Cajun Sausage from the Swamp to the City

Cochon Chef Link adds Authenticity to his Namesake Charcuterie

Jan 22, 2009 Jacqueline Church

Link is a good name for a chef that makes sausages, oui? Add to that Link's Cajun roots, his mastery of all things pork, the success of Cochon Butcher seems certain.

Heritage pork and Cajun roots combine in winning formula for Chef Donald Link.

Cochon Butcher - latest in a growing trend of charcuterie shops and purveyors.

Others include:

Armandino's Seattle outpost, Salumi (see Salumi in Seattle),
Chef Cosentino's Boccalone in San Francisco's Ferry Market Building
Hot Doug's in Chicago - they're the ones that helped break the foie gras ban.

America - we now have artisan salumi from coast to coast!

Michael Ruhlman author of the Making, Soul, and Reach of a Chef trilogy, Iron Chef judge and steady food blogging guru recently published an oeuvre on the art of forcemeat. His book is called Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing. New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2008. This has both inspired chefs and probably was inspired by other charcutiers.

This business is a natural extension of the work that Chef Link and his partner Stephen Stryljewski of Cochon Restaurant in New Orleans. They incorporate a fair amount of charcuterie in the menu at Cochon and this business catering to those would wish to take some of the fine product home is bound to succeed. But Link's motivation is not actually the upscale customers in his of-the-moment restaurants. As any butcher or charcutier would tell you, this is old school, home cooking.

Origins of Charcuterie

The process of making sausages, pates and terrines was a pre-refrigeration food preservation method. Pure and simple. Salt, cool air, fat and a mastery of natural process were used to ensure that each part of a butchered animal could be used, none wasted.

In this way, the resurrection of the old skills capitalizes on a couple of current trends. One is an interest in artisanal food ways and products. Another is the ethics of reducing waste and utilizing the whole animal, head to tail (see, Head to Tail Eating). Sausage and other forcemeat is one way to use all the offal that is produced during butchery.

Sometimes smoke is added to the process, sometimes various spices are introduced. Whether you explore French, German, Spanish or just about any culture that included pig farming, you will find some sausage making history.

Link introduced diners to heritage breed pork called Mulefoot, raised by a lone farmer RM Holliday, when he served it at Cochon. Now, a handful of heritage breed farmers are hoping the "eat it, to save it" mantra catches on so there is a marketplace for breeds such as Mulefoot.

Chefs and artisans like Link play a vital role in preserving disappearing breeds.

Preserving Food Preservation Methods

Chefs like Link are also keeping old foodways alive. By making the thick smoked sausage known as andouille, the garlicky fresh links called chaurice and the smoked seasoned ham known as tasso and making them all in one place, he is bringing the country (or "Swamp") into the city. Urban diners who may not relish a day long journey across the Louisiana countryside to find the tasso here, the andouille there, can now sample and savor all these products in one convenient location.

Armandino Batali had a difficult time when he tried to bring old world preservation methods into compliance with new world regulations. And this is a battle that still gets waged.

To learn more:

Read Michael Ruhlman's excellent blog and/or buy his book.
See Cosentino's blog Offal Good.
Ruhlman's book Making of a Chef chronicles the life of a student at the Culinary Institute of America. Forcemeat and baking chapters are two that are memorable.
To read about Culatello, or Guanciale use the search bar above.

The copyright of the article Cajun Sausage from the Swamp to the City in Gourmet Food is owned by Jacqueline Church. Permission to republish Cajun Sausage from the Swamp to the City in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.