Andouille Sausage Recipe
Update- My Latest and very best to date!
I finished my latest batch of Andouille (ahn-DOO-ee) yesterday, and I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. I learned a few things from my latest Tasso making experience that prompted me to change my Andouille procedure, it worked out well.
I started making my own Andouille a few years back because the stuff they sell in the grocery stores here in Michigan is a joke, you may as well break open a package of Oscar Meyer hot dogs for your Gumbo.
You know the kind I mean, basically Alpo, stuffed into a casing and injected with liquid smoke. I can’t use that garbage, so I make my own. Andouille is a cornerstone to many great New Orleans & Louisiana dishes, so you really need a good one! I would rather use a good quality Kielbasa, than a cut rate Andouille. The better the Andouille, the better the dish! Luckily, I enjoy making sausage, it is a very worth while investment of time if your finished product turns out well. Here is how I go about it.
I used a nice fatty, 5# boston butt, trimmed of tough connective tissue. Fat is good for sausage, especially Andouille. You want about 75% lean/25% fat. Here I hand chopped half of the meat into 1/4 inch pieces for texture, and ground the rest. The recipe:
Andouille Sausage Recipe
5# Pork (I prefer a Boston Butt) Trimmed of tough connective tissue and cut into 2 inch cubes.
Combine the following in a bowl:
2 tsp of Cayenne or to taste (Remember, if you make it too hot, every dish you make with it will be too hot! Start off with a little, you can add more after you taste the finished seasoning)
1 Tbsp Paprika
1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Garlic
1/8 Cup Fresh Ground Black Pepper
3 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves, chopped
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1 healthy pinch of Prague Powder#1 (see note) (optional)
1/2 Cup Ice Water
Toss this mixture with the meat, making sure it is well coated. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days.
**Note - Prague Powder#1 is used for wet curing meats, to retain color and freshness. It is a ratio of 16 oz. salt to 1 ounce sodium nitrate.
Chop half of the meat into 1/4 inch pieces and grind the other half with a coarse grinding plate. Mix the two together with:
1/8 Cup Non-Fat Powdered Milk (this is a binder)
Stuff the sausage into prepared Hog Casings (Beef middle casings if you can find them). Here is my method of Linking Sausage.
Tie each sausage link with kitchen string to make a loop for hanging. Hang uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. This step is to let the casings dry out to allow smoke absorption, very important.
I smoked this in an inexpensive upright barrel smoker, with charcoal as the heat source, and unsoaked Pecan chips for the smoke. The sausage was hung beneath the top rack, no water pan.
I smoked this at 130º F for 2 hours, then increased the heat to 165 º F for another 2 1/2 hours, refreshing the wood chips as needed. The trick here, is to get as much smoke flavor into the sausage before it is actually cooked through, and too hot of a temperature will render the fat out of your sausage. I controlled the temp by the number of coals, and keeping them piled up and pushed to one side. When you spread your coals out the temperature will increase. I added more coals to reach the 165º mark.
The internal temperature of the sausage should read 155º F on an instant read thermometer. Remove at this point and immediately spray with cold water. Hang at room temperature in front of a fan for 1 hour then refrigerate overnight, uncovered.
Portion and store in vacuum sealed packages in the freezer.
Other recipes for Sausages and Seasoning Meats at Nola Cuisine:
Here is my Latest Batch of Andouille Sausage!
Chaurice Sausage Recipe
Tasso Recipe
Pickled Pork Recipe
Check out Egullet’s, Eating Louisiana Andouille page, with pics from Wayne Jacob’s, and Jacob’s Andouille, in the Andouille capital, Laplace, Louisiana.
If you have any Dixie Beer…don’t open it!
http://gulfsails.blogspot.com/2005/11/dixie-beer-done.html
Comment by jillian — November 19, 2005 @ 2:31 am
I’m giving this recipe to my brother-in-law. He loves Andouille and every Christmas they make Italian sausage. They need to try this, too.
Comment by Laurie — November 19, 2005 @ 6:54 pm
Jill - I’m still searching for validation on Dixie’s fate, haven’t found anything but asked around at Mr. Lake’s, here is the thread:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/258202/thread/1132408858/Dixie+Beer+no+more-
For now, I’m hoping for the best, it will be another big blow for New Orleans if it is true. I recently saw a pic via Mr. Lake’s of the Dixie Brewery, post Katrina. With the exception of a few broken windows, it looks the same as ever, but who knows what’s on the inside. I only have 3 bottles left, not good.
Laurie - He will love it, I’m so happy with this batch and my new technique.
Comment by Danno — November 19, 2005 @ 9:55 pm
Your website is a godsend! I just introduced Andouille-less gumbo to some Italian friends of mine at a pre-Mardi Gras party this weekend. In Italy there’s no way to find Andouille so an actual recipe for it is precious! I’ll be making it as soon as the gumbo leftovers disappear from my fridge.
Comment by Susan — February 27, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
Can you tell me decent source on the web for Andouille and Tasso? Thanks
Comment by Marco — April 3, 2006 @ 10:08 am
You should at least offer a ‘print icon’ just for the recipe. Who needs all 5 pages of an entire web site for an Andouille Sausage Recipe? Sounds good.
Comment by m.coleman — September 29, 2007 @ 11:39 pm
Come on M.Coleman, I provided a free recipe and website, surely you can figure out how to print it!
Just highlight the text you want, copy and paste into a word document, print.
Comment by Danno — September 30, 2007 @ 12:15 am
Outstanding! Made it here in Virginia this last weekend - When I tasted it, it was just like Christmas! And now, I can have it anytime! Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Comment by Tom Hedgepeth — October 4, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
I would like to buy 5lb of your Andouille Sausage. Please contact me on how I can order it.
Thank you,
Jerry
Comment by Jerry Vitale — October 16, 2007 @ 11:44 am
I just stumbled onto your website tonight.You are awesome! I would love to try your sausage! Do you sell them? I would love to try them. Please let me know . Melissa Gotsill mgotsill1@cox.net
Comment by melissa gotsill — November 10, 2007 @ 3:11 am
Interesting andouille recipe. I’m in South Louisiana, and my paternal grandmother made andouille all of her adult life. She only used hand-chopped meat, and she never ever put garlic in it. My uncle used her recipe in his butcher shop and probably sold two tons of andouille every year for 40 years. He never used garlic either. He always smoked his andouille over corn cobs and chopped sugar cane stalks. He had customers across the United States.
Comment by Lal Becnel — January 2, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
Thanks for the very good & informative site you have, I am making pickled pork following your recipe. My homesickness is a little more at ease now…
Comment by billy brigtsen — February 3, 2008 @ 8:55 am
What a great source for quality sausage recipes. I can hardly wait to try the andouille. Do you have any recipes for a kosher like salami and or Sopersata. Thanks Mike
Comment by Michael Schwartz — February 22, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
Andouille is a MUST for Cajun gumbo and also red-beans and other dishes. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Comment by matt laay — March 3, 2008 @ 10:19 am
This is very close to Chef John Folse’s recipe. He uses 2 Tb of cayenne, and twice the garlic and cracked black pepper. He doesn’t use paprika or Prague powder. The rest is essentially the same. I just made my first batch yesterday and everyone loved it. I didn’t dry it out before smoking it in my FE100, but I will next time. I used alder chips. Fantastic.
Comment by kdm12701 — April 6, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
In Michigan eh? I’m in the south-east. I’m just starting to get into making sausage, have been making my own italian sweet/hot, summer sausage and bratwurst for awhile but they certainly could be more refined. I’d love to actually make salami’s/etc, and will deffinitely try this anduille for some gumbo. Thank you much.
Comment by Bob — April 14, 2008 @ 2:48 am
btw, I meant I was in the S-E of michigan. heh.
Comment by Bob — April 14, 2008 @ 2:49 am
do you have a hog head chesse recipe
Comment by lavalle smith — April 28, 2008 @ 11:20 am
do you have hog head chesse recipe
Comment by lavalle smith — April 28, 2008 @ 11:21 am
After scouring the interweb for decent looking Andouille recipes, I stumbled upon yours. I have made it a couple of times now (substituing a some venisone or elk for 1/3 of the pork) it is fantastic. Always the best one I make.
Comment by Wilson — April 30, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
I have an old chop-rite grinder and it looks like they use a 1/4″ hole for their sausages. Does that seem about right?
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