The Andouille tradition

BY LORA LUQUET

LaPlace, Louisiana calls itself “The Andouille Capital of the World,” but how did the little River Parishes town become known for a sausage?

Andouille was created through combining the French and German culinary traditions that merged in the River Parishes. Now, andouille exists as a point of pride for the LaPlace area and even has a festival named in its honor.

There are many family-owned restaurants in the area that offer authentic andouille sausage, frozen, hot, and in both traditional and home-created dishes. In order to showcase the many ways in which authentic andouille can be enjoyed, the River Parishes Tourist Commission has created an andouille trail for visitors.

“It was to give direction to travelers, so instead of you calling the tourist commission and asking where you can get andouille, we give you a wide variety of places to visit and eat and buy andouille. It’s just kind of a guide to follow,” Executive Director Jay Robichaux said.

The andouille trail includes 34 locations, including locations that offer shipping. “We have Bailey’s, we have Jacob’s, we have Spuddy and Vacherie. They all just created kind of their own version of andouille,” Robichaux said. “Like any other sausage, like if you buy smoked sausage at one location and go to a different location, there’s a little bit different variety.” For many of these small businesses, the art of making andouille is a family tradition. “My great great grandfather had the idea of selling his (andouille) commercially. He was one of the first in the parish to

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do so,” Holly Lions, fifth-generation owner of Jacob’s World Famous Andouille said. “He and his wife opened Jacob’s General Merchandise Store, and that was right along the River Road. They did that back in 1928 where he would sell and make his andouille all by hand.”

According to Lions, the demand for “authentic” andouille outside of LaPlace is real.

“I consistently get phone calls when we do ship orders and most of them will be from out-of-town people that say hey, I can’t get andouille anywhere out here and the stuff in the store is no good. Can you please send some to me? And that’s almost every single phone call,” said Lions. Most of Jacob’s World Famous Andouille’s customers are long-time regulars, but sometimes during the holiday season, people will come through following the andouille trail. “People that come on the andouille trail, they also wanna see how andouille is made. That gives us a chance to take them to the back and actually show them the process that we do, and that’s a really fun and exciting thing to do,” Lions said. “You can see their smile light up and their face light up whenever they walk into that smokehouse, even though their eyes might water from the smoke a little bit.”

If visitors eat at five locations on the andouille trail and bring in their receipts to the tourist commission, they can receive a prize.

“You can mail them in or you can drop them off at our office and you get our wooden spoon,” Robichaux said. “The coveted wooden spoon.”

According to Lions, one good thing about the andouille trail is the focus on how to eat andouille.

“A lot of people hear the word andouille and their only two thoughts are jambalaya and gumbo, and although those are our two most popular dishes that people make, there are so many things you can do with andouille because it’s very versatile,” Lions said. Whether you have never had andouille before, or it is a staple in your kitchen, making and eating andouille will continue to be a River Parishes tradition.

“Once you have andouille that’s actually made and smoked in your backyard, you’ll never eat it out of a grocery store again,” Robichaux said. “You have to have it made by hand, smoked in a true smoker for a long time, and it’s an unbelievable taste.”

To discover the andouille trail or learn more about the history of andouille, visit andouilletrail.com.