Homemade Andouille

I made this a few weeks back and it came out really nice. I'm a fan of Jacobs Adndouille and this came out really close. Recipe is adapted from John Folse

5 lbs. pork but
1/2 lb. pork fat
1/8 cup cracked black pepper (he called for 1/4 cup)
2 Tbls. cayenne pepper
1 Tbls. dry thyme
2 tbls. salt
2tsp. paprika
1 tsp. Cure #1
!/2 cup Non fat dry milk as a binder.
Grind with no less than 1/2 " plate I used a 22mm (3/4").
I stuffed 1/2 into 2 " collagen casing and 1/2 into hog casings.

Started smoker at 120 with a real HEAVY smoke, kept heavy smoke till done. Increased temp 10 degrees every hour for first 2/3 hours then up to 200 till sausage was 152 degrees for a few mins. Cool and let ang at room temp for several hours.
Only thing I would change is I would add some white pepper.

You can find this recipe on gumbopages.com
Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

Originally it was smoked with pecan wood, like first response said make sure you use a coarse (more coarse then what comes with most grinders). I make my own every winter 50/50 deer and pork.

Where does one buy casings? I'm in the same position as OP and tired of using sub-par andouille and would like to make my own.

Does a regular grocery store sell them?

Amazon... believe it or not!

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Is there any resting between the steps? Like do I need to grind the meat and add spices and let sit in the fridge over night? Let it rest in the casings before smoking?

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Some do this. Grind the meat, add the spices and let it sit overnight so they really blend well. Plus, the meat is easier to work with when it is cold. Just do not overstuff the casings or they can split when trying to twist them off to form links. I've also seen some who case it up and let that sit in the fridge uncovered overnight so the casings dry out a bit before smoking. It's really up to the individual.

If your smoker is charcoal fired, simply use a lot less charcoals to help keep the temperature down and maybe if you can, open the top a bit more to allow heat to escape.

I just put mine in the smoker. This is go number 1.

I cut up about 2 pounds of Boston butt really small. I wanted some small chunks, and I don’t have a grinder yet. I made cracklings with the skin, and those turned out great. I bought some good quality ground sausage. After I perfect my recipe and process, I will start looking into a grinder.

I used the 2 pounds of diced Boston butt and 3 pounds of ground sausage for this batch. I seasoned it with 3 TBS of kosher salt, 1 tsp of accent, several pods of freshly pressed garlic, 2 TBS Tony Chachere’s, a couple tsp minced onion, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp of freshly course ground black pepper, and 1/4 cup white wine.

I mixed it all by hand yesterday morning and let it cure in the fridge about 6 hrs. I soaked a couple of big casings while getting my stuffer ready. Then, I stuffed two long casings using my hand cranked stuffer. I ended up with two sets of 3 long sausages.

I'm about to stuff and smoke mine after this F1 race is over. I meant to get it done yesterday, but my honey-do list was unexpectedly long and ever changing.

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The sausages dried and cured overnight in the fridge.

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I cased mine up on Friday morning and put them uncovered in the fridge to smoke on Saturday. I used the recipe posted above and based on John Folse's recipe.

I got them to an internal temperature of 150 when I pulled them off and let them cool before vacuum sealing links for the freezer.

I did up the quantity of meat and adjusted the recipe for the adjustment and did just shy of 14 lbs.

I'll use it but it is not near the taste of the andouille I have gotten from Bailey's in LaPlace. I'll tweak the recipe the next time to try to get closer to that level of flavor I associate with andouille.

So much for my first shot at making andouille. My hot, Italian and green onion sausage all come out very much to my liking, but even they took some tweaking and a couple tries.