Andouille Sausage Recipe

By Dustin

Ingredients

• 5 # Pork (I prefer a Boston Butt) Trimmed of tough connective tissue and cut into 2 inch cubes.
• 2 tsp of Cayenne or to taste
• 1 Tbsp Paprika
• 1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Garlic
• 1/8 Cup Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 3 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 Cup Cold Red Wine
• 1/8 Cup Non-Fat Powdered Milk
• Hog Casings or Beef middle casings

Details

Adapted from nolacuisine.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine the following in a bowl:
Cayenne(Remember, if you make it too hot, every dish you make with it will be too hot! Start off with a little, you can add more after you taste the finished seasoning), Paprika, Garlic, Black Pepper, Kosher Salt, Thyme, Crushed Red Pepper, and Wine
Toss this mixture with the meat, making sure it is well coated. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

Chop half of the meat into 1/4 inch pieces and grind the other half with a coarse grinding plate. Mix the two together with Non-Fat Powdered Milk (this is a binder)

Stuff the sausage into prepared Hog Casings (Beef middle casings if you can find them). Here is my method of Linking Sausage.

Tie each sausage link with kitchen string to make a loop for hanging. Hang uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. This step is to let the casings dry out to allow smoke absorption, very important.

I smoked this in an inexpensive upright barrel smoker, with charcoal as the heat source, and unsoaked Pecan chips for the smoke. The sausage was hung beneath the top rack, no water pan.

I smoked this at 130º F for 2 hours, then increased the heat to 165º F for another 2 1/2 hours, refreshing the wood chips as needed. The trick here, is to get as much smoke flavor into the sausage before it is actually cooked through, and too hot of a temperature will render the fat out of your sausage. I controlled the temp by the number of coals, and keeping them piled up and pushed to one side. When you spread your coals out the temperature will increase. I added more coals to reach the 165º mark.

The internal temperature of the sausage should read 155º F on an instant read thermometer. Remove at this point and immediately spray with cold water. Hang at room temperature in front of a fan for 1 hour then refrigerate overnight, uncovered.

Portion and store in vacuum sealed packages in the freezer.