Andouille was a great favourite in nineteenth-century New Orleans.
This thick Cajun sausage is made with lean pork and pork fat and lots
of garlic. Sliced about 1/2" thick and grilled, it makes a delightful
appetiser. It is also used in a superb oyster and andouille gumbo
popular in Laplace, a Cajun town about 30 miles from New Orleans that
calls itself the Andouille Capital of the World.
Soak the casing about an hour in cold water to soften it and to
loosen the salt in which it is packed. Cut into 3 yard lengths, then
place the narrow end of the sausage stuffer in one end of the casing.
Place the wide end of the stuffer up against the sink faucet and run
cold water through the inside of the casing to remove any salt. Roll
up the casing you do not intend to use; put about 2" of coarse salt
in a large jar, place the rolled up casing on it, then fill the rest
of the jar with salt. Close tightly and refrigerate for later use.
Cut the meat and fat into chunks about 1/2" across and pass once
through the coarse blade of the meat grinder. Combine the pork with
the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden
spoon. Cut the casings into 26" lengths and stuff as follows:
Tie a knot in each piece of casing about 2" from one end. Fit the
open end over the tip of the sausage stuffer and slide it to about 1"
from the wide end. Push the rest of the casing onto the stuffer until
the top touches the knot. The casing will look like accordion folds
on the stuffer.
Fit the stuffer onto the meat grinder as directed on the instructions
that come with the machine, or hold the wide end of the stuffer
against or over the opening by hand. Fill the hopper with stuffing.
Turn the machine on if it is electric and feed the stuffing gradually
into the hopper; for a manual machine, push the stuffing through with
a wooden pestle. The sausage casing will fill and inflate gradually.
Stop filling about 1-1/4" from the funnel end and slip the casing off
the funnel, smoothing out any bumps carefully with your fingers and
being careful not to push the stuffing out of the casing. Tie off the
open end of the sausage tightly with a piece of string or make a knot
in the casing itself.
Repeat until all the stuffing is used up. To cook, slice the
andouille 1/2" thick and grill in a hot skillet with no water for
about 12 minutes on each side, until brown and crisp at the edges.
