Cure Calculator

Salt, sugar and curing salt, in grams

Tell it what you are curing and how. It works out each ingredient from the label of your curing salt and checks the nitrite against the federal maximum for that product and method.

01 What are you making?

Bacon (pork belly)Weigh the belly without its skin. Other whole muscleHam, loin, Canadian bacon, corned beef, pastrami, coppa, lonza, bresaola. Sausage (ground meat)Weigh the meat and fat together (the meat block).

02 How are you curing it?

Dry rubEvery gram of the rub stays on the meat. Equilibrium brineMeat sits in a weighed amount of water until salt and cure even out. Injected brineBrine is pumped into the meat with a needle, then weighed. Mixed into the meatCure, salt and sugar are mixed into the ground meat.

Sausage is always mixed in; bacon and whole muscles use a dry rub, an equilibrium brine or an injected brine.

03 Weights

Meat weight Unit Water (equilibrium brine)1 ml of water weighs 1 g. Enough to cover the meat. Pump (injected brine, % of the meat's weight)Weigh the meat before and after injecting to know it. Extra brine to make (%)Some brine always stays in the jug.

04 Salt and sugar

Salt (% of the weight, in all)Your recipe's choice. The salt that comes in the curing salt counts towards it. Sugar (% of the weight)

05 Your curing salt

Cure #1Sodium nitrite in salt, often dyed pink. Cure #2Nitrite and nitrate in salt, for long dry cures. Not for bacon.

Sodium nitrite on the label (%)Type the number printed on YOUR packet: curing salts differ a lot. If the label also lists sodium or potassium nitrate, choose Cure #2 and type both. Sodium nitrate on the label (%, Cure #2)From the packet. Brinescale has no default for it.

Brinescale counts the rest of the packet as salt. If the label lists sugar as well, the meat ends up with a little less salt than your target.

06 Target sodium nitrite

Target (ppm, parts per million)

Maximum for this choice

156.25 ppm

Where each figure comes from

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