mixture is too juicy, cook uncovered until reaches desired consistency. If mixture is too dry (rice absorbed all the water), add another cup of water.