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Homemade Andouille


scott123

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It's official. I do NOT like kielbasa as a sub for andouille in gumbo. NOT at all. The whole coriander hot dog note drives me bonkers. At around $2.50 a lb. it's a shame I can't work with it. I can get okay andouille, but it costs me around $8/lb. It's my favorite part of gumbo but that's a little too rich for my blood. As I can get pork butt for practically nothing, I've been considering making my own.

Anyone make their own andouille?

What do you think about this andouille recipe?

Any tips/tricks you'd recommend?

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Andouille is, basically, spicy ham chopped into rough chunks with a little ground pork for filler. It is really, really chunky if it's any good at all. I will try to take a cross section photo tonight and I am pretty sure that I can come up with a recipe later in the day.

On the other hand, if I were you, I would just call Jacob's or Poche's and order 10 lbs or so. You can't do it as well as they can, if only because of the smokehouse factor.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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If your really interested in making your own sausage, here is a recipe that I think will be more authentic. John Folse is the best authority of things Cajun and Creole and I would trust his recipes first. I have never had any bad results from any of his recipes.

It is good to be a BBQ Judge.  And now it is even gooder to be a Steak Cookoff Association Judge.  Life just got even better.  Woo Hoo!!!

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Question about the recipe - What is prague powder #1?

Prague Powder 1 (aka pink salt) is a cure used when making semi-dry sausages that are going to be cooked or smoked at temps below 200F. It's a mixture of 1 part (6.25%) sodium nitrite to 16 parts (93.75%) salt.

Also, goes under a number of brand names such as Insta Cure, Modern Cure, etc.

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Andouille is, basically, spicy ham chopped into rough chunks with a little ground pork for filler. It is really, really chunky if it's any good at all. I will try to take a cross section photo tonight and I am pretty sure that I can come up with a recipe later in the day.

On the other hand, if I were you, I would just call Jacob's or Poche's and order 10 lbs or so. You can't do it as well as they can, if only because of the smokehouse factor.

:cool: I'm with Mayhaw Man, contact Poche's and give them a try.  I really like their chicken andouille and their smoke gator sausage, both very high quality and authenic products from great people.  These products are well worth the money and rise above anything that I've come across in stores.  Good Luck!

:raz:

http://www.pochesmarket.com/

I have to admit that Poche's price is a lot more reasonable than I expected, but like I said, $8/lb. is too rich for my blood. For special occasions, abosolutely, but for an everday andouille- can't do it.

Thanks, though!

P.S. That price really is amazing. It's the last time I shell out $9+/lb for the Whole Paycheck andouille I get occasionally.

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If your really interested in making your own sausage, here is a recipe that I think will be more authentic.  John Folse is the best authority of things Cajun and Creole and I would trust his recipes first.  I have never had any bad results from any of his recipes.

Thanks, that looks like a winner. I had read here that nitrates AND smoking were a bit redundant so I wasn't sure if the recipe I found was up to snuff. Thyme isn't in Poche's andouille, but I think I'll like some thyme in mine.

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I've hit the same dilemma scott123 ... i couldn't pay $8 lb. or $80/lb. or any other amount... since moving here to Australia years ago, there simply isn't any available, at least that I can find. For some inexplicable reason, cajun/creole culture somehow never really made its way to the other side of the planet.

So I've been forced to do a bit of research, and came up with the Folse recipe as well, which is the one I think I'll try this weekend if i get the chance.

I agree about the kielbasa. Lots of people were helpful to me when I was trying to sort out which sausage would work as an andouille substitute (here) … but it simply wasn’t the same.

The bonus (assuming I can concoct a smoker full of acceptable andouille) is that I’ll be able to introduce a backyard full of Aussies to a fantastic new taste.

Good luck, let us know how you go smokin your own / kanga

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Kangarool . . . You go! You really can't go wrong if you follow John Folse. As to the thyme question, one of the time honored sources uses thyme. I just can't remember which one. Maybe that place in La Place?

And . . . After you have your andouille made you will need to make some gumbo and report on it. I think we had another Aussie participate in that one but more are always welcome. We need to spread the gumbo ethic ever further.

During that cook-off, a strange phenomenon came to our attention. It seems that there are some of our . . . ahem . . . upscale markets that are selling "fresh andouille." By definition, there is no such thing. Andouille is a smoked sausage.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I have to admit that Poche's price is a lot more reasonable than I expected, but like I said, $8/lb. is too rich for my blood. For special occasions, abosolutely, but for an everday andouille- can't do it.

Thanks, though!

P.S. That price really is amazing.  It's the last time I shell out $9+/lb for the Whole Paycheck andouille I get occasionally.

It's even more amazing if you shop there in person. I don't have any in front of me (I can go freezer diving in a bit), but I'm sure it's less than $4/lb at the store. So, if you ever get down to New Orleans, it's worth the trip. Pack a carton to bring home (buy a styrofoam cooler at a Walmart). Just bring extra packing tape to the airport in case security decides they need a look see.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Kangarool . . . You go! You really can't go wrong if you follow John Folse. As to the thyme question, one of the time honored sources uses thyme. I just can't remember which one. Maybe that place in La Place?

Finally got around to it... half way at least. Amongst work surprises, family commitments and the usual delays, I managed to pick up the pork, the fat and the casings at the market butcher near work.

I planned to follow the Folse recipe, but before starting, I scoured my cookbooks, googled every permutation of Andouille i could think of, and generally looked to see what my options were. The options were bewilderingly varied. Folse's appealed due to its seeming purity of just a few, strongly flavoured ingredients, and I think should give me a good "standard" against which to compare later attempts. Some of the recipes i found were easily dismissable -- "hickory" "flavoured" "liquid" "smoke" -- but others might be worth pursuing later. Emeril's and Prudhomme's both show a massive number of different additions and seasonings (go to foodtv.com if you want to see emerils).

Anyway, like I said, I got halfway there -- the sausage grinding and making. Tomorrow, finger's crossed, is the smoking.

If you'd like to see progress so far, have a look. Critique welcome! In the end, i ground coarsely and didn't chop. And, probably went a bit heavy on the fat, the garlic and the pepper, than what was called for, but i still feel good about where things currently stand. Finished product soon!

gallery_10617_130_459427.jpg

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Here is part two… all in all, it’s a reasonably tasty result. I have a sense that this is sort of an ‘andouille wannabe’, as I think my equipment is inferior (a Weber kettle, not a proper smoker), and that I probably had too high a heat, and too short of smoking time, for it to be considered totally legit.

The other concern was that, the more I read about smoking sausages, the more I came across references to all those wonderful bugs in the zoo: botulism, trichinosis, e. coli, all those fun guys. I’m not worried about it, but it did play with my brain for the six or so hours of waiting around. I consoled myself that, although there’s not heaps of salt in the Folse recipe, the garlic and black and cayenne peppers wouldn’t make a very hospitable bug environment. I have no scientific basis for that belief whatsoever, of course, and I’m sure is foolhardy to think this way.

All that being said, the sausage tastes pretty goddamned good.

I sliced one of them, and cooked it in a cast iron pan over high heat, a bit more fat rendered out than I expected, but it wasn’t a problem. Lots of beautiful garlic flavour and smoky black pepper was there, and the taste and texture of freshly ground pork, rather than the usual Safeway blandness, was a treat.

All in all, I’m extremely pleased with the result, and can’t wait to get the gumbo going tomorrow night, to finish the whole thing off properly. My gumbo I now have perfected, so there’s no worries there.

Future andouille attempts (and there will be more: it’s been a much easier effort than I anticipated, even if the result wasn’t 100%, it was far and away closer to New Orleans than anything I could hope to find at the polish or italian deli’s), will benefit from a longer, slower, gentler cooking time. And, probably, that prague powder or some other curing solution to put my mind at rest about bacteria.

OK, off to get the roux underway! Along with chucking in the andouille, I’m also thinking of getting hold of some Northern Territory croc meat, and pretending it’s ‘gator!

gallery_10617_130_168365.jpg

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It looks great, kangarool! You really do "rool". Please let us know how the gumbo turns out.

Having lived in gumbo (and andouille) country all of my life, I sometimes wonder how much effort and trouble I'd go to in order to get the ingredients that Cajun foods require. I'm always impressed by those who go the extra mile.

Dear Food: I hate myself for loving you.

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Beautiful. Congratulations.

What temperature did you smoke them at? What kind of wood?

Thanks. Smoked them with Hickory, as Barbeque's Galore was out of Apple. I have some fruit trees in the backyard, which I'd hoped to use, but read that smoking wood shouldn't be "green" or live, as it imparts a bitter taste. ?

And the temperature was not taken... thought I'd wing it, and save the cash I would have spent on a thermometer, on a slab of Coopers Pale instead, to keep me company during the smoking. Had about 15 or so normal briquettes, and one well-soaked chunk of wood... I saw a chart that said something like "150-200 degree heat is where you can hold your hand over the coals for about 7 or 8 seconds without searing your palm" ... That's my kind of accuracy!

You should give it a go Scott, it was pretty good fun, and relatively easy. Easier than a $2,200 Melbourne-LaPlace return flight anyway.

good luck, let us know if and how you go...

Edited by kangarool (log)
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