Andouille Sausage

Charcuterie  is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as ham, bacon, pates, terrines and sausages.  While I haven’t had much experience making any of those things, Mr. Hippie and I have been making sausage for years.  We always use the same recipe, this one courtesy of Emeril Lagasse.  Below I have tripled it because if you’re going to dirty a meat grinder and have to clean it you may as well make a lot of ground meat.

Andouille Sausage

Ingredients:

• Pork butt, about 15 pounds, cut into inch-sized pieces (Boneless is easier, but you’re already cutting fifteen pounds of meat up; how long will it take you to remove a bone??
• 1 1/2 cups Rustic Rub (Recipe below)
• 3/4 cup paprika
• 1 heaping tablespoon file powder
• 2 T. pepper
• 3 t. cumin
• 1 large dried chile, crushed or 1 heaping Tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2 T. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 T. kosher salt
• 3/4 cup chopped garlic

Directions:

• Place chopped pork and spices into a large bowl stock pot or canning pot.
  

  Pork and spices

• Mix the spices and meat well.  Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
  

  Mixed up and ready to marinate.

• Remove from the refrigerator and pass through a meat grinder.
  

  Grinding the meat the first time.

• Pass meat through the grinder a second time.
  

  After a second grinding.

• Stuff into 1 1/2 inch casings.
  

  Stuffer ready to rock.

• Tie casings at 4-inch intervals to form links.
  

  Mine aren't actually all 4" long. That big one was the last of the meat so we just stuffed it into one casing.

• Prepare the smoker.
  

  Our "smoker" is a gas grill with a stainless steel wood chip box in the bottom.

•  Place the sausages in the smoker and smoke for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the smoker and cool.
  

  Finished smoked sausages

DISCLAIMER: Smoking twenty minutes will not yield a fully-cooked sausage.  Before consuming, always heat sausages to an internal temperature of 160 degrees to prevent food-bourne illness.

Rustic Rub:

• 8 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons cayenne
• 5 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tablespoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 6 tablespoons salt
• 2 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 1/2 tablespoons dried thyme

Combine all ingredients and store in an air-tight container.  Makes about 2 1/4 cups

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