Andouille Sausage [London]

[Bankside Mike]

Where can i pirchase fresh Andouille in the London area - or online purchase. I have checked out Whole Foods but to no avail.

[sunshine842]

might want to try chipolatas, too -- I believe they're Portuguese in origin, but are a thin, spicy, fresh-type sausage.

(and yeah, French andouille and andouillette aren't anything at ALL like the Cajun stuff. Andouillettes are indeed just a smaller-diameter version of andouille...it's a sausage made of tripe in a natural casing, and it's most-adored sign of quality is that it smells of manure. Ugh.)

[souhaite]

I don't think chipolatas will work, since they're fresh and not smoked.

[sunshine842]

I was shooting for the "spicy" component -- since I don't know off hand of a spicy smoked sausage on this side of the pond.

Maybe a little of both -- half chipos and half smoked sausage -- just to try to find both ends of the flavor element.

[lacemaker]

I use turkish/kosovar sujuk as my default gumbo sausage. It's not particularly authentic, but it is quite spicy and delicious.

[souhaite]

That sounds worth trying, thanks! Where do you find it?

[lacemaker]

There's a very good Turkish supermarket near Bermondsey station, on St James street, but i'd think any Turkish and most Lebanese/Middle Eastern shops would stock something pretty similar. The spelling can vary - sujuk, sucuk etc

[CTownFeedR]

Good ones can be found here:

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/director...

[Bankside Mike]

Thanks, i just queried Natoora on the subject of availability and alternatives.

Elisa replies: "Although I have never had Cajun Andouille sausage, I have heard it’s similar to Nduja, a spicy Italian sausage we sell:"

[souhaite]

Native New Orleanian here. I scoured the city when we first moved here looking for good spicy sausages for my gumbo and jambalaya. While you won't find andouille, there are a few smoked Polish sausages that make a decent (not great, but decent) substitute. They're not spicy (but some tabasco and chacheres can make up the difference). Kabanos or any of the others you find in the refrigerated section will work (not the hard, dry kind). You won't find them in any of the higher-end grocery stores in the city (or even Sainsburys, which seems to believe there are only English people in London), but check out shops like Best One or Food City - they'll have a good selection.

[Bankside Mike]

many thanks souhaite.....in kuwait now - will start my search upon my return.

thx all

[greedygirl]

Never seen it either - you can get smoked toulouse sausages, though, which might be the nearest alternative, assuming you're talking about the cajun style andouille and not the French ones.

[chochotte]

Good point. Are we talking about French or Cajun andouilles?

[PhilD]

Aren't the cajun andouille and the French andouillette two different beasts

[chochotte]

There are both French andouille and French andouillette (slightly different - as the names imply, the andouillette is a smaller version of the andouille) and then there's the Cajun andouille which is different again from both the two French sausages - spicier, for one, I believe, though I confess that I can't go within 3 metres of the French kinds even when given the chance, and that I've never been anywhere that's served or sold the Cajun kind.

[Bankside Mike]

thank you chochotte, much appreciated. indeed, it's the Cajun version i am seeking. i can only image that it will be very different from its French parents. i have heard similar comments regarding the French variety - 'stay away'.
i am loathe to use Chorizo in my Jambalaya, i would use smoked Polish sausage if that was available. it pops up in cajun cooking back home as the logical substitution for andouille.
mny thx

[howler]

must be about a billion (ok i exaggerate) polish delis on uxbridge road ..

[Bankside Mike]

mr howler - correct. although i require the smoked polish that requires cooking - not the dried, hard stuff you can slice and eat..............
thoughts?

[souhaite]

Whatever you do, don't use chorizo. It makes everything far too paprika-y and really overpowers the other flavors.

[PhilD]

"slightly different - as the names imply, the andouillette is a smaller version of the andouille" - not certain this is accurate (though it is on Wikipedia so who am I to doubt it). My understanding was Andouille is a cooked/smoked sausage i.e. a bit like a salami whilst Andouillette is a fresh sausage that is cooked to order and served hot, I have enjoyed many of the latter and assume I may well have eaten the former in France but not known the name.

[chochotte]

A bit o'Googling indicates that at least some regional versions of the andouille do involve smoking the intestines, etc. before making them into the sausage which is then boiled for 3-6 hrs (erk) before serving. (This is a Normandy kind, apparently. Who knows what other regional variants there are - or, possibly, it doesn't vary much by region. It's hard to tell.) Le TLF gives simply 'Boyau de porc rempli de tripes, de chair et de lard de ce même animal, hachés et assaisonnés' for andouille and 'Petite andouille dont le contenu est finement haché' for andouilette.

[sunshine842]

there are a half-dozen regional variations of andouille, each (naturally!) claiming to be the original and/or the best.

It's judged to be best when smelling of manure. (and it does...enough to permeate an entire building.)

[souhaite]

Not an aroma I generally look for in my cajun cuisine!

[sunshine842]

I can't think of ANY cuisine where I look for that aroma!

The place I worked last year had a canteen in-house, and would post their menus a week ahead of time. On the days they were making andouille, they would always have another choice, but the smell is so pervasive I'd just bring a sandwich that day and eat in the break room.

[sunshine842]

I realized today, when given the opportunity to taste French andouille, that I'd never actually tried it...so I did.

It tastes EXACTLY like it smells.

Blergh.

[PhilD]

Maybe but isn'tAndouillette AAAAA pretty much standard across France - I know I haven't been able to discern much difference in my travels (and I do eat and enjoy it).

[sunshine842]

Don't ask the French that question!

I don't touch the stuff, so can't say, but the folks around Troyes would smack you upside the head for daring to suggest that their andouille is anything at all like the stuff from Normandy, and vice versa.

[themags]

Never seen it here, sorry - this is similar http://www.natoora.co.uk/shop/deli/sa...