The Craft & Science of Curing Meat
Cure safely.
Cure correctly.
Cure with confidence.
Learn the craft and science of curing meat safely, from simple first projects to reliable curing systems built from the ground up.
Preserving tradition through understanding the science
Working notes, kept since 2004
The craft and science of curing meat.
Good curing is not guesswork. It is tradition guided by understanding, craft strengthened by science, and patience supported by reliable systems. This is where you learn to do it properly.no shortcuts, just process.
Water activity, awbench meter
0.91 and below, spoilage is increasingly held back. a target, not a guarantee.
- Curing since
- 2004
- Curers in community
- 39,000+
- Cures mapped
- 368
- Calculators
- 11
The craft
Home curing · commercial · teaching
20+ years at the bench, and still learning the meat.
Gilbert Ferreira has been curing since 2004: from a backyard drum smoker to a commercial charcuterie, teaching four-day courses, and working alongside meat scientists on the why behind the craft. Honest sausage-making, whole muscles hung to age, and the judgement that only comes from watching thousands of them dry.
The Curesmith brings that experience into one place, so you can learn curing properly rather than following recipes blind.
still learning the meat. — Gilbert
House rules
What The Curesmith stands for
Four ideas run through everything here.
Practical guidance over guesswork
Every method here is one we have made, measured and would make again. No folklore passed off as fact.
Understanding before ambition
Learn why a step matters before you attempt the hard projects. The science is here to serve the meat, not to impress.
Better process, better product
Repeatable results come from controlling the few things that matter: salt, temperature, humidity and time.
Building skills, step by step
Start with a simple cure, prove it, then move on. Confidence is earned one batch at a time.
The tools
11 calculators · 1 wizard
Stop estimating. Weigh, calculate, cure.
Eleven calculators and a guided Wizard take the guesswork out of ratios, so every batch is repeatable. Curing mathematics are not approximate.
The Atlas
368 entries · mapped by region
368 cured meats, mapped.
From Culatello di Zibello to Jamón Ibérico, every entry placed in its region, with the meat, the method and the microclimate that shape it. A reference and a way to answer one question: what cure is this?
The Codex
the encyclopaedia of curing
Every curing term in one place.
Culatello? aW? Staphylococcus aureus? Puntatura? Sugna? Auger?
The Curesmith Codex is the encyclopaedia of curing: ingredients, organisms, techniques, concepts, faults and the salumi themselves, each explained clearly and cross-linked to the rest.
Recipes
A path · 4 flagships to start
A path through the craft, one project at a time.
Start at the first cure and work along. Each project proves a technique you will use again and again.
weigh it, prove it, then lock it in.
- Sea salt
- 2.9%
- Dextrose
- 0.3%
- Cracked pepper
- 0.5%
- Juniper, crushed
- 0.2%
- Cure #2
- from calculator
- Target loss
- ≥ 38%
The first cureThe home kitchenClassic Streaky BaconThe best place to begin. Salt, time and a little smoke turn a pork belly into something you will not buy again, and it teaches you what curing actually does.
Dry sausageCataloniaClassic FuetA slender Catalan dry sausage, and the honest way into fermentation. Simple seasoning leaves nowhere to hide, so the ferment and the drying curve do the talking.
Whole muscleEmilia-RomagnaCoppaThe pork neck, salted whole and hung to dry. A patient lesson in even moisture loss and in reading a muscle as it ages.
Dry sausageFranceClassic Saucisson SecPork, fat, salt and culture, and nothing to hide behind. The classic study in restraint and a steady, unhurried drying curve.
Community and enquiry
39,000+ curers · one lesson a week
For serious home and artisan curers who want to get it right.
People who value tradition, but also want evidence, process and clarity. Join 39,000+ curing enthusiasts learning to move beyond recipes and build real confidence.
I would love for you to be part of it. Come and join me. — Gilbert
Field guide
8 Curing Problems: How to Diagnose, Fix, and Prevent Them
Recognise the common curing problems, understand what causes them, and prevent them before they ruin a batch.
Get the guide