While I'm not crazy about Bourgeois Meat Market's andouille sausage, which I have found to be a bit…read moretough, I enjoy their regular smoked sausage, and I'm a huge fan of their Cajun Smoked Tasso.
For the uninitiated: Tasso is fast-cured, seasoned, and smoked pork shoulder. It's used in stews and simmered foods, softening as it cooks, adding a delicious, unique flavor and bite that's typical of many Southern Louisiana (read: Cajun) dishes. Tasso's difficult to describe, but you'll know it when you taste it.
I just received four 1-lb. packages of tasso, shipped from Bourgeois' smokehouse in Gray, LA via FedEx 2Day. The order arrived in good shape, and though the ice packs surrounding the meats had melted, the tasso was smoked (and so, fully-cooked) and it was vacuum-sealed. It went straight into my freezer, and it'll be fine.
The cost to ship from Lafourche Parish to San Diego doubled the price of the product, from $7.24/lb to around $15, but I pay that much (or more) for quality steaks and seafood, here at home, and it was my choice to spend top-dollar for meat that I know, from experience, will make my gumbo, red beans, etc. taste better than I could otherwise make them.
Kudos to the folks at Bourgeois Meat Market for offering a high-quality product, and for handling the purchase and shipping in a professional manner. I like visiting their shop when I'm in the area, but I LOVE that they don't make me get on a plane to eat what they're cookin'!