Tag: cajun
Smoked Andouille Sausage
Smoked Andouille Sausage
Andouille sauasage is the famous staple of the cajun and creole cuisine of Louisiana. With it’s origins from French charcuterie, andouille sausage consists of coarse ground pork heavily seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, sage, paprika, and a large amount of garlic. The pork is stuffed into casings and slowly smoked with pecan wood. Andouille can be used in numerous cajun dishes such as jambalaya and gumbo.
Equipment
- food processor
- meat grinder
- sausage stuffer
- twine
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 8 lbs pork shoulder
- 40 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp sage
- 2 tsp pink curing salts
- hog casings
Wood Chips
- pecan wood
Instructions
- Place the garlic cloves in a food processor.
- Process until chopped.
- Mix together all of the seasonings.
- Grind the pork on a medium grind plate, one time through.
- Thoroughly mix the spices and garlic into the pork.
- Stuff the sausage into the casings.
- Twist into 6” links. Let cure overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cut every 4th link apart from each other. Tie in between the middle of the 4 links with twine to the grate of your smoker so they can hang.
- Place the grate on the very top rack of your smoker so the sausages can hang. Turn the temp to 130 degrees. Allow the sausages to dry out for an hour with out adding any wood chips.
- Turn the temp to 250 degrees and add your wood chips. Allow the chips to ignite. Turn your smoker down to 150 degrees. Smoke for 6 hours, changing out the wood chips every 2 hours. After 6 hours, turn up the smoker temp to 180 degrees and smoke for 1 more hour.
Tasso Ham
Tasso Ham
Tasso ham is a Louisiana specialty. Instead of using a pork leg, pork shoulder is cured, dry rubbed with what is pretty much andouille sausage seasoning, and smoked. The result is a spicy, fatty, ham shoulder that is used in numerous cajun recipes such as jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee, beans and rice, and many more.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 5 lbs boneless pork shoulder cut into 1” thick steaks
- 8 oz sea salt
- 4 oz sugar
- 2 tbsp pink curing salt
- 1/4 cup white pepper
- 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp marjoram
- 2 tbsp allspice
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the salt, sugar, and curing salt.
- Dredge each of the pork steaks in the curing mixture.
- Place the pork steaks on a baking pan. Wrap in foil and let cure in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, rinse off the cure on each of the pork steaks. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Mix together the white pepper, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, allspice, and marjoram.
- Season both sides of the pork steaks.
- Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees. Place the pork steaks into the smoker. Smoke for 2 hours until the internal temp reaches 150 degrees.
- Let the tasso cool completely before use.
