How can I cook sausage without a smoker?

Shane from Ashland, NE said:

Brad,

Having five daughters, one just starting college, money is tight - so no Bradley Smoker at my house. Is there another way to cook my summer sausage?

Thanks,

Shane

Sure, you can smoke your products in a household oven. However, you will need to add liquid smoke to the meat batch during the grinding process. This will add the smoke flavor rather than the natural wood smoke. 

In my Advanced Sausage Processing DVD, we cover this topic and one thing to be very careful of is the amount of liquid smoke you use and how you mix it into the meat. If you add too much, you can really give your product a bitter smoke flavor. Also, because you are adding such a small amount, it's very difficult to mix it evenly though out the meat, so mix the liquid smoke with a cup or so of water, depending on how large a batch you are making. Then add it to your meat. This will dilute the liquid smoke and help you get it evenly spread though out your meat batch. 

During the cooking process, be sure to put a large pan of water in the bottom to keep moisture in your oven. Also, see the other blog question under summer sausage about the addition of non fat dry milk to keep the product solid.

Good luck Shane and thanks for the question,

Meat man!