Andouille Sausage recipe

[ronnie_suburban]

My attempts at making Andouille started with the book Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. The book is excellent -- especially in its coverage of technique -- but some of the recipes in the book, while totally delicious, didn't quite scratch the itch for me.

For that reason, I started varying some of the recipes, just to see if I could replicate my "ideal" versions of some of the items covered in the book. In most cases, I was trying to reproduce a version of something I remembered from childhood or one that I had at a specific restaurant, etc.

I spent a couple of years in New Orleans back in the early 1980's and I became very addicted to Andouille Sausage while I was there. After attempting the recipe in Charcuterie, which was delicious in its own right but not an exact match for what I remembered, I decided to develop my own recipe. In my quest for more information, I eventually stumbled across chef John Folse's web site, where more great information was available. Finally, I developed my own recipe, which is close to chef Folse's but slightly tweaked to reflect my personal preference. In producing it, I followed the technique laid out in the Ruhlman/Polcyn. Below is the recipe and some of the basic technique:

Andouille Sausage by ronnie_suburban

Keep Everything Cold

5# fatty pork butt, cubed into 1" pieces

3 oz. chopped garlic

2 T black pepper, freshly ground

2.5 T cayenne pepper

2 T dried thyme

3 T kosher salt

1 t pink salt

1 C ice cold water

10' hog casings

Cube the meat and set aside in refrigerator. Mix all seasonings together and coat the meat well with it. Cover and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

Grind seasoned meat through the coarse plate of a Kitchen-aid stand mixer. Ideally, you can place the collector bowl of the mixer in a larger bowl of ice to keep the ground meat cold. Once it's completely ground, mix the meat well with paddle attachment, until it binds into a paste, adding the cup of ice water slowly, while mixing it. Do not let mixture get above 40 F or it will break.

Using a sausage stuffer, stuff mixture into pre-soaked hog casings and twist into 6" links. Hot smoke the links at about 200 F until they reach an internal temperature of 160 F. I'm told that genuine Andouille is smoked over a mixture of pecan wood and sugar cane. In lieu of that, you can use any wood of your choice. I find a mixture of hickory and apple to work quite well.

Once the sausages reach 160 F, they are ready to eat or store. After storage, simply re-heat and enjoy.

=R=

[ThreeDJ16]

Hey, thanks for the recipe - sounds great. Can't wait to try it. I have some casing in the freezer, so I will try this soon. Now, what is pink salt?

-=Jasen=-

[ronnie_suburban]

Hey, thanks for the recipe - sounds great. Can't wait to try it. I have some casing in the freezer, so I will try this soon. Now, what is pink salt?

-=Jasen=-

Pink salt (aka DC curing salt, Insta Cure #1, Tinted Mix, etc.) is a salt mixture that is 93.75% salt and 6.25% Nitrite. The pink color is added to it as an identifier and safety precaution. It's used primarily to prevent botulism but in a hot-smoked sausage that's not really an issue. If you remember the pics of the andouille from my introduction thread, the flesh of the sausage is red (like bologna or a hotdog). It's the pink salt which gives the sausage that attribute. Pink salt can be ordered on-line and many butcher shops that make their own sausage will sell you some as well.

I know that primeats has a lot of experience in sausage making and he may want to comment more on pink salt but I think I've pretty much covered it. It's safe in small quantities and dangerous in large quantities, so it's important to use the right amount when putting it in a recipe.

Pink salt is the main difference between my recipe and the Folse recipe. The andouille I've enjoyed have always been cured and that's why I include the ingredient in my version.

=R=

[ThreeDJ16]

Hey, thanks for the recipe - sounds great. Can't wait to try it. I have some casing in the freezer, so I will try this soon. Now, what is pink salt?

-=Jasen=-

Pink salt (aka DC curing salt, Insta Cure #1, Tinted Mix, etc.) is a salt mixture that is 93.75% salt and 6.25% Nitrite. The pink color is added to it as an identifier and safety precaution. It's used primarily to prevent botulism but in a hot-smoked sausage that's not really an issue. If you remember the pics of the andouille from my introduction thread, the flesh of the sausage is red (like bologna or a hotdog). It's the pink salt which gives the sausage that attribute. Pink salt can be ordered on-line and many butcher shops that make their own sausage will sell you some as well.

I know that primeats has a lot of experience in sausage making and he may want to comment more on pink salt but I think I've pretty much covered it. It's safe in small quantities and dangerous in large quantities, so it's important to use the right amount when putting it in a recipe.

Pink salt is the main difference between my recipe and the Folse recipe. The andouille I've enjoyed have always been cured and that's why I include the ingredient in my version.

=R=[/quote:65f66gu0]

I thought it might be that. I have some Morton's Cure, but it is not pink. I order a few things here and there from SausageMaker.com too, so I will have to order some of their Insta Cure mix. Thanks for all the info!

-=Jasen=-