Example: scale salt with food mass
At an example 2% of food weight, 750 g food needs 750 × 0.02 = 15 g plain salt. A 1,500 g batch at that same percentage needs 30 g salt. Keep added water at zero for this dry-salting calculation.
Weigh the food without the container. If your recipe requires a specific curing-salt product, this plain-salt amount is not a substitute for its prescribed dose. Salt already present in food is outside this model; follow the recipe's handling and storage method separately.
Salt from food mass
Multiply the food's mass by the recipe percentage divided by 100. An example 2% ratio on 1,000 g food gives 20 g plain salt. The 2% default demonstrates the calculation; it does not specify a process for a particular food.
Weigh the food without its container. If your recipe specifies a trimmed, deboned or drained weight, use that weight rather than the purchased weight.
Include water only when your recipe does
With zero added water, the food-plus-water formula becomes a food-only formula. If you later enter water, the calculator will include it in the denominator. This changes the salt amount for the same percentage.
A recipe that includes added salt in its total mass uses another denominator. Check the definition before comparing results from different tools.
Plain salt only
Nitrite curing salts contain ingredients that require separate calculations. They cannot be substituted gram-for-gram for plain salt using this tool. The result also does not specify curing time, water activity or shelf life.
Already salted or injected food is outside the simple ingredient model. Follow your recipe's instructions for those ingredients.