This Cajun sausage is made from pork tripe and chitterlings (hog intestines.) It is spiced then smoked for about 8 hours. It is actually somewhat similar to Polish Kielbasa sausage.
Andouille sausage is also made in parts of France and Germany, but neither are, of course, as spicy as the Cajun version, which is seasoned with garlic, cracked black pepper, salt and often red pepper (though recipes will vary throughout Louisiana.)
Though the sausage has been smoked, it is still raw and must be stored under refrigeration and cooked before eating.
Substitutes
Polish sausage
Literature & Lore
Andouille is also used as an insult in French, to call someone an idiot, in the same way that we might say “wienerhead.”