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Cajun Andouille Sausage

If you are not familiar with making sausages at home, I wrote a basic tutorial on how to make sausage. If you are smoking these sausages, you'll need the curing salt No. 1, which you can buy online.

Prep Time
2 hrs
Cook Time
3 hrs
Total Time
5 hrs
Servings: 20 links
Calories: 146 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Cajun

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 pounds venison, pork, beef or other meat
  • 1 1/2 pounds pork belly or fatty shoulder
  • 33 grams kosher salt, about 3 tablespoons
  • 4 grams Instacure No. 1, about a teaspoon
  • 3 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
  • 2 teaspoons cayenne
  • 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1/2 cup ice water or beer (put in fridge to keep it cold)
  • Hog casings

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Take about 10 to 15 feet of casings (typically three lengths) and submerge them in warm water.
  2. Cut the meat and fat into chunks and toss with the salt, Instacure, garlic, cayenne, paprika and thyme. You need the Instacure No. 1 as a safety measure when you smoke the links; if you don't plan on smoking them, you need not use this. Put everything in a container and freeze for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until the mixture is 35°F or colder. You can also put the mix in the fridge overnight; this will help the bind.
  3. Grind everything through the coarse die, 7 or 8 mm. Andouille is most typically a country-style, coarse sausage. If you want, you can even hand-mince the meat yourself. If you want to do this, hand mince 1/4 of the meat and fat mixture to get a more interesting texture for your sausage.
  4. Make sure the mixture is very cold, about 30°F; you will probably need to freeze it again for a while. When it's cold enough, take it out and add the chilled water or beer to the bowl and mix on the lowest setting for 90 seconds to 2 minutes, or with your very clean hands for 2 minutes. The look of the meat will change as it binds to itself, and will look more like thick batter than ground meat and fat.
  5. If you are making patties, you're done. Store each patty between pieces of wax paper and then wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then foil, before freezing. If you are making links, load up a sausage stuffer with the meat and fat. Rinse the casings by running warm water through them: You want to flush some salt and check for any holes in the casings. Thread an entire casing onto the stuffer and fill it slowly. Coil the filled casing as you go. Fill all the casings before making individual links.
  6. To make individual links, tie off one end of a casing. Compress the sausage inside it to fill that end link. Pinch off a link and flip it away from you several times to tighten it. Move down the coil and pinch down another link. This time, flip the link back toward you to tighten it. (Here's a quick video on making the links) Repeat this process down the coil until you get to the end. Tie off the end link. Repeat with all the other casings.
  7. Hang your sausages to dry for an hour or more. Hang for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature, or up to overnight where your temperatures are below 45°F. I use a standard clothes drying rack to hang my links. When the sausages are hanging, use a large needle to pierce any spots on the links where there is air trapped underneath. Sterilize the needle in the flames of a gas burner or with a lighter until it glows. You need to pierce any trapped air or your links could burst when you cook them.
  8. Once the sausages have hung, smoke them over pecan wood for 3 to 4 hours. If you hot-smoke your links, pull them when they reach an internal temperature of 155°F. If your links don't get to that temperature in time, you can either smoke them longer, or you can finish the cooking in an oven set at 200°F. Once they're fully cooked, let them cool before freezing.

Nutrition Information

Calories 146kcal (7%) Carbohydrates 2g (1%) Protein 23g (46%) Fat 4g (6%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Cholesterol 81mg (27%) Sodium 697mg (29%) Potassium 367mg (10%) Fiber 1g (4%) Sugar 1g (2%) Vitamin A 430IU (9%) Vitamin C 1.3mg (1%) Calcium 14mg (1%) Iron 3.3mg (18%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 20links

Amount Per Serving

Calories 146

% Daily Value*

Calories 146kcal 7%
Carbohydrates 2g 1%
Protein 23g 46%
Fat 4g 6%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 81mg 27%
Sodium 697mg 29%
Potassium 367mg 8%
Fiber 1g 4%
Sugar 1g 2%
Vitamin A 430IU 9%
Vitamin C 1.3mg 1%
Calcium 14mg 1%
Iron 3.3mg 18%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.