A cost effective, time effective, and environmentally friendly sausage product and process for making sausage. Embodiments include a unique meat emulsion comprised of lean meat mixture, powdered vinegar, and encapsulated food grade acid. The process of combining these ingredients, and the resultant product itself, provide a distinct advantage. That is, combination of these ingredients prevents the meat emulsion from falling apart during the curing process, particularly when the meat emulsion is cured by naturally smoking the meat. The process of the present invention is thought to be most useful for ensuring that the meat emulsion remains intact during the curing process thereby reducing production time and costs, and eliminating wasted production materials.