Cajun Meat 101

ANDOUILLE

Andouille — pronounced ahn-doo-wee — is a dense, highly seasoned, heavily smoked sausage combining pork chunks or pieces — or coarsely ground pork (usually from the shoulder), garlic, onion and pepper. Despite its French ancestry and name, andouille actually owes its spicy flavor and peppery heat to the sausage traditions of another South Louisiana immigrant group — the Germans, who brought their boucherie and distinctive sausage-making traditions with them. Use it in your leftover turkey gumbo on Thanksgiving, cornbread dressing and smothered cabbage on New Year’s.

BOUDIN

Rice, pork, spices and usually liver stuffed into a natural pork sausage casing. Remove it from the casing, and use as a stuffing for mirlitons or bell peppers.

FRESH SAUSAGE

Pure ground pork or poultry is mixed with seasonings such as red, black and white peppers; onions; and usually a bit of fresh green onion tops. Our Rouses butchers make several kinds, including a fresh Italian sausage spiced up with peppers and anise seed or fennel — it’s perfect for our Christmas meatball and Italian sausage spaghetti recipe (get the recipe at www.rouses.com). Our fresh green onion sausage flavored with green onion tops and Cajun seasonings is a must for your rice dressing, or get our fresh dressing mix ready-tocook in our Butcher Shop.

SALT MEAT AND PICKLED PORK

Salt meat comes from the belly of the pig, while pickled pork comes from the front leg or picnic (lower part of the shoulder). But both meats are salt cured, meaning they’re preserved with a mixture of salt, sugar and nitrates, and both are a great flavoring for lima beans, white beans, red beans and mustard greens. These go with your fresh green beans, and cabbage on New Year’s Day.

SMOKED SAUSAGE

Ground beef, pork or chicken are mixed with our own brand of Rouses seasonings and green onions, then stuffed in a casing and smoked. Smoked sausage, with its distinctive smoky flavor and smell, is a must for several Cajun dishes — gumbo, jambalaya, and white or red beans and rice. Or cut grilled sausage into bite size pieces, and serve with mustard or barbecue sauce as a holiday appetizer.

TASSO

Tasso is not a true ham, because it’s made from the front shoulder, rather than the rear leg, of a pig. Brined for preservation and smoked until flavors are highly concentrated, tasso is used to flavor jambalaya, as well as just about any slow-cooked stew or vegetable dish — this is another one for your greens and cabbage casserole.

You can’t fake Cajun. Our authentic Cajun Specialties go back to the boucheries — that’s French for “butchery” — a Cajun tradition stretching back centuries. Their flavors have stood the test of time.

Photo by Romney Caruso