sausage

Breakfast Sausage - Makes 5 lbs.

5 lbs. ground pork

2 tbsp. table salt

1 1/2 tbsp. sage

1 1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. ginger

3/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 cup water

Italian Sausage - Makes 5 lbs.

5 lbs. ground meat pork (80% lean to 20% fat)

2 tbsp. table salt

1 tbsp. fennel seed, cracked

1/2 tbsp. coriander

1 1/2 tbsp. paprika

3/4 tsp. red chili pepper, flakes

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Nola Cuisine Tasso and Andouille

Tasso

Tasso (TAH-so) is a smoked seasoning meat used to flavor dishes like Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Red Beans & Rice. Tasso used to be made from the trim after an Acadian Hog Boucherie, thin strips, heavily seasoned, dried, then smoked for hours. These days however, most of the Tasso that is available is a little more fancy, more of a ham than the style of the old days, mine is somewhere in between. I always find it amazing how ingredients and recipes, that basically came from scrap and the poorest times evolve into Gourmet, I love it. Tasso will keep in the freezer and is pretty easy to make, but you have to do a little planning.

A few Tips:

After seasoning it, I recommend keeping it in the fridge, at least 3 days to let it cure, look at how nice and pink the center is.

Take it easy on the Cayenne when making your seasoning blend, start off with a small amount, then add to your taste, the amount here is moderate. It should have some heat, but I don’t like losing control of the heat in a dish I’m cooking because my Tasso was too hot, so I cut it back a little, for the same reason that you don’t salt stocks.

Here is my recipe for Tasso. I used a Boneless Pork Roast cut into about 4-5 inch long, 1/2 to 1 inch thick slices. This is seasoning for about 5 lbs of pork:

Homemade Tasso Recipe

5 lbs Pork cut as described above

Seasoning:

3 Tbsp Kosher Salt

2 Tsp Cayenne or To Taste (see above)

4 Tbsp Paprika

2 Tbsp Fresh Garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Coarsely Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp White Pepper

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Mix the seasoning together well. Rub the seasoning into the meat, you want a lot on there, call it 1/8 inch, use it all. Place on a plate or tray, cover and refrigerate 3 days.

Before smoking put the Tasso on an elevated rack so that air can circulate around it, then put a fan on it for about 2 hours to dry it out. I also don’t use a water pan when smoking Tasso, this is something that I actually want to dry out during the smoking process.

I hot smoked this batch in an inexpensive upright barrel smoker using charcoal as the heat source (heated with a chimney starter, no lighter fluid or matchlight coals please.) I used Pecan chips that were soaked in water for 1 hour for the smoke.

I smoked this a total of about 4 hours, the first 2 hours at about 150-160 degrees F. The second two hours at 180-190 degrees F.

The object is to get as much smoke into the meat, before cooking it all the way through. I brought the internal temperature of the meat to 150 degrees F in the last 2 hours of smoking.

When finished I again put the Tasso in front of a fan for about 1 hour. Refrigerate. When completely cold portion and store the Tasso in vacuum sealed packages. Freeze.

Makes 5 lbs of Tasso

Andouille Sausage Recipe

I used a nice fatty, 5# boston butt, trimmed of tough connective tissue. Fat is good for sausage, especially Andouille. You want about 75% lean/25% fat. Here I hand chopped half of the meat into 1/4 inch pieces for texture, and ground the rest. The recipe:

5# Pork (I prefer a Boston Butt) Trimmed of tough connective tissue and cut into 2 inch cubes.

Combine the following in a bowl:

2 tsp of Cayenne or to taste (Remember, if you make it too hot, every dish you make with it will be too hot! Start off with a little, you can add more after you taste the finished seasoning)

1 Tbsp Paprika

1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Garlic

1/8 Cup Fresh Ground Black Pepper

3 Tbsp Kosher Salt

1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves, chopped

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1 healthy pinch of Prague Powder#1 (see note) (optional)

1/2 Cup Ice Water

Toss this mixture with the meat, making sure it is well coated. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

**Note – Prague Powder#1 is used for wet curing meats, to retain color and freshness. It is a ratio of 16 oz. salt to 1 ounce sodium nitrate.

Chop half of the meat into 1/4 inch pieces and grind the other half with a coarse grinding plate. Mix the two together with:

1/8 Cup Non-Fat Powdered Milk (this is a binder)

Stuff the sausage into prepared Hog Casings (Beef middle casings if you can find them). Here is my method of Linking Sausage.

Tie each sausage link with kitchen string to make a loop for hanging. Hang uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. This step is to let the casings dry out to allow smoke absorption, very important.

I smoked this in an inexpensive upright barrel smoker, with charcoal as the heat source, and unsoaked Pecan chips for the smoke. The sausage was hung beneath the top rack, no water pan.

I smoked this at 130º F for 2 hours, then increased the heat to 165 º F for another 2 1/2 hours, refreshing the wood chips as needed. The trick here, is to get as much smoke flavor into the sausage before it is actually cooked through, and too hot of a temperature will render the fat out of your sausage. I controlled the temp by the number of coals, and keeping them piled up and pushed to one side. When you spread your coals out the temperature will increase. I added more coals to reach the 165º mark.

The internal temperature of the sausage should read 155º F on an instant read thermometer. Remove at this point and immediately spray with cold water. Hang at room temperature in front of a fan for 1 hour then refrigerate overnight, uncovered.

Chaurice Sausage Recipe

Chaurice (pronounced shore-EESE) is a fresh Creole Sausage, similar and probably derived from the Spanish Chorizo, without the curing process. Chaurice is often served, pan fried as a side to Red Beans & Rice, as well as used as a seasoning meat in many one pot meals, such as Gumbo. The legendary Leah Chase of Dookie Chase swears by a good quality Chaurice in her Creole Gumbo.

Here is my version of the Creole classic Chaurice. I like to make a decent sized batch which I portion into vacuum sealed packages and freeze

3 lbs Pork with plenty of fat (I use Boston Butt) Cut into 1 inch cubes

1 Medium Spanish Onion, Chopped

3 Tbsp Fresh Garlic, Minced

1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme Leaves, Chopped

4 Tbsp Paprika

1/2 tsp Cayenne

1 tsp Cumin

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper

4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Ground Allspice

1 pinch Meat Curing Salt (Optional) (Here is what I use: http://www.butcher-packer.com/pg_curing_dq.htm)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss thoroughly.

Cover and let stand in the refrigerator overnight (this step is optional).

Place all of your grinding equipment in the refrigerator 1 hour before grinding. Using the 1/2″ die for your meat grinder, grind all of the ingredients. Alternatively you could finely mince the ingredients in a food processor or by hand. Cook a small patty to taste for seasonings, reseason if necessary. Follow my instructions for Linking Homemade Sausage. I make my Chaurice into about 10 inch lengths. When finished, I vacuum seal the links into individual portions and freeze. They will keep indefinately in the freezer.