Andouille Sausage - Po' Boys

Cajun food has always been popular, and has recently had a revival. If you like sausage, you should think about buying a meat grinder with the sausage stuffing tubes - that is, if you don't already have one. These sausages combined with toasted, homemade Hoagie Rolls provide an excellent lunch or tailgate party food.


1 1/2 each yards large sausage casing,
1 about 2-3 inches wide
4 lb lean fresh pork
2 lb pork fat
3 1/3 tbsp finely minced garlic
2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp mace
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground bay leaf
1/4 tsp sage 5
1 liquid hickory smoke


Soak the casing about an hour in cold water to soften it and to
loosen the salt in which it is packed. Cut into 3 foot lengths, then
place the narrow end of the sausage stuffer in one end of the casing.
Place the wide end of the stuffer up against the sink faucet and run
cold water through the inside of the casing to remove any salt.

(Roll up the casing you do not intend to use; put about 2 inches of coarse
salt in a large jar, place the rolled up casing on it, then fill the
rest of the jar with salt. Close tightly and refrigerate for later
use.)

Cut the meat and fat into chunks about 1/2 inch across and pass once
through the coarse blade of the meat grinder. Combine the pork with
the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden
spoon. You'll get the most flavor if you refrigerate the mix overnight in the refrigerator.

Cut the casings into 26 inch lengths and stuff as follows: Tie
a knot (double granny or square knot) in each piece of casing about 2 inches from one end. Fit the open end over the tip of the sausage stuffer and slide it to about 1
inch from the wide end. Push the rest of the casing onto the stuffer
until the top touches the knot. (The casing will look like
accordian folds on the stuffer.)

Fit the stuffer onto the meat grinder as directed on the instructions that come with the machine, or hold the wide end of the stuffer against or over the opening by
hand. Fill the hopper with stuffing. Turn the machine on if it is
electric and feed the stuffing gradually into the hopper; for a
manual machine, push the stuffing through with a wooden or plastic pestle. The
sausage casing will fill and inflate gradually. Stop filling about 1
1/4 inches from the funnel end and slip the casing off the funnel,
smoothing out any bumps carefully with your fingers and being careful
not to push the stuffing out of the casing. Tie off the open end of
the sausage tightly with a piece of string or make a knot in the
casing itself. Repeat until all the stuffing is used up.

If there are any air pockets in the stuffed casing, poke the air pocket with a needle and gently squeeze the air out.

Hoagie Rolls:

Dough Ingredients:


2 ½ cups Unbleached, high gluten bread flour
1 2/3 tsp non-iodized salt
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp diastatic barley malt powder
1 TBS olive oil
7-8 Ounces milk
8 Oz Pate fermentee
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
Stick butter
Use only 8 Ounces (half) the pate dough, freeze the other half

Instructions:

Pate fermentee should be at room temperature.

With a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and malt powder in your largest mixer bowl. Add the olive oil, and water. Mix until it forms a ball, adding flour and/or water according to need. Mix on medium speed with dough hooks until you get a dough that passes the ‘windowpane’ test, is slightly tacky, and soft, but not too stiff.

Knead for 10-minutes on floured counter, or 6-minutes in mixer bowl with dough hooks. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll the dough in the bowl several times so it is coated with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it ferment/rise until double in size. Because of the small amount of yeast used, the rising will take about 3-4 hours. DO NOT increase the amount of yeast.

Once doubled in size, add the 8-Oz of pate fermentee. Knead the pate into the raised dough, adding flour as necessary to get a silky, yet fairly stiff, flexible dough. Lightly dust with flour and return to bowl and let rise to double once again. This rising should take no more than 45-minutes.

Divide into either four or six equal pieces, depending on how large you want the rolls. Let the pieces rest for 10 minutes. Roll and shape into hoagie shaped rolls - about 8” long by 3” wide by 2 inches thick (for 4-roll.) The roll ends should be blunted, not pointed so you have a rectangular shaped creation.

Place the shaped rolls on a sheet pan that is lined with parchment paper, lightly oiled, and dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal. Spray tops of rolls lightly with olive oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise to one and one half the original size.

Turn on oven and set to 500F. making sure there is an empty steam pan in the oven. Score the rolls with two horizontal slashes. Pour four cups of water in the steam pan, and spray the walls of the oven with water. Place the rolls in the oven. After 30 seconds, spray the oven walls again and quickly close the oven door. Repeat spraying again after another 30 seconds. After the final spray, lower the oven temperature to 400, and rotate the pan 180 degrees. It should take about 15 - 20 minutes for rolls to complete baking.

When rolls are golden and cooked through, remove from oven to a cooling rack and rub the tops of the rolls with a stick of butter for a soft, golden crust.

Pate fermentee

This recipe yields approximately 16 ounces.

Pate Fermentee Ingredients

1 1/8 Cups of unbleached high gluten bread flour
1 1/8 Cups of AP flour
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp instant yeast
6-7 ounces of bottled water at room temperature

With a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast in your largest mixer bowl. Add the olive oil, and water. Mix until it forms a course ball, adding flour and/or water according to need. Mix on medium speed with dough hooks until you get a dough that is neither too sticky nor too stiff.

Knead for 4 to 6 minutes by hand, or 4 minutes in the mixer with the dough hooks. Dough should be soft and pliable and tacky, but not sticky.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll the dough in the bowl several times so it is coated with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it ferment/rise until 1 ½ times the original size.

Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly to de-gas, and return it to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator over night. You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to three days, or freeze in an airtight plastic bag for up to three months.