I'm just about ready to jump into the world of jerky. My new dehydrator should be here any day. I have already gone thru most of the threads in this section to copy out recipes and to learn what pitfalls to watch out for. I thank all those members who have contributed to minimizing my learning curve. Like others I would prefer to minimize my salt intake to better my health and eliminate the lectures from the wife and doctor.
Due to my bacon curing projects I realize the salt acts as an agent to draw the cure into the meat. My bacon projects have been done using MTQ that in itself includes substantial salt thus my reasons for switching to Cure #1. While a lot of recipes include soy sauce, a major source of salt, a number of recipes either have no apparent source of salt or prescribe 1 to 1-1/2 tsp per pound of meat. My first recipe attempts will be those with minimal salt. How much salt do I need to make the cure #1 to function? Is there enough salt within the cure itself to draw the nitrates into the meat, considering jerky tends to be in the 1/4" thickness range?
Due to my bacon curing projects I realize the salt acts as an agent to draw the cure into the meat. My bacon projects have been done using MTQ that in itself includes substantial salt thus my reasons for switching to Cure #1. While a lot of recipes include soy sauce, a major source of salt, a number of recipes either have no apparent source of salt or prescribe 1 to 1-1/2 tsp per pound of meat. My first recipe attempts will be those with minimal salt. How much salt do I need to make the cure #1 to function? Is there enough salt within the cure itself to draw the nitrates into the meat, considering jerky tends to be in the 1/4" thickness range?
