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.