Andouillette

A coarse tripe sausage cooked gently and never pricked, because what is inside it is what you came for.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork, sausage casings, which are gut unless it says otherwise.

Ingredients

For the sausages

• 1.5 kg dressed pork chitterlings and stomach
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 litre dry white wine
• 25 g salt
• 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 3 shallots, very finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• wide hog casings, soaked

To cook and serve

• butter, for the pan
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 100 ml crème fraîche

Method

1. IT IS COOKED GENTLY AND NEVER PRICKED. A pricked andouillette empties itself into the pan, and what is inside it is the entire reason for the sausage -- there is no forcemeat holding anything together, just strips of tripe packed in a skin. Medium-low heat, twenty minutes, turned often with tongs. High heat bursts it, and a burst one is a loss rather than a setback.
2. THE TRIPE IS BLANCHED AND THEN POACHED IN WINE BEFORE IT IS EVER PACKED, which is two separate steps for two separate reasons. The blanch takes the smell off, as on the tripes à la mode de Caen page here. The long wine poach is what makes it tender -- an andouillette made from blanched but unpoached tripe is inedible however carefully it is then cooked.
3. IT IS CUT INTO LONG STRIPS AND PACKED LENGTHWAYS, not minced. Cut across, the finished sausage shows the characteristic bundle of strands; minced, it is a different sausage entirely and loses the texture that is the point.
4. THIS IS A STRONG-TASTING THING AND THE PAGE SAYS SO PLAINLY rather than pretending otherwise. It smells of what it is made of, firmly, and no amount of mustard hides that. Cooked well it is excellent and it is not mild.
5. WIDE CASINGS, soaked and rinsed through, because the strips need room and a tight casing splits.
6. Chitterlings and stomach cut open, rinsed thoroughly, then BLANCHED twice in fresh water as on the tripes à la mode de Caen page -- boiled 5 minutes, drained, rinsed, repeated.
7. Poached in the wine with the onions and bay, barely simmering, 3 HOURS, until completely tender. Cooled in the liquid.
8. Drained and cut into long strips about 1 cm wide.
9. Tossed with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, shallots and the 2 tablespoons of mustard. Chilled 2 hours.
10. Packed into the wide casings LENGTHWAYS, the strips run along the sausage, filled firmly but not tightly. Tied in 20 cm lengths.
11. Rested in the fridge overnight.
12. TO COOK: butter in a pan over a medium-low heat. The sausages in, NOT PRICKED, and cooked 20 minutes, turned with tongs every few minutes, until browned all over.
13. Lifted out and kept warm. The wine poured into the pan and boiled down by half, the crème fraîche and mustard whisked in off the heat.
14. Served with the sauce, chips or mashed potato, and more mustard.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes