# Temp or Salt



## Mofroggy (Jan 19, 2021)

My brother and I have just started making ground meat jerky with our dehydrators and we have questions.
If you use curing salt does that make the jerky "safe" from "germs"?
Does using curing salt have the same effect as heating to 160 degrees?
My dehydrator only gets to 150 degrees, if I use curing salt will the meat be safe to eat or do I have to heat it in the oven to 160 degrees internal temperature?
If we do heat in the oven to 160 internal is the minute it gets to 160 is the meat safe or do you have to "dwell" at 160 for some length of time to make the jerky safe?
Thanks for any input!
Joe


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## CFLJOHN512 (Jan 19, 2021)

The internal temp needs to reach 160°. With cure you won’t have to get it to that temp.


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## SmokinEdge (Jan 19, 2021)

The cure #1 kills botulism. The heat and drying kills whatever else.  150 is fine.


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## hoity toit (Jan 19, 2021)

always use cure, when I dry jerky I do it slowly and never go over 120*. Usually 24 hrs dries substaintially then I put in a brown paper bag so it can breathe and completely dry the moisture out.


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## JC in GB (Jan 19, 2021)

*Generally speaking....*

*Salt is used to stall spoilage bacteria

Nitrate is used to stop botulism

Sanitation is used to stop listeria and other harmful contaminants

Cooking and/or drying are used to make product bacteriologically stable

Low pH reduces harmful bacteria growth

Low water mobility Aw reduces harmful bacteria growth

Pasteurization temperatures kill bacteria

Bacterial cultures are used to lower meat pH to retard dangerous bacteria growth

You need to add bacteriological controls depending on how long the meat needs to be in the optimum bacterial growth temperature range.

Examples:

Fresh sausage like brats need only cooking but they should never come to room temp unless cooked first.

Hot smoked sausages will use salt and cure #1 as the time that the sausage will be in bacteria growth temperatures will be several hours.

Dry cured products use greater amounts of salt and may also use specialized fermenting bacteria, molds, yeasts, and Cure #2 along with slow drying until the product becomes stable.

Ground meat always has more bacteria than whole muscle meats.

For ground meat jerky, I would make sure I was using the right amount of salt and Cure #1

150 F is fine just make sure the meat is well dried to prevent spoilage.

JC  *


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## Mofroggy (Jan 19, 2021)

Where would I go about getting some Cure #1?
Thanks,
Joe


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## JC in GB (Jan 19, 2021)

Mofroggy said:


> Where would I go about getting some Cure #1?
> Thanks,
> Joe





			Search Results | The Sausage Maker, Inc.
		


You can get most sausage supplies here.

JC


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## BGKYSmoker (Jan 19, 2021)

Here. Dont guess.
Use of cure 1 also goes for the dehydrator. You can mix cure1 into any liquid or dry that you would use for ground meat. If you make 2.5 pounds of ground jerky, cut the cure amount to 1/2 tsp

CURES - Cures are used in sausage products for color and flavor development as well as retarding the development of bacteria in the low temperature environment of smoked meats.
Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word "cure" refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.
The primary and most important reason to use cures is to prevent BOTULISM POISONING (Food poisoning). It is very important that any kind of meat or sausage that will be cooked and smoked at low temperature be cured. To trigger botulism poisoning, the requirements are quite simple - lack of oxygen, the presence of moisture, and temperatures in range of 40-140° F. When smoking meats, the heat and smoke eliminates the oxygen. The meats have moisture and are traditionally smoked and cooked in the low ranges of 90 to 185° F. As you can see, these are ideal conditions for food poisoning if you don't use cures. There are two types of commercially used cures.

Prague Powder #1
Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. Cures are used to prevent meats from spoiling when being cooked or smoked at low temperatures (under 200 degrees F). This cure is 1 part sodium nitrite (6.25%) and 16 parts salt (93.75%) and are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to ‘gas out’ at about 130 degrees F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20% of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Mix with cold water, then mix into meat like you would mix seasonings into meat.

Prague Powder #2
Used to dry-cure products. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. (1 oz. of sodium nitrite with .64 oz. of sodium nitrate to each lb. of salt.) It is primarily used in dry-curing Use with products that do not require cooking, smoking, or refrigeration. This cure, which is sodium nitrate, acts like a time release, slowly breaking down into sodium nitrite, then into nitric oxide. This allows you to dry cure products that take much longer to cure.  A cure with sodium nitrite would dissipate too quickly.  Use 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat when mixing with meat. When using a cure in a brine solution, follow a recipe.


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## cnl390 (Feb 11, 2021)

I am going to be making jerky this weekend using 2 lbs of eye of round sliced to 1/8".  My marinade is going to contain 2.5 cups of liquid, spices, brown sugar etc.  To this I am going to add 3.6 grams of #1 cure.  Is this the right amount, and how long should I marinade?


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 11, 2021)

You might want to slice thicker, like 1/4". You will loose moisture and your 1/8" will end up like paper.


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## cnl390 (Feb 11, 2021)

Thanks, I will do that.


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## BGKYSmoker (Feb 11, 2021)

cnl390 said:


> I am going to be making jerky this weekend using 2 lbs of eye of round sliced to 1/8".  My marinade is going to contain 2.5 cups of liquid, spices, brown sugar etc.  To this I am going to add 3.6 grams of #1 cure.  Is this the right amount, and how long should I marinade?


This looks good for your jerky.
Marinade can go from just a few hours to over night.. Dont rinse the marinade off before you smoke or dehydrate


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