What is the difference between chorizo and andouille sausage

[CraigC]

Wasn't expecting a response but rather just sharing information. Zatarain's (McCormick) Gumbo & Jambalaya Mixes. The mix is definitely isolated from any smoked & seasoned sausage and will flavor any sliced sausages added to the boiling pot to cook the rice and Cajun seasoning mix. Some seasoning items might even be duplicated in the mix and sausage ?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]"ANDOUILLE, CAJUN ANDOUILLE, LOUISIANA ANDOUILLE.
This spicy smoked pork sausage is used in jambalaya and gumbo. Don't confuse it with the milder French andouille sausage. Closest substitute: kielbasa."

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]"KIELBASA, KOLBASA, POLISH SAUSAGE, KNUBLEWURST, POLNISCHE WURST.
This smoked Polish sausage is made with pork and/or beef and flavored with garlic, pimento, and cloves. Although precooked, most people still heat them before serving. Closest substitutes: andouille, Spanish chorizo or linguica."[/FONT]

Sausage Reference Guide

Seriously? Mixes? If you start with c@#p, you end up with c@#p. Nothing can compare with a homemade roux, dark red brown or black, for anything but seafood gumbo. That can't come from a mix! There is no substitute when the recipe calls for ANDOUILLE! Do you even know what tasso is?

 

[skilletlicker]

Hi folks.
Last posted in this thread almost ten years ago. Andouille is stocked more in the local Kroger these days but I more often use a local brand called King Cotton. Hillshire Farms is a similar national brand. They both make a cajun or andouille style smoked sausage that works well enough for me. Have also used fresh sausage like the chorizo sold at the meat counter of good small Mexican markets. Brown it, temporarily set aside while using the rendered fat for the roux.
Never was much for recipes but even less so these days. Mix and match ingredients between Mexican, Cajun and Southern Soul depending on what's handy.

 

[RPCookin]

Seriously? Mixes? If you start with c@#p, you end up with c@#p. Nothing can compare with a homemade roux, dark red brown or black, for anything but seafood gumbo. That can't come from a mix! There is no substitute when the recipe calls for ANDOUILLE! Do you even know what tasso is?

Great way to welcome a new member. I've made my own version of jambalaya with spicy Italian sausage (I'm honestly not all that fond of andouille) and not bothered with taking the time to cook down a "proper" roux. I'm not Cajun or anything close, so I don't worry much about it. What I make tastes fine and my guests seemed to find it great too. To me, jambalaya is one of those dishes that can live with substitutions and still work out okay.

 

[Jimbo99]

Seriously? Mixes? If you start with c@#p, you end up with c@#p. Nothing can compare with a homemade roux, dark red brown or black, for anything but seafood gumbo. That can't come from a mix! There is no substitute when the recipe calls for ANDOUILLE! Do you even know what tasso is?

Chicken or the egg ? I think Zatarain's has been around since 1889, long before Prudhomme or Lagasse ever made anything popular. I didn't intend to get into a flame war, but here it is. Over the last 20 years with reality chefs & cooking tv shows, and every short order cook with a bipolar disorder ego is the world's greatest chef. Plates go out looking more like art work and the food is no better than anyone else's. I simply put together a meal in a half hour with Zatarain's mix rather than enslave myself to the kitchen & stove.

"Seasonings include cayenne pepper, root-beer extract and mixes and blends similar to the kinds of pre-blended seasonings made popular by Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatarain's

True story though, One Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we went to a Ruth Chris Steak House. They were charging damn near $ 25-30 for a sirloin steak dinner If I recall sides are a la carte. The day before, my Aunt made filet mignon. I reheated left overs from my Aunt's meal that were better than what Ruth Chris was bending us over for at her ego palace of a restaurant. Never going back to that place, $ 25+ for a tough unground hamburger steak, really ?

Smith & Wollensky, same deal. Overpriced steaks. Capital Grill actually served better, but their NE clam chowder ? I've had better out of a can from the grocery store and didn't pay $ 10 for a lousy bowl.

A lot of gourmet BBQ places, pitmaster puts too much rub on the meat, I wind up eating a salty mess of pork that makes you ill. Your BP must shoot up & be at post heart attack levels. That's not good, healthy food it's just overpriced crap.

A lot of folks swear by Dale's meat marinade, it's bleeping soy sauce, FCOL. Go to a Japanese restaurant and it's the cheapest meal they sell, Beef Terriyaki.

I don't doubt Tasso is a fine ingredient for certain purposes ? But know what it is and what you're getting ? And how much better is it really than a pork picnic that's on sale if it's only going to be used for a base ? Loaded with salt, nitrites and sugar. Sheesh, sounds like a bleeping hot dog ? All the ingredients to mask & cover up a cheap cut of meat, that are also preservatives basically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasso_ham
What's the difference between nitrates and nitrites? | MNN - Mother Nature Network

I can go on if you want, but please don't lecture me on the difference(s) between good food and crap. My Dad is 95 years old, Mom must've known what she was doing in the kitchen & Dad must've grilled and eaten good quality food to get to that age ?

 

[Jimbo99]

Great way to welcome a new member. I've made my own version of jambalaya with spicy Italian sausage (I'm honestly not all that fond of andouille) and not bothered with taking the time to cook down a "proper" roux. I'm not Cajun or anything close, so I don't worry much about it. What I make tastes fine and my guests seemed to find it great too. To me, jambalaya is one of those dishes that can live with substitutions and still work out okay.

Thanks for the help, I agree with you, it's like chili made with ground hamburger beef, ground chicken, ground turkey or ground pork. It all depends on what one is trying to accomplish with the dish. The chili powder and season and the taste is detectable, but healthier leaner meat might be the goal of serving it as an alternative ?

I substitute chunk tuna in marinara/pasta sauce instead of ground beef. The goal was to have a seafood marinara over a tomato beef sauce. It's a different taste, but I enjoy it every bit the same, as if it were a Puttanesca sauce with anchovies. Throw clams in as a substitute and you have a red clam sauce for pasta.

 

[CraigC]

Great way to welcome a new member. I've made my own version of jambalaya with spicy Italian sausage (I'm honestly not all that fond of andouille) and not bothered with taking the time to cook down a "proper" roux. I'm not Cajun or anything close, so I don't worry much about it. What I make tastes fine and my guests seemed to find it great too. To me, jambalaya is one of those dishes that can live with substitutions and still work out okay.

Like said, if you start with garbage, you end with it.

 

[RPCookin]

Like said, if you start with garbage, you end with it.

Did someone tweak your nipple today, or are you always this crabby? How about if you can't be nice, be quiet?

 

[CraigC]

Chicken or the egg ? I think Zatarain's has been around since 1889, long before Prudhomme or Lagasse ever made anything popular. I didn't intend to get into a flame war, but here it is. Over the last 20 years with reality chefs & cooking tv shows, and every short order cook with a bipolar disorder ego is the world's greatest chef. Plates go out looking more like art work and the food is no better than anyone else's. I simply put together a meal in a half hour with Zatarain's mix rather than enslave myself to the kitchen & stove.

"Seasonings include cayenne pepper, root-beer extract and mixes and blends similar to the kinds of pre-blended seasonings made popular by Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatarain's

True story though, One Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we went to a Ruth Chris Steak House. They were charging damn near $ 25-30 for a sirloin steak dinner If I recall sides are a la carte. The day before, my Aunt made filet mignon. I reheated left overs from my Aunt's meal that were better than what Ruth Chris was bending us over for at her ego palace of a restaurant. Never going back to that place, $ 25+ for a tough unground hamburger steak, really ?

Smith & Wollensky, same deal. Overpriced steaks. Capital Grill actually served better, but their NE clam chowder ? I've had better out of a can from the grocery store and didn't pay $ 10 for a lousy bowl.

A lot of gourmet BBQ places, pitmaster puts too much rub on the meat, I wind up eating a salty mess of pork that makes you ill. Your BP must shoot up & be at post heart attack levels. That's not good, healthy food it's just overpriced crap.

A lot of folks swear by Dale's meat marinade, it's bleeping soy sauce, FCOL. Go to a Japanese restaurant and it's the cheapest meal they sell, Beef Terriyaki.

I don't doubt Tasso is a fine ingredient for certain purposes ? But know what it is and what you're getting ? And how much better is it really than a pork picnic that's on sale if it's only going to be used for a base ? Loaded with salt, nitrites and sugar. Sheesh, sounds like a bleeping hot dog ? All the ingredients to mask & cover up a cheap cut of meat, that are also preservatives basically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasso_ham
What's the difference between nitrates and nitrites? | MNN - Mother Nature Network

I can go on if you want, but please don't lecture me on the difference(s) between good food and crap. My Dad is 95 years old, Mom must've known what she was doing in the kitchen & Dad must've grilled and eaten good quality food to get to that age ?

Perfect! You talk about health, but would rather use boxed mixes or canned soup. Ever read the labels? There are very few restaurants that we go to for reasons you listed above.

 

[cinisajoy]

Perfect Jambalaya recipe.
Chicken broth, chicken stock or water. Whichever you have on hand.
Chicken, raw or cooked doesn't matter. Throw it in the liquid, let cook a while.
Onions, raw or dried.
Tomatoes, canned or fresh.
Cajun seasonings of your choice.
Garlic, raw, minced powdered whatever you have.
Throw all that in the pot. Cook a while.
Add some sort of smoked sausage.
Cook a bit.
Throw in sliced okra.
Cook till about done.
Throw in some rice. Whatever you have. Cook till done.
Realize you just made way too much.
Eat what you want, freeze the rest.
Next time, heat up the jambalaya or a gallon bag of it. Add more chicken if needed, more sausage if needed, more rice if needed.
Oh you have leftover Spanish or Chinese rice. Throw that in the pot.
Repeat as wanted.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Back to the original question: Just like jambalaya, everyone has their own ideas of the "right" way to make a chorizo or andouille. Using Emeril as a guide - since he is a god in the kitchen, particularly when it comes to Cajun cooking - and comparing his recipes, there are actually not many differences between the ingredients in andouille and (Mexican) chorizo. The key things seem to be the presence of file powder in the andouille, and vinegar in chorizo, as well as the source of the heat: chorizo usually uses fresh peppers (I prefer chipotle, while I've also heard of habanero being used) while andouille tends to lean toward crushed red pepper. I also like to mix in tequila when making chorizo...both in the meat, and in my belly. Just about everything else seems to be about the same.

 

[CharlieD]

This thread just won't die. Funny, it keeps getting revived.

 

[Mad Cook]

This really several questions about sausage 1st what is the difference chorizo and andouille 2nd what is the difference between the fresh that is showing up in the super markets and the dried style 3rd what is the difference between mexican/new orleans and european style andoulle? Sorry this is so long, but I just had to ask.

Over here we can buy both the salami type chorizo which can be eaten as is or chopped up and oncluded in other dishes such as Paella and the soft sausage-like that have to be cooked. Both are Spanish. Just be careful which you choose for which recipe.

There is a sausage in France called "andouille" but it isn't like the spicy Mexican one.

(Quote from Wiki which made me smile "Andouille is also an insult in French, designating an imbecile, or a rascal.".)

 

[PrincessFiona60]

This thread just won't die. Funny, it keeps getting revived.

We love our Andouille and Chorizo...