The name Jacob’s has been synonymous with "world famous andouille and sausage" since 1928, said fourth-generation owner Aaron Lions who has been making Jacob’s andouille, sausage, boudin, hogshead cheese and tasso since he was 10. He got his start helping his great-grandmother, Camille Jacob, who started the business with her husband, Nelson.
"They used to be on the River Road," Lions said. "It was passed down to my grandfather, Henry ‘Diddy’ Jacob. Then my mother and grandfather built the present location in 1980."
Lions does most of the work himself with help from his mother, Mary Ann Jacob, in the big barn-like building at 505 W. Airline Hwy.
Jacob’s still smokes meats in the cypress wood smokehouses built in the 1930s and 50s, plus one built this year made of pine and lined with cypress. The concrete pits are filled with pure pecan wood.
"It gives it a nice sweet taste, a brown color," Lions said.
For andouille Lions uses all natural casings, lean pork cut in one-inch chunks and his secret recipe for seasonings. "We smoke ours for a 12-hour minimum, which is longer than other people," he said. "We pride ourselves on smoking thoroughly, having a heavily smoked product and lean meat. By us smoking heavily, you get more product for your money."
"The tasso is slices of seasoned, smoked pork used as a seasoning for gumbos, red beans and cabbage," Lions said. "I find a lot of people are using it for cream sauces now with fettuccine."
Jacob’s recently began making chicken andouille for the health-conscious person who can’t have pork. "It is made from pure chicken meat and it does have less salt than the normal andouille," Lions said. "You can use it for anything you use regular andouille for. It’s fully cooked so you can eat it like it is."
Jacob’s boudin is "a regular white boudin," Lions said. "We use a combination of pork, liver, rice and seasoning. It is kind of a rice dressing in a casing." He also makes crawfish boudin which combines crawfish, rice and seasonings.
Jacob’s is also known for hot and mild hogshead cheese, which is a concoction of large chunks of meat and less gel than the typical hogshead cheese. "Everything we sell we make year round," Lions said, "and is sold fresh by the pound."
"People from all over the world have sampled Jacob’s ‘world famous’ andouille," he said. "We make our fresh sausage everyday, and we smoke chicken every other day."
Jacob’s offers vacuum-pack for freezing and travel.
The company is in the process of becoming a USDA-approved facility, which will allow the "world famous" products to be shipped worldwide. "We will offer any product, in any quantity, all vacuumed-sealed, labeled and ready to go," Lions said.
Copies of Jacob’s family recipes are available in the store, and on their website.
"My favorite thing is probably the fresh sausage fried in a frying pan," he confided. "It’s a real lean pork sausage with our secret recipe. It’s great barbecued or fried in a frying pan. That’s my favorite way – fried in a pan and served on bread with mayonaise."
