What: Andouille sausages (pronounced: “an-DOO-ee”) made locally with pasture-raised heritage pork.
Why: These delicious smoky, spicy, slightly celery-flavoured sausages are key ingredients in Louisiana Creole gumbo or jambalaya, but they are also great in pasta dishes, with asparagus, in soups, or simply grilled and served on a bun, with hot mustard. Since they are already double-smoked, they need only a few minutes to cook.
“Customers kept asking me for them and my interest was piqued,” says Ida Marie Vaillancourt of Pork of Yore, a farm near Douglas, about 100 kilometres west of Ottawa. She ordered the special spice mixture from Baron’s Specialty Foods in Martinez, California, and tried out a small batch in April. “They have celery powder as a curing agent, so there are no nitrites or nitrates,” says Vaillancourt.
“I was ridiculously thrilled when I tasted them,” she says. She immediately set about getting more made, using her premium cuts of pork.
When: Vaillancourt will have a fresh big batch of the sausages available starting Friday.
Where: Find the Pork of Yore stand at the Carp Farmers Market Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at Ottawa Farmers Market at Lansdowne Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
How much: The sausages cost $3.65 per 100 grams, or about $15 for a package of four.
More: porkofyore.com or find Pork of Yore on Facebook or Twitter.
