Tried to replicate the sausages sold at the night markets in Taiwan, which are similar to Chinese sausage in terms of flavor, but not as dried out.

Method

Used ratio for ingredients based on this recipe: http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Lop%20Chong.pdf. (Added fried garlic) Used this video for inspiration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKEGkrl2zL0).

For meat, 3lbs pork butt and 1 lb pork belly. Ground with medium grind plate.

Added a bit more salt and fish sauce after doing a test fry.

Did 3 batches, one with curing salt and dried, one without curing salt and dried, and one dried on a rack in the fridge. Drying time was 28 hours.

First 2 batch dried at room temp (~70-75F) in the pantry with a fan at low speed.

Result

Messed up on ratio for some of the ingredients. For 5 spice and pepper, left out a zero and so ended up with 10x more of those ingredients. For liquid ingredients, misread volume measurements as weight.

Overall sausages were dry and crumbly and sausages dried room temp were a bit more so. Excessive 5 spice and pepper made the sausage almost inedible.

Troubleshooting

Might have overmixed the meat, mixed twice afterwards to add more salt and then fish sauce.

Maybe use a larger grinding plate next time or dice the meat by hand. Or grind the meat but dice the pork fat.

Maybe sausages were overcooked? Next time don't steam and just pan fry.

Try drying for a longer period (2-3 days) to see difference in taste and texture. Also make links thinner next time either squeeze them or use different casing (collagen or sheep?). Make sure to hang all links vertically so they don't bend.

Questions

Is curing salt necessary? Didn't get sick from the dried version without curing salt.