Tips on sausage cooks?

[brandonh1987]

So I am currently smoking a brisket and wanted to smoke a few sausages while I am at it... However I have no idea on what to buy from the store? Can I use the pre cooked kind? For instance, what kind do they typically use at bbq restaurants such as arthur bryans, franklins, louie meullers ect??? Are theirs already pre cooked? Also time and temp??

Thanks

 

[oldbill]

So I am currently smoking a brisket and wanted to smoke a few sausages while I am at it... However I have no idea on what to buy from the store? Can I use the pre cooked kind? For instance, what kind do they typically use at bbq restaurants such as arthur bryans, franklins, louie meullers ect??? Are theirs already pre cooked? Also time and temp??

Thanks

I like to use uncooked link. I'm not sure what you have available in your local market but I'd imagine that you could find some Johnsonville or something comparable. Or maybe you have a good Polish or German butcher shop near by that can give you some good quality link. I smoke them low and slow at about 200 deg. until they are nice and swollen, ready to burst.
I've also used precooked link before as well. They normally have already been smoked to some degree (try and stay away from anything with injected artificial smoke flavor) and I put those on the pit at the end of a regular cook, basically giving them a second dose of smoke as they heat up and again to the point of almost bursting.:-D

 

[thirdeye]

So I am currently smoking a brisket and wanted to smoke a few sausages while I am at it... However I have no idea on what to buy from the store? Can I use the pre cooked kind? For instance, what kind do they typically use at bbq restaurants such as arthur bryans, franklins, louie meullers ect??? Are theirs already pre cooked? Also time and temp??

Thanks

Link sausage is an excellent side meat and there are basically 3 kinds available. First is fresh sausage which will come in various flavors from breakfast to Italian, and will be all pork, or a mix of beef and pork. Brats are a good example of fresh sausage and like oldbill mentioned.... let them come up to temp slowly, watch for them to plump up but DON'T allow them to start spitting juice or worse.... split. Cook fresh sausages to 165° internal. Here is some fresh sausage that was smoked for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours:

Next are sausages that have curing agent(s) added. These can be cooked just like fresh sausages, but if you want to smoke them at lower pit temps for longer periods of time the curing agent(s) will allow you safely do this. Many Texas hot links have curing agents, and a lot of wild game sausage does too. Because of the curing agent, these can be cooked to a lower internal temperature than fresh sausages, 152° is the magic number.... I use 155° internal. These can come in links, but I like to make them in rings and hang them in my smoker. Here is a hot smoked sausage ring that I hung in my box smoker for about 3-1/2 hours :

The last kind is sausage that generally has curing agent(s) added, but they have been fully cooked by the manufacturer. Polish Kielbasa is a good example here (although there is fresh Kielbasa for sale too). Hillshire Farms has a huge selection of fully cooked sausages. When cooking these all you need to do is warm them up, and you can do this on your smoker, or in a skillet, in the oven or whatever.

To play is safe, just look at the label to see what method you need to use to cook them, and also the safe internal temperature.

 

[Drake]

I use smoked sausage (precooked) and just throw it on about 20 min before the meat comes off. I usually put it on the pit though. I like to let it get hot enough to leak out some of the grease. But with precooked as long as its warm its good to go. If you go the route of raw youll want to bring it to a IT of 165 degrees.