Smoked Andouille Sausage Recipe

Andouille Sausage is a classical Louisiana smoked sausage, which is used in meals like gumbo or jambalaya. The regional cooking style known as Cajun employs many hot spices and vegetables. It is famous for its original sausages: Andouille, Boudain, Chaurice (local version of Spanish chorizo) or Tasso (smoked butt). It is not easy to come up with a universal Andouille sausage recipe. Some recipes include dry red wine, others bay leaves, allspice, sage, paprika, crushed red peppers, sugar, onion powder, pequin pepper, mace, nutmeg, sage, ancho chili, file powder etc… So which one is the real Andouille Sausage? Nearly all recipes agree on the following ingredients: pork butt, salt, cracked pepper, garlic, thyme and cayenne pepper. So, we have decided to keep it simple and include only those mentioned and nothing else. But please feel free to improvise and include any spices you like.

Ingredients

1000 g   2.20 lbs. Pork Butt

Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat

salt   16g   or   2¾ tsp.
Cure #1    2.5 g  or   ⅓ tsp.
cracked black pepper   6.0 g  or  3 tsp.
chopped garlic   10.0 g   or  3 cloves
dried thyme   2.0 g  or   1½ tsp.
cayenne pepper   4.0 g   or   2 tsp.
cold water   100g    or    ⅜ cup

Directions

Grind all meat with 1/4” (5 – 6 mm) plate.
Mix meat with all ingredients, including water.
Stuff into 38 – 40 mm hog casings. Leave as a rope or make 12” (30 cm) links.
Dry for two hours at room temperature or preheat smoker to 130º F (54º C) and hold without smoke for one hour.
Apply hot smoke for 2 hours.
Shower for 5 minutes with cold water.
Store in refrigerator and cook before serving.

Notes

To make a ready to eat sausage increase smoker temperature to 170º F (76º C) until internal temperature of 154º F (68º C) is obtained. You may poach it in water at 175º – 185º F (80º – 85º C) until internal temperature of 154º F (68º C) is obtained.