Not another Andouille thread! (Apologies to Sancho!)

[The Idiot]

Here in England we have - or used to have, because she is dead - a leader known as Mrs Thatcher, or the Thatch as we called her in London! Now, for those of you unfamiliar with her, imagine John Wayne in a twinset and pearls. Her famous phrase was 'The Lady is not for turning!', because she basically didn't change her mind once it was set on something. I am a little like her (I don't change my mind; I'm nothing like John Wayne in twinset and pearls), but I was certainly for turning the other day.

Having stumbled upon Sancho's Andouille thread, I was struck (not literally) by the stunning sausage pictured there. My plan for the weekend had been to make an air-dried chorizo, but I was, most definitely, for turning!

Here's the thing; I only know French Andouille. I didn't even know there was a Louisiana version used for Gumbo. To be honest, I don't even know what Gumbo is! Andouillette is a beef runner stuffed with pigs chitterlings. I was sure that Anduoille was a smaller version, using hog casings. I checked an old French charcuterie manual, and yes, Andouille was just that - but that wasn't what was pictured in Sancho's thread!

I decided to try and replicate what I was seeing, and with the aid of the interweb, a Texan friend and some other books, I did something. It might be close, but I'm ready to bet it's no cigar!

All the recipes called for grinding the pork, but that picture of Sancho's didn't look ground, so I diced around four pounds of pork and half a pound of fat, and then ground around a pound of pork/fat to act as a binder. I also diced a few home grown onions, some garlic and a couple of Conquistador chillis from the greenhouse.

To that I added a few tablespoons of Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Mustard Powder (English, of course), cloves, mace, fresh thyme leaves, plus a fistful of sale and a genteel spoon of pink salt.

Now, I only had hog and sheep casings, as I wasn't expecting to do this, so I stuffed it into hog casings, and this is what I ended up with.



After 24 hours in the fridge, I chucked them into the ProQ where they were hot smoked at around 88C/190F for just shy of five hours. I used Pecan wood, because Sancho did, which necessitated driving around looking for somewhere that sold it, then when I drew a blank swapping some home made beer for some from a friend of a friend. Anyway, I got it, so that's all that matters!

I ended up with this.



So today is Tuesday, and the Andouille has been resting for nearly two days. I boiled up some Cannellini beans, celeriac, carrots, parsnips potatoes and swede in an ox-tail stock, and then it came to the time to slice the sausage...



Is it close? I don't know. I've never tasted a similar Andouille. Is it French Andouille? No! Does it taste good? Well, what do you think...

I have to go and eat a huge pot of stew!

[Papa Tom]

Looks wonderful. Cajun andouille is pretty heavily spiced because it is used to spice other things like gumbo.
Although I have always ground mine the diced like yours surely is more appealing.
If it tastes good, it's perfect. Like so many other regional dishes there are a thousand recipes all authentic.

BTW you need to try gumbo....
Rules for gumbo
Roux = equal parts oil and flour cooked to proper color.
When it reaches proper color toss in trinity to cool so it doesn't continue to darken.
The rest of the recipe is variable but it should include andouille and seafood.

[Txdragon]

Wow, looks pretty good no matter what type it is!

[sancho]

That looks great! The texture is just about perfect from what I can tell. I'm going to have to make another batch now. That's exactly what I did with mine too -andouille with white beans. Great job!

[ChileFarmer]

Sure does look great from here. Nice job. I like it and the photos. CF

[limey]

Great job on the sausage, just need a couple slices of bread.

[spacetrucker]

looks good what ever you call it? Since you "turned" its the taste that counts how was it? would you make it again?
on the gumbo, the trinity celery, bell pepper, onion.
on the roux, cook that flour and oil to a nice dark brown, the darker the better the flavor.
best way to learn on roux is practice making gravy home-style.