Andouille a la Jeannine

Y’all, this one comes straight from Justin Wilson, the Louisiana legend who reminded us all that cooking should be fun. Two pounds of andouille gets sliced thick and braised in a covered skillet with dry white wine, honey, and Creole mustard until the sausage goes tender and the braising liquid reduces into a glossy, tangy-sweet pan sauce.

Andouille is the real deal here, a smoked pork Cajun sausage with a deep, spiced funk that stands up to the sharpness of Creole mustard and the sweetness of honey. Wilson himself noted in the directions that if you’re not from Louisiana, you can use another smoked sausage and it’ll taste just fine. He wasn’t wrong, but if you can find andouille, use it.

Serve this as an appetizer with toothpicks and crusty bread to soak up the sauce, or slice it over white rice for a quick weeknight meal. Either way, it’s done in 35 minutes.

Chef Tips

• Keep the heat genuinely low. Andouille is already cooked, so you’re building flavor in the liquid and warming the sausage through, not cooking it raw.
• Slice ¼ to ½ inch thick as directed. Thinner and the sausage dries out; thicker and it doesn’t absorb the braising liquid.
• Don’t skip the lid. The covered skillet traps steam and keeps the sausage moist as it braises.
• Creole mustard has coarse grains and a tang that regular yellow mustard can’t replicate. Worth tracking down.

Variations

• Over grits: Serve the sausage and pan sauce over stone-ground grits for a full Southern supper.
• Smoked sausage swap: Kielbasa or smoked turkey sausage both work well as Wilson suggested.