Posts Tagged ‘@Johnsonville’
Johnsonville Andouille Review
It’s not real easy to find true Andouille sausage up here in the winter wasteland. The Louisiana version is a pork, coarse-grained smoked sausage made using pork, garlic, pepper, onions, wine, and seasonings. It’s stuffed in a natural casing and smoked again. There are hundreds of sausage makers in Louisiana, and so there is a lot of variation in taste and texture, but most can be described as flavorful to the extreme. The French version (pictured below) is more coarse; when I lived in Paris, I ordered it at a local bistro, and the offal bits were clearly identifiable, which was a little bit of a put off for me. Most Americans are used to their sausages being made from a smooth slurry.
As is with the Johnsonville Andouille, a smoked pork/beef sausage made for the masses. Ingredients are Pork, beef, and less than 2% of blah blah blah including corn syrup, in a collagen casing.
I think Johnsonville’s New Orleans Spicy Smoked Sausage might be a closer match.
Anyway, I had a hankering to make gumbo today, and grabbed the Johnsonville Andouille. It didn’t add anything to my recipe, nor detract. Most people will find it to be an ordinary smoked sausage, and that’s OK under a lot of circumstances.
Fine grind in collagen
And into the gumbo!
French Andouille
Johnsonville Andouille Review
Johnsonville Polish Kielbasa Review
I should read my own past reviews before I buy groceries. I had a previous review of Johnson’s kielbasa, and gave it a fairly innocuous rating. When I cooked heated some this week, I really didn’t like them, and if I remember that, won’t be likely to buy it again. Any Eastern European version of kielbasa is a savory link, generally smoked, and highly seasoned with garlic and/or pepper.
The predominant flavor in Johnsonville’s is not the smoke or spices, but a sweetness that probably comes from corn syrup as an ingredient, which doesn’t appeal to me and certainly doesn’t seem necessary.
(Day 2) I tried these a second day, loading them up with condiments, one with yellow mustard, onion, dill relish, another with sauerkraut and strong mustard. Didn’t help, still the predominant taste to me is “sweet,” and that’s not what a polish should be.
If you’re buying groceries for young ‘uns, note that the fat content of each link is 30% of the RDA. I’ll pass on these in the future.
Pictured below, Johnsonville’s Sheboygan Falls, WI plant, USDA est. # M34224-P34224.
Johnsonville Polish Kielbasa Review
Johnsonville Polish Kielbasa Review
