Favorite Commerically made sausage to smoke?
 

I know a bunch of you make your own sausage but I'm talking about already premade sausages like Brats. It needs to be in a casing so all fatties are out.

I smoked commerical italian sausages before and I honestly don't see an improvement with the smoke. I really enjoy eating Johnsonville Brats so I might give that a shot.

Anyone got a favorite sausage they buy from the butcher they like to smoke? Especially regional ones like German Bratwursts, English Cumberlands, Polish Kielbasas (though I never see them raw).

My go to way of cooking Johnsonville brats is smoking them. I like the way they turn out a lot better than if you grill them.

There are a couple butchers in my area that sell different kinds of raw sausages and they turn out great as well.

Out here, there is a company called Caggiano Sausage Company that makes all manner of fresh sausage in casings. All of them smoke up great, but, I really like smoked chorizo, smoked chicken apple and smoked garlic. I use a simple applewood smoke, usually over lump. Low temperature, around 225F.

I also like getting fresh bratwurst, Wisonsin bratwurst, and a couple of the other types of sausage from the Lockeford Sausage Company, which usually has a great selection of sausages.

For raw sausages, my favorites to pick up at the butcher and put in smoke are brats and bbq sausage (that's what they call it and it's good but I don't know the recipe). For cooked sausages, I really love garlic knockwurst and kielbasa.

Can't forget about fatties either!:thumb:

Incidentally, kielbasas are never seen raw because they are, by definition, Polish garlic sausage that has been smoked. Unsmoked, they are not kielbasa.

I haven't bought commercial in a couple years, but I did used to buy hot links - love those things!

And, I don't know if you can get them out your way, but when I lived in TX we'd get Elgin and New Braunfels sausage - it's been many, many years since I've eaten that stuff and I still remember how farking good it was. It doesn't seem to be available around here that I'm aware of, and I would buy that stuff if it were.

Yep. And DOUBLE smoked they're even better.

i'm a fan of Cajun sausages such as Manda, Savoie's & Richards ("Ree-Shards").

Speaking of sausage, I used to be a big fan of Aidells Andouille sausage, but it seems as if they have changed the recipe, and it's not nearly as good as if used to be. Does anyone have a good replacement recommendation?

I like Azars which I have trouble finding these days. I also like Nettles.

Dave, if you can find them, try Caggiano Andouille, they make a quality product. The Aidells stuff is not as good across the board as it once was.

Manda makes good andouille but Conecuh is my favorite! http://www.conecuhsausage.com/default.aspx

Landarc,
I respectively disagree with that statement. Fresh kielbasa is quite common. Local grocery carry's it from here-http://www.stanleysmarket.com/ as well as here- http://www.tanksmeats.com/products-i-12.html

also see this link- http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/ip/g/kielbasa.htm

Mike, I had that wrong, I will adjust my definition going forward. I was misinformed about the smoking part.

There's a butcher here that has a linguica that smokes up pretty good.

Other than that I go with brats or kielbasa.

Tried ring bologna, but didn't care for it.