What Is Andouille Seasoning

Andouille, pronounced "an-DOO-ee", is also called andouille sausage seasoning and andouille spice.

Andouille Seasoning brings the lush cuisine of the American South to life. Use this seasoning to make homemade andouille sausage. This garlic-forward blend has some spicy heat from cayenne pepper and chili powder. Mace and allspice add their sweet, woodsy fragrance and biting, peppery and antiseptic qualities.

Andouille Sausage is a smoked pork sausage that originated in Europe. The Cajun version of andouille is typically smoked twice and is commonly used as an ingredient in making several classic dishes. Its signature smoky flavor can be found in etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya and you'll be hard pressed to make an outstanding red beans and rice without it.

How Is Andouille Different from Sausage

While normal sausages are usually made from ground meat, andouille is different because it is generally chopped, giving it a chunkier texture. Andouille sausage also has a sharper and smokier flavor, similar to craft sausages.

Is Andouille Seasoning Spicy

Traditional Andouille sausage does provide a bit of a kick, but it is not overbearing. The heat in this garlic-forward blend comes from cayenne pepper and chili powder.

How to Use Andouille Seasoning

While the general trend in the US today is for consumers to opt for leaner cuts of meat, when making authentic andouille sausage you need to add in some extra pork fat. Experienced andouille makers use pork shoulder with meat to fat ratios between 80/20 and 70/30. We've seen it made both ways and in our opinion for a more authentic taste the 70/30 ratio provides a far better textured sausage and a flavor that's tough to beat.

Use a 3/8" plate to grind the meat and a 1/4" plate if you are adding in fat. Combine 8 lbs of meat with 1 cup red wine, 1/2 cup of Andouille Sausage Seasoning and knead until all the liquid is absorbed. Stuff sausage meat into hog casing, twisting off into 4" lengths. Cold smoke at temperatures under 100°F for 10-12 hours. This provides a strong smoke flavor, which makes the andouille sausage ideal for adding flavor to your favorite Cajun dish.

When making homemade andouille sausage be sure that you use Curing Salt. With the smoker at such a low heat for a prolonged period the pork never reaches the necessary 165°F within the smoking time frame and that may cause the dreaded botulism. Use 1 tsp of cure for every 5 pounds of meat.

If you're looking to create your own authentic andouille sausage flavor, you'll need to smoke your sausage. Pecan wood seems to be the most widely used by the best smokehouses in LaPlace (with hickory being second) but we've heard from numerous craft sausage makers that they also like to use apple and walnut wood as well. Once smoked for the second time andouille is good for 7-10 days when kept in the fridge and they freeze very well.

This is certainly an ideal seasoning blend to use when making andouille sausage, but it can also be used as a dry marinade when prepping a pork shoulder to make pulled pork and can also be easily mixed into meatballs or richly sauced chicken dishes, like Cajun butter chicken. We’ve also used it in a delightful Breakfast Casserole that can be made on the weekend and used for quick weekday breakfasts. It would be a great addition to red beans and rice and is lovely in a Louisiana shrimp pasta. It would be right at home in a Vegetarian Gumbo.

This blend does have salt in it, so please bear that in mind as you prepare your dishes and adjust salt accordingly.

What Is the Best Substitute for Andouille Seasoning

The closest substitute for making Andouille sausage at home is Mexican Chorizo which has a similar smoky and spicy flavor.

History of Andouille Sausage

While its name and origins are believed to be French, Andouille’s Louisiana roots are in fact German. In the 1700s Rhineland immigrants brought this sausage to Louisiana’s German Coast, called “Côte des Allemands” by the locals. There Andouille was enthusiastically embraced by the Acadians, or Cajuns, of Southern Louisiana¹. The strong traditions of making sausage were widespread among the German immigrants but since French was the common language of the area, like many other things, including family names, the sausage was given a French name, andouille. Each family had its own recipe for making andouille as well as different techniques for smoking, all of which were highly guarded by each family and rarely shared².

As Andouille has become more common there is a debate about whether the sausage originated in France or Germany. A similar meat, Nduja (pronounced en-doo-ya), is popular in Italy. The name seems derived from the French smoked pork sausage andouille and nduja could have come from the French Angevins who conquered Sicily in the thirteenth century³.

Cajun andouille sausage is a quite different version than its distant French cousin. The French version of andouille is made primarily from the pig's stomach and intestines. Cajun andouille relies mostly on smoked pork shoulder. Cajun andouille is mixed with spices such as cayenne, garlic, paprika and thyme. Once the Cajun andouille sausage is stuffed in the hog casing it's typically smoked for a second time.

Along the Mississippi River in Louisiana is a small river town called LaPlace that in the 1970s, then-Governor Edwin Edwards proclaimed LaPlace the "Official Andouille Capital of the World"⁴. It's no surprise that traditional Louisiana andouille thrives in LaPlace as this riverfront region is often referred to as the German coast because of the large amount of German families that originally settled in the area.

While the southern U.S. andouille tradition is not exclusive to LaPlace the area does seem to have a well-earned reputation for sausage that is heartier, larger, and maybe smokier! LaPlace's artisan sausage makers are obsessed with the smallest of details and are meticulously involved in every stage of production. Their individual grinding, seasoning, stuffing, and smoking recipes and techniques are closely held family secrets that are taught from one generation to the next. The result is a distinctively local andouille style that is chunky and reminiscent of thick German wurst⁵.

Hungry for More Information?

What Is the Difference between Cajun and Creole Spices?
Roots of American Cuisine
Three Regional Traditions to Seasoned American Rice
What Is a Sofrito?

References

1 D’Addono, B. (2020, November 24). Along the Andouille Trail. Country Roads Magazine HortScience.

2 Jacob’s Andouille - History page 1. (n.d.). Cajun Sausage. Retrieved January 20, 2022.

3 Chefs, G. I. (2021, July 16). ’Nduja: Spilingaâ’s spicy, spreadable super sausage. Great Italian Chefs. Retrieved January 20, 2022.

4 Mazur, J. (2016, October 14). Why is LaPlace the andouille capital of the world?. WGNO. Retrieved January 20, 2022.

5 LaPlace is “the Place” for Andouill?. (2013, October 17). WWNO. Retrieved January 20, 2022.