Photo courtesy of Louisiana’s River Parishes.
Andouille has an identity crisis. First of all, it’s not technically a sausage. You see, sausage by the strict definition requires its pork innards to be finely ground. Andouille’s are, instead, coarsely chopped.
And although its name and origins are French, Andouille’s Louisiana roots are decidedly German: brought to Louisiana’s “Côte des Allemands,” or German Coast, by Rhineland immigrants who arrived in the 1700s to start a new colony east of the Mississippi. Add in that andouille was embraced most heartily by the Acadians, or Cajuns, of Southern Louisiana—who used it to spike everything from gumbo to jambalaya—and the roux of history thickens.
Photo courtesy of Louisiana’s River Parishes.
Enter the Andouille Trail, an outgrowth of Louisiana’s authentic culture and cuisine designed to lure locals and visitors into following the siren call of this most toothsome of delectables.
“Next year we are celebrating the three-hundredth anniversary of the Germans coming to Louisiana, so it seemed like the perfect time to put andouille on the map,” said Buddy Boe, Executive Director of the River Parishes Tourist Commission, which markets attractions in St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist parishes.
Photo courtesy of Louisiana’s River Parishes.
More than thirty-four small businesses and restaurants are part of the trail, from small mom and pop grocery stores to fine dining restaurants; each stop delivering the chance to buy, taste, or even make andouille. Follow the trail and you’ll find producers with wooden smokehouses making recipes that have been handed down for generations, and restaurants serving up andouille in both traditional and inventive new ways.
“As a destination, we benefit from being close to the city, a place where people can take plantation and swamp tours as part of a day trip from New Orleans. But there’s more to discover—and eat—in our region." —Buddy Boe
As folks are cautiously starting to travel again, the idea is to jump-start tourism’s stalled engine by reminding visitors and locals alike just how much there is to see and do in regions close to New Orleans.
[Read a story about how another favorite Louisiana smoked sausage, boudin, is made here.]
“As a destination, we benefit from being close to the city, a place where people can take plantation and swamp tours as part of a day trip from New Orleans. But there’s more to discover—and eat—in our region,” said Boe. When you are ready to follow the links to sample all the smoky flavors of the River Parishes Andouille Trail, download the Andouille Brochure, which includes a map of the trail, or see the Andouille Trail page for all the listings along this part of Louisiana’s culinary landscape. There’s even an Andouille Trail Passport—save receipts from five spots along the way, mail or email copies into the tourist commission, and they’ll send you an Andouille Trail wooden spoon perfect for stirring jambalaya or gumbo.
Photo by Christina Leo
Maitland “Spuddy” Faucheux knows a thing or three about andouille. Faucheux, who opened his self-named Cajun restaurant in Vacherie in 1999, makes andouille and other specialty meats, a skill taught by his building’s former owner, Antoine “Peanut” Folse and his friend and former cook Ruby Charles, who prepared plate lunches for Faucheux when he first bought the business.
Photo by Jason Vowell
Business fell off about a decade ago with the opening of a bridge that diverted sixty percent of the road traffic away from his front door. “It was a blessing in a way, since I was taking care of my dad, who had Alzheimer’s.” His father passed in 2019.
Due to the pandemic, Spuddy’s isn’t open as a restaurant these days. Instead Faucheux’s pivot is to sell his hand-crafted meats and sausages, and also offer the three-hour Cajun Cooking Experience to visitors. A licensed tour guide with a rich knowledge of Louisiana history and lore, Faucheux delivers a colorful hands-on cooking experience in the restaurant kitchen, culminating in a collaborative meal of andouille, gumbo, and jambalaya. Priced at $125 per person, or $240 per couple, the experience is a terrific way to kick off a trip along the andouille trail.
[Read our review of Spuddy's Cajun Cooking Experience, here.]
Photo by Jason Vowell
Jacob's World Famous Andouille.
“To get the good product you have to come to where it started,” said Faucheux, whose nickname speaks to the year he was born, 1957, the same year the Russians launched the Sputnik, which morphed into Spuddy. “The Germans were the sausage makers,” he said. “When they would do a boucherie, the killing of the hog, they’d chop up all the lean bits of meat and stuff it into a casing by hand. Then they’d give that andouille a heavy, heavy smoke to preserve it. Then they’d just hang it off the porch and cut a piece off when they felt like it.”
[To try your hand at making Spuddy's andouille gumbo yourself, find his recipe here.]
Now the andouille you’ll taste along the trail has almost nothing in common with what you find processed for $3.99 a pound in the supermarket, said the proud maker. “There’s no fillers, nothing fancy, no artificial flavors…You taste and smell the smoke and the natural pork.”
Photo by Jason Vowell
Tod's Specialty Meats in Lutcher, LA.
A few of the other stops along the trail include Zorachristina Catering and Café in LaPlace, a down-home comfort food restaurant opened by Monique McGee-Duronslet in 2015. Besides some excellent gumbo, try her hash browns: crispy, hot and studded with bits of andouille.
From the exact seasonings added, to the chunks of meat, to the length of smoking time, to the kind of wood used in the smoker, all of these variables create a particular flavor that inspires pride of place.
For a fine dining experience, the Oak Alley Plantation and Inn incorporates andouille into a menu of Creole and Southern fare, including a traditional gumbo made with chicken, smoked sausage, and locally-smoked andouille sausage over rice. Stop along the way to stock up on smoky goodness at family-owned shops like B&C Seafood Market in Vacherie, Garyville General Store, and Majoria’s Grocery Store in Boutte.
Photo by Jason Vowell
Wayne Jacob's Smokehouse In LaPlace, LA.
All of these makers guard their own particular recipe, so tasting one link of andouille is certainly not tasting them all. From the exact seasonings added, to the chunks of meat, to the length of smoking time, to the kind of wood used in the smoker, all of these variables create a particular flavor that inspires pride of place. With at least thirty-four andouille purveyors to discover, the German Coast delivers an authentic link to Louisiana history.
Visit andouilletrail.com for the complete Andouille Trail map.
