Cure & Salt
The two weights you never guess: cure #1 and salt for your exact batch, in grams.
Cure #1, at 0.25% of the meat. Then add 39.7 g of salt separately.
Cure #1 is not a seasoning
It carries sodium nitrite, which is dangerous above curing doses. This tool caps every result at the USDA limit of 156 ppm ingoing nitrite (0.25% cure #1 by meat weight). It will never tell you to add more. Weigh on a scale that reads to 0.1 g, keep the tub away from anyone who might mistake it for salt, and if a recipe calls for far more than this, it’s wrong. Cure #1 is for drying below 160°F or long storage; it is optional for quick, refrigerated jerky.
Weigh it,
don’t guess it.
Cure is a ratio to the meat, not a spoonful per recipe. Every figure below comes from one rule: 2.5 g of cure #1 per kilogram of meat, which is 0.25% and lands at the safe 156 ppm.
| Meat | Cure #1 | Salt |
|---|---|---|
| 1 lb | 1.13 g | 7.9 g |
| 5 lb | 5.7 g | 39.7 g |
| 1 kg | 2.5 g | 17.5 g |
| 2.27 kg (5 lb) | 5.7 g | 39.7 g |
Cure #1 = 6.25% sodium nitrite. 0.25% dose = 156 ppm ingoing nitrite (USDA max).
Straight answers
Do I even need cure #1 for jerky?
Not always. For a batch you’ll eat within a week or two and keep refrigerated, a good kill-step and clean handling are enough. Cure #1 earns its place for longer storage, for low-and-slow drying below 160°F, and for the classic pink colour and tangy “cured” flavour. When you do use it, the amount is not a matter of taste, it’s a safety number.
What exactly is cure #1?
Cure #1 (also called Prague Powder #1 or pink curing salt) is 6.25% sodium nitrite blended into 93.75% salt, dyed pink so you never confuse it with table salt. The nitrite is what suppresses Clostridium botulinum and fixes the colour. It is toxic well above curing doses, which is exactly why you weigh it instead of eyeballing it.
Why 0.25% and 156 ppm?
Cure #1 is used at 2.5 g per kilogram of meat, 0.25% of the meat weight. At 6.25% nitrite, that works out to 156 parts per million of ingoing nitrite, the USDA maximum for this style of product. This calculator hard-caps at that figure, so it will never hand you an unsafe number no matter what you type.
Is the salt in cure #1 enough to season the meat?
No. The salt riding along in a 0.25% cure dose is tiny, under a fifth of a percent of the meat weight. You still add curing/seasoning salt separately, around 1.75% of the meat weight, which is the second number this tool gives you.
Can I scale a recipe that lists cure “per pound”?
Yes, that’s what this is for. One level teaspoon of cure #1 is roughly 5–6 g and is meant to cure about 5 lb of meat, but teaspoons pack unevenly. Weigh instead: about 1.13 g of cure #1 per pound of meat. Enter your real batch weight and use the gram figure.
What scale do I need?
A digital scale that reads to 0.1 g. Curing doses for a home batch are only a few grams total, so a kitchen scale that jumps in 1 g steps isn’t precise enough. Weigh the cure, don’t measure it by volume.