A favorite of Rabelais and an acquired taste, andouille is a French smoked sausage made primarily from pig chitterlings, tripe, onions, wine and seasonings, and is enclosed in a blackened skin. It is frequently served in cold slices as an hors d'oeuvre. In the U.S., andouille is most often used in Cajun and Creole dishes such as jambalaya and gumbo; it tends to be spicier than the French version.
While there are many imitations, there are only two genuine types of andouille, guaranteed to be prepared with traditional methods in their region of origin. Genuine Vire andouille is made in Normandy with stomach and intestines, smoked over beech wood for two months, and cooked in water or a court-bouillon. Vire andouille made outside of Normandy often includes neck and breast meat, making it higher in fat. Andouille de pays contains heart and head flesh.
Guémené andouille from Brittany is trademarked and is made by layering intestines inside of one another -- before being dried, smoked and cooked in bouillon or steamed -- producing a concentric circle pattern when sliced.
Note: if you want to let a French person know you think he's a bumbling idiot, calling him an "andouille" is a rough equivalent of the old British "silly sausage."
Recipe: Becca's Jambalaya (Simply Recipes)
Recipe: Zucchini, Fennel And Andouille Pie (Luna Circle Farm)
Recipe: Whole Wheat Linguine With Andouille, Carrots And Tarragon
Recipe: Artichoke Hearts And Andouille
A roux is a thickening agent made from equal parts butter and flour. The mixture is cooked until the flour taste disappears (about one minute per tablespoon of flour) and then combined with milk or stock to create a sauce.
There are basically two kinds of roux.
White (or blond) roux is cooked just until the flour taste vanishes, but before the butter begins to turn the roux brown. This becomes béchamel sauce when blended with milk. Combined with stock, it becomes velouté.
Brown roux is cooked until it turns a nutty brown color. It is used as a thickener for French demi-glacesauce. It can be made with butter, as well as pork or beef drippings. Many Creole and Cajun dishes, including gumbo, use lard to create a dark brown roux. (In our Chicken And Sausage Gumbo, we use less indulgent canola oil. Don't try this in Vermilion Parish; they may jail you for using oil.)
Reference: What is bechamel sauce? (Cookthink)
Reference: Macaroni And Cheese (Cookthink)
Related: Real Cajun Recipes
Gumbo is a gift from Louisiana to American cooking.
Especially popular in the South, this Creole and Cajun dish is made from rich stock, meat and/or shellfish, the so-called "holy trinity" of celery, bell peppers and onion, and thickened with okra, filé powder or roux, depending on where the cook stands on the matter.
This one-pot dish was inspired by French bouillabaisse and dates from the 18th century. Gumbo often contains some mixture of chicken, duck, quail, smoked pork like tasso or andouille, crawfish, crab, and/or shrimp. Recipes vary according to the cook; Creole gumbos tend to use a slightly paler roux and sometimes contain tomatoes, unlike Cajun gumbos, which never do.
Filé powder is a Creole seasoning made from ground sassafras tree leaves that's believed to have been first used by Choctaw Indians in the Louisiana bayou country.
Used to thicken and flavor gumbo, filé powder is added to a dish after it's been taken off the heat since overcooking it can make it turn stringy.
Sometimes referred to as gumbo filé, the powder can be used as a substitute for okra. It is also used to flavor tasso before it is smoked.
Related article: What is gumbo? (Cookthink)
Jambalaya is Creole comfort food.
A legendary one-pot dish that's ubiquitous in the American south and popular elsewhere, it's made with rice, stock, tomatoes, onions, celery, green peppers and various meats, poultry and shellfish. One of the most important classic ingredients is andouille, a French smoked sausage made primarily from pig chitterlings, tripe, onions, wine and seasonings, and enclosed in a blackened skin.
The word jambalaya is thought to be derived from jambon, the French word for ham. Jambalaya is believed to be a descendent of Spanish paella that was born in Louisiana when Spaniards in the French Quarter of New Orleans subbed unavailable saffron for tomatoes in an imitation of their native dish.
Cajun cuisine also has its own version of jambalaya without the tomatoes.
Gumbo is a Creole dish that has been adopted by Cajuns.
Creole gumbo contains stock, meat or shellfish, the so-called "holy trinity" of celery, bell peppers and onion, and is thickened with okra, filé powder or roux and is usually served over rice.
So how can you tell the difference between Creole and Cajun gumbo?
Creole gumbos tend to use a paler roux and sometimes includes tomatoes (Cajun gumbo never does).
What's the difference between Creole cooking and Cajun cooking?
What's the difference between Creole cooking and Cajun cooking?
Because they share signature dishes like gumbo and jambalaya and originate in the American south, Creole and Cajun cooking are often confused. But they're not the same thing.
Creole cooking is a mixture of French, Spanish and African influences. Invented in the 18th century by European residents of New Orleans (named Criollos by the Spaniards in charge at the time), Creole dishes use butter and cream and a light roux as a base for numerous preparations.
Cajun cuisine was invented by French Acadians who were driven out of Nova Scotia by the British in the 18th century. It is a combination of French and Southern influences and is generally spicier and more "country" than more refined European-influenced Creole cooking. Cajun cooking is also defined by its use of pork fat and dark roux.
Both cuisines share a rampant use of the "holy trinity" of celery, onions and bell peppers as a base for many dishes and the use of filé powder.
Related article: What is gumbo? (Cookthink)
Related article: What is jambalaya? (Cookthink)
How to make salmon croquettes with a Cajun remoulade
How to make salmon croquettes with a Cajun remoulade
Try this recipe for salmon croquettes with spicy remoulade for a quick and satisfying mid-week meal. Just follow the directions outlined in this great video by Handmade TV.
Reference: What is an Omega-3 fatty acid? (Coothink)
Reference: What does it mean to sauté? (Cookthink)
what you should know
Of all the qualities that define a baguette -- the firm, cylindrical shape; the incised surface of the crackling crust; the chewy, moist interior known in France as la mie -- what's most fundamental is its role as a daily bread.
feel le pain The baguette is the anti-loaf, a fast-fading thing whose best moment is right now. Philippe Gosselin, the Parisian baker whose baguette was recently named the city's best, told Travel + Leisure that the baguette "has a life span of just six hours." And in one of her truer hyperboles, Elizabeth David wrote that a good baguette will go "stale within an hour of emerging from the oven."
the mie generation Steam ovens enable the baguette's combination of moist crumb and crusty shell. The rise of the ovens coincided with a need, in the post-WWI 1920s, for a faster, less labor intensive bread. Thus, the rise of the baguette.
idée fixe Everyone has his own ideal baguette against which he judges all others. (Maybe it was the first one or the last one or the one most charged with memory.) Is it possible to find in the U.S. something close to the Parisian ideal? Opinions abound.
knead not If a good baguette is out of range, try the no-knead approach Bittman wrote about last fall. It mimics the steam-oven effect and comes closer to that semi-charred exterior than the average bakery loaf. Plus, it's really, really easy.
what you need
Several years ago, Chip interviewed the members of the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA. They were on their way to compete in the World Cup of Baking in Paris. One of the few books they all cited as an essential one for home breadmakers was Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice.
For the ne plus ultra take on French bread, get Steven Kaplan's Good Bread is Back. (For more on Kaplan, the premier American baguette scholar, read the New York magazine profile of him from last fall.)
A good bread knife, like this Wusthof 9-inch, can double as a utility blade whenever you're in need of a serrated knife.
what you do
For a couple of of happy months, Chip ate bánh mì for lunch almost every day at Saigon Sandwich, on Larkin Street in San Francisco (plus a side of boiled peanuts). With its contrasting blend of nuts and carrots and meat, the "Vietnamese hoagie" may be the world's best sandwich.
With a ripe Hass and several slices of grilled baguette, avocado crostini may be the world's best simplest unsandwich.
Never toss a day(s)-old baguette. Cubed, it forms the base of a refreshing but substantial Italian bread salad.
Brys' friend Lacy worked in Malaga for a couple of years. Ever since, she's missed two things: the sardines and the ajo blanco, a chilled garlic and almond soup.
