# Homemade andouille



## salgy (May 1, 2009)

I lost my chef at work, and find myself working double duty at work... Getting back in the swing of cooking, I had forgotten about this recipe & just how good it really is... There are enough of you with smoking experience, that this may just have to be added to your summer grilling plans...

A small investment may be needed for some of you, and I can recommend, if you have a kitchen aid mixer at home, the sausage grinder/stuffer attachment is worth the price! If needed, I can suggest other equipment for grinding/stuffing... Please use a scale for the ingredients

6 1/4 pounds pork butt
1 1/4 pounds onion
1 1/4 ounces garlic
5/8 ounces cayenne
2 1/4 ounces salt
1/4 ounce TCM
3/4 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoons ground mace
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoons ground marjoram
1 ounces sugar
4 ounces nonfat dry milk powder

Lets go through the ingredients before the process...
1. Sausage is supposed to have some fat content... It ideally is 80/20... When taken as a whole muscle, pork butt is 80/20... If you are going with a different cut of pork, you will need to add fat (and reduce the meat amount)... 
2. Don't cut the onions or garlic any smaller than your grinders opening... Let the machines do the work for you!
3. Ditto #2 for the thyme, pull the leaves off the stems, but just shove them in the grinder with the pork, onion & garlic... Do not substitute dry thyme... Ever... It tastes like dirt...
4. TCM, abreviation for tinted curing mix... also known as "pink salt" or cure #1... It is lethal in large doses, so please weigh carefully & keep away from kids... It is dyed pink so you can't confuse it with anything, but it looks like sugar... It is a mixture of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite & is what gives cured meats their pink color... It is necessary in the recipe (I won't bore you with the science, but it helps ferment the lactic bacteria from the milk and adds flavors you can't fake... It also helps prolong your shelf life)

Alright... The steps...

1. Grind meat, onion, garlic & thyme through a medium die (commercially its a #12, not sure at home, but should be a hole the size of a green pea) twice
2. Combine all ingredients and mix on a mixer at low speed until everything is evenly incorporated
3. Put mixer on medium & mix for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is sticky to the touch (won't bore you with the science, but the protein myosin that is found in muscles acts as a natural meat "glue" which helps your final products texture, by mixing, you are encouraging the myosin to do its thing)
4. Stuff mixture into hog casings, pinch & twist into 6-8" links... Hang links uncovered (but refrigerated) over night... This hanging process is when the TCM does its magic... Changing the complexity of your flavors... Leaving the sausages uncovered alows the casings to dry out a little which makes them allow the smoke to penetrate easier...
5. Smoke over hickory chips for 2 hours...
6. At this point, you can vacuum seal & freeze, or just grill & enjoy!

* notes:
1. The heat of the sausage comes from the cayenne... Add (or subtract) as suits your taste...
2. A good butcher should be able to procure casings for you...
3. Sausagemaker.com is a great online resource for all sausage making indredients & equipment... 
4. The book charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman is worth buying if sausage making interests you... This recipe doesn't come from him, but his techniques are great & it is written for the home cook, not the commercial cook... 

As always, please let me know if you have questions, and let us all know if/when you try this recipe how it turned out!


Cheers,
Salgy


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## AnthonyFuller (Apr 11, 2013)

I don't have all the tools but nice job. I'm a big fan of Andouille sausage. If I get the sausage attachment I will definitely try it out.


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## Mr Humphries (Apr 5, 2013)

Just don't confuse them with Andouillette :biggrin:


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

Thanks for overexerting my salivary glands, Salgy... :tongue2:


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## zzdocxx (Sep 26, 2011)

Sounds dewicious!


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## herfitup (Mar 4, 2012)

Mr Humphries said:


> Just don't confuse them with Andouillette :biggrin:


I did that once in France. Never again!

When you see how much work is involved making andouille I'm glad that Aidells is willing to do it for me at a reasonable price. I'm sure it isn't quite as good but it works for me.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

herfitup said:


> I did that once in France. Never again!
> 
> When you see how much work is involved making andouille I'm glad that Aidells is willing to do it for me at a reasonable price. I'm sure it isn't quite as good but it works for me.


We used to make keilbasa (fresh not smoked) at home.

It was fun for a while but I can get decent stuff for under $5/lb so now I don't bother!!


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