Detailed changes
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-MIT License
-
-Copyright (c) <year> <copyright holders>
-
-Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and
-associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
-without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
-copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
-following conditions:
-
-The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial
-portions of the Software.
-
-THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO
-EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
-IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
-USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
@@ -41,16 +41,23 @@ token count, plus overall metadata usage. I've used and tested them most with
Collaborates on git patches via [pr.pico.sh], a minimal patchbin service.
Covers both contributing and reviewing patch requests using `git format-patch`
and `git am`.
+- [computing-golden-ratio-typography](skills/computing-golden-ratio-typography/SKILL.md):
+ Computes Golden Ratio Typography line heights, spacing units, type scales, and
+ readable measures from a font file or explicit font metrics.
+- [cooking](skills/cooking/SKILL.md): Guides home cooking as a technically
+ grounded collaborator. Helps plan meals, use odds and ends, troubleshoot
+ techniques, handle substitutions, and reason through cuisine-specific flavor
+ logic without flattening regional traditions.
- [creating-tasks-through-lunatask](skills/creating-tasks-through-lunatask/SKILL.md):
Creates tasks and handoffs in [Lunatask] via [lune]. Tasks are just tasks.
Handoffs capture work to resume later across sessions without filling context
windows.
-- [formatting-commits](skills/formatting-commits/SKILL.md): Detects a project's
- commit style from recent history and formats messages accordingly. Supports
- Conventional Commits and kernel-style imperative commits.
- [fallback-code-review](skills/fallback-code-review/SKILL.md): Provides a
fallback-only external review flow via CLI tools like Amp, CodeRabbit, or
Kodus.
+- [formatting-commits](skills/formatting-commits/SKILL.md): Detects a project's
+ commit style from recent history and formats messages accordingly. Supports
+ Conventional Commits and kernel-style imperative commits.
- [frontend-accessibility](skills/frontend-accessibility/SKILL.md): Strives to
generate accessible HTML, React, and frontend code following WCAG 2.2 AA.
Prioritizes semantic HTML over ARIA, keyboard navigation, and screen reader
@@ -73,6 +80,10 @@ token count, plus overall metadata usage. I've used and tested them most with
with restricted tool access for parallel tasks across repositories. Requires
[the Pi coding agent][Pi]. Useful for summarizing git history or processing
large diffs without filling the main context window.
+- [licensing-with-reuse](skills/licensing-with-reuse/SKILL.md): Manages
+ REUSE-compliant licensing with the `reuse` CLI. Covers `reuse annotate`,
+ `.license` sidecars for prompt files, custom `LicenseRef-...` identifiers,
+ `LICENSES/`, project conventions, and `reuse lint`.
- [maintaining-aur-packages](skills/maintaining-aur-packages/SKILL.md): Creates
and updates AUR packages following Arch packaging standards. Covers PKGBUILDs
for source, `-bin`, and `-git` package types, checksums with `updpkgsums`,
@@ -96,6 +107,10 @@ token count, plus overall metadata usage. I've used and tested them most with
- [testing-with-gocuke-and-gherkin](skills/testing-with-gocuke-and-gherkin/SKILL.md):
Drives BDD, red/green TDD, and property-based testing in Go projects using
[gocuke] and Gherkin feature files.
+- [toki-pona-dictionary](skills/toki-pona-dictionary/SKILL.md): Searches the
+ [nimi.li] toki pona dictionary by English meaning. Caches word data locally
+ after a one-time fetch, then runs offline searches across definitions and
+ community usage tags.
- [updating-llm-client-model-lists](skills/updating-llm-client-model-lists/SKILL.md):
Synchronizes model configurations across Zed, Crush, Octofriend, and Pi from
Plexus' /v1/models endpoint.
@@ -123,6 +138,7 @@ token count, plus overall metadata usage. I've used and tested them most with
[gocuke]: https://github.com/tenntenn/gocuke
[lune]: https://git.secluded.site/lune
[Lunatask]: https://lunatask.app/
+[nimi.li]: https://nimi.li
[ntfy.sh]: https://ntfy.sh
[rumilo]: https://git.secluded.site/rumilo
[synu]: https://git.secluded.site/synu
@@ -271,7 +287,7 @@ Token breakdown:
Token breakdown:
Name: 8 tokens
Description: 32 tokens
- Body: 861 tokens (105 lines)
+ Body: 861 tokens (107 lines)
References:
checklist.md 301 tokens
patterns.md 880 tokens
@@ -305,6 +321,56 @@ Token breakdown:
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Total: 1664 tokens
+=== cooking ===
+
+Token breakdown:
+ Name: 6 tokens
+ Description: 157 tokens
+ Body: 2805 tokens (117 lines)
+ References:
+ cuisines/_index.md 1274 tokens
+ cuisines/caribbean/dish-boundaries.md 232 tokens
+ cuisines/caribbean/overview.md 730 tokens
+ cuisines/caribbean/pantry-techniques.md 399 tokens
+ cuisines/caribbean/regions.md 450 tokens
+ cuisines/chinese-regional/overview.md 1140 tokens
+ cuisines/chinese-regional/regions.md 500 tokens
+ cuisines/chinese-regional/substitutions.md 225 tokens
+ cuisines/chinese-regional/techniques-pantry.md 278 tokens
+ cuisines/german.md 642 tokens
+ cuisines/hawaiian.md 931 tokens
+ cuisines/indian/overview.md 873 tokens
+ cuisines/indian/pantry-substitutions.md 267 tokens
+ cuisines/indian/regions-communities.md 524 tokens
+ cuisines/indian/techniques.md 243 tokens
+ cuisines/irish-british.md 641 tokens
+ cuisines/japanese-home.md 673 tokens
+ cuisines/korean.md 761 tokens
+ cuisines/levantine.md 659 tokens
+ cuisines/mexican-regional/overview.md 761 tokens
+ cuisines/mexican-regional/pantry-substitutions.md 288 tokens
+ cuisines/mexican-regional/regions.md 402 tokens
+ cuisines/mexican-regional/techniques.md 237 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/egypt.md 146 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/gulf.md 149 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/maghreb.md 218 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/overview.md 820 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/pantry-techniques.md 266 tokens
+ cuisines/north-african-middle-eastern/persian.md 159 tokens
+ cuisines/sichuan/flavor-profiles.md 301 tokens
+ cuisines/sichuan/overview.md 774 tokens
+ cuisines/sichuan/pantry.md 225 tokens
+ cuisines/sichuan/pivots-history.md 151 tokens
+ cuisines/sichuan/techniques.md 195 tokens
+ example-conversations.md 1873 tokens
+ foundations.md 1335 tokens
+ introductions.md 532 tokens
+ searching-sources.md 693 tokens
+ substitutions-and-pivots.md 1086 tokens
+ techniques.md 2584 tokens
+ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
+ Total: 27605 tokens
+
=== creating-tasks-through-lunatask ===
Token breakdown:
@@ -345,33 +411,33 @@ Token breakdown:
Token breakdown:
Name: 7 tokens
Description: 52 tokens
- Body: 1080 tokens (148 lines)
+ Body: 1091 tokens (172 lines)
References:
antipatterns.md 1341 tokens
patterns.md 2279 tokens
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 4759 tokens
+ Total: 4770 tokens
=== handling-customer-data ===
Token breakdown:
Name: 9 tokens
Description: 46 tokens
- Body: 718 tokens (107 lines)
+ Body: 715 tokens (115 lines)
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 773 tokens
+ Total: 770 tokens
=== humanize ===
Token breakdown:
Name: 6 tokens
Description: 100 tokens
- Body: 1869 tokens (135 lines)
+ Body: 1886 tokens (152 lines)
References:
DETAILED_PATTERNS.md 1903 tokens
REPLACEMENTS.md 1125 tokens
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 5003 tokens
+ Total: 5020 tokens
=== ideating-with-bdd ===
@@ -402,16 +468,25 @@ Token breakdown:
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Total: 500 tokens
+=== licensing-with-reuse ===
+
+Token breakdown:
+ Name: 9 tokens
+ Description: 51 tokens
+ Body: 1282 tokens (142 lines)
+ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
+ Total: 1342 tokens
+
=== maintaining-aur-packages ===
Token breakdown:
Name: 9 tokens
Description: 58 tokens
- Body: 1439 tokens (103 lines)
+ Body: 1481 tokens (105 lines)
References:
build-patterns.md 1120 tokens
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 2626 tokens
+ Total: 2668 tokens
=== monitoring-with-munin ===
@@ -444,7 +519,7 @@ Token breakdown:
Token breakdown:
Name: 8 tokens
Description: 71 tokens
- Body: 2317 tokens (232 lines)
+ Body: 2317 tokens (239 lines)
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Total: 2396 tokens
@@ -462,7 +537,7 @@ Token breakdown:
Token breakdown:
Name: 8 tokens
Description: 46 tokens
- Body: 727 tokens (138 lines)
+ Body: 727 tokens (141 lines)
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Total: 781 tokens
@@ -478,14 +553,23 @@ Token breakdown:
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
Total: 2412 tokens
+=== toki-pona-dictionary ===
+
+Token breakdown:
+ Name: 11 tokens
+ Description: 86 tokens
+ Body: 250 tokens (24 lines)
+ โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
+ Total: 347 tokens
+
=== updating-llm-client-model-lists ===
Token breakdown:
Name: 13 tokens
Description: 50 tokens
- Body: 1204 tokens (134 lines)
+ Body: 1205 tokens (134 lines)
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 1267 tokens
+ Total: 1268 tokens
=== using-exe-dev ===
@@ -519,11 +603,11 @@ Token breakdown:
Token breakdown:
Name: 7 tokens
Description: 38 tokens
- Body: 821 tokens (107 lines)
+ Body: 846 tokens (109 lines)
References:
installing-git-format.md 22 tokens
โโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโโ
- Total: 888 tokens
+ Total: 913 tokens
=== writing-rust ===
@@ -540,18 +624,18 @@ Token breakdown:
SUMMARY
============================================================
-Skills: 28
-Metadata: 1835 tokens
-Combined bodies: 29666 tokens
-Overall: 57699 tokens
+Skills: 32
+Metadata: 2265 tokens
+Combined bodies: 35092 tokens
+Overall: 94780 tokens
Validation errors: 0
Largest skills (by total tokens):
- 1. ast-grep 5363 tokens
- 2. humanize 5003 tokens
- 3. frontend-accessibility 4759 tokens
- 4. authoring-skills 3834 tokens
- 5. notifying-through-ntfy 3355 tokens
+ 1. cooking 27605 tokens
+ 2. amoliths-go-opinions 7694 tokens
+ 3. ast-grep 5363 tokens
+ 4. humanize 5020 tokens
+ 5. frontend-accessibility 4770 tokens
```
---
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+---
+name: computing-golden-ratio-typography
+description: Computes Golden Ratio Typography line heights, spacing units, type scales, and readable measures from a font file or explicit font metrics. Use when tuning typography, CSS design tokens, line height, x-height correction, readable line lengths, or when the user mentions GRT or golden ratio typography.
+compatibility: Requires Python 3. Font-file measurement requires fontTools; WOFF2 input may require brotli support.
+license: LicenseRef-MutuaL-1.2
+metadata:
+ author: Amolith <amolith@secluded.site>
+---
+
+Computes Golden Ratio Typography values for one font or metric set and one
+geometry at a time.
+
+## Workflow
+
+1. Identify the typography target: font, font size, and either the content
+ measure in CSS px or the desired characters per line.
+2. Prefer a real font file with `--font`. Use `--mu` only when the font is not
+ available but the character constant is known.
+3. For body prose, the default English-prose weights are fine. For code,
+ non-English text, UI labels, or a distinctive writing style, pass
+ representative text with `--sample-text` or `--sample-file`.
+4. Run `scripts/compute_grt.py` once. Do not batch fonts or geometries; rerun
+ the command for each separate decision.
+5. Choose a line-height candidate. `h_base` is the uncorrected GRT line height
+ and is a fully legitimate default. `h_corrected` multiplies `h_base` by
+ `x_ratio * phi` (the code prints this as `x-ratio / 1/phi`); the correction is
+ 1.0 at the golden x-ratio `1/phi` (about 0.618), raises leading for fonts above
+ it, and lowers leading for fonts below it. For high-x-height fonts the
+ correction is large and `h_corrected` can overshoot, so prefer `h_base` unless
+ you have a specific reason to apply the correction. See "Reading the output"
+ for the sanity band.
+6. Transcribe the values into the project's existing CSS custom properties,
+ design tokens, or typography settings. Keep the project's naming scheme.
+
+## Commands
+
+```bash
+# Font file + known measure
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/compute_grt.py \
+ --font path/to/font.woff2 \
+ --size 16 \
+ --width 640
+
+# Font file + target line length; measure is derived
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/compute_grt.py \
+ --font path/to/font.woff2 \
+ --size 16 \
+ --cpl 65
+
+# Use representative text instead of the default English-prose weights
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/compute_grt.py \
+ --font path/to/font.woff2 \
+ --sample-file sample-prose.txt \
+ --size 16 \
+ --width 640
+
+# No font file available: provide mu and optional x-height correction data
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/compute_grt.py \
+ --mu 2.04 \
+ --x-ratio 0.72 \
+ --size 16 \
+ --cpl 65
+```
+
+If font measurement fails because `fontTools` is missing, install it in the
+environment used for this one-off calculation:
+
+```bash
+python3 -m pip install fonttools brotli
+```
+
+## Inputs worth choosing deliberately
+
+- `--width` / `--measure`: the line length actually read, in CSS px. This is the
+ measure text wraps to, NOT a container `max-width`; if real lines wrap shorter
+ than the container, pass the shorter value, or use `--cpl` instead. Prefer
+ `--cpl` for UI labels, captions, buttons, and other short or framed text.
+- `--cpl`: target characters per line when the measure should be derived.
+- `--sample-text` / `--sample-file`: representative text for weighted average
+ advance. This matters for monospace code views, localisation, or punctuation-
+ heavy UI copy.
+- `--x-ratio` or `--x-height` + `--cap-height`: overrides measured x-height data
+ or supplies correction data with `--mu`.
+- `--spacing-source base|corrected`: chooses whether spacing units derive from
+ `h_base` or `h_corrected`; default is `base` to match the GRT formula before
+ x-height correction. Derive the spacing scale once from your PRIMARY reading
+ surface's line-height, not from an outlier surface (do not compute spacing off
+ a chat-bubble measure and reuse it app-wide).
+- `--reference-cpl 45 55 65 75`: chooses which readable-measure references to
+ print. Pass `--reference-cpl` with no values to omit this section.
+
+## Reading the output
+
+- `mu` is the character constant: units per em divided by weighted average
+ advance.
+- `coverage` shows how much of the selected weighting text existed in the font.
+ Low coverage means the sample text is not representative for that font.
+- `h_base` is the GRT line height before x-height correction.
+- `h_corrected` applies `x-ratio / (1 / phi)` (equivalently `x-ratio * phi`) when
+ x-ratio data is available. The correction is 1.0 at the golden x-ratio `1/phi`
+ (about 0.618), raises leading for fonts above it, and lowers it for fonts
+ below. For high-x-height fonts the bump is large and `h_corrected` can overshoot
+ badly; `h_base` is often the better practical default.
+- `Measure reference` maps each requested CPL target back to a CSS-pixel measure
+ for the chosen font size and character constant.
+
+Body line-height ratios usually land around 1.4 to 1.7. A ratio above about 1.8
+almost always means the measure is too wide, or the x-height correction is large
+for a high-x-height font; re-check `--width`/`--cpl` and consider `h_base` before
+using it. The script prints a non-fatal advisory to stderr when
+`max(h_base, h_corrected) / size` exceeds 1.9.
+
+GRT models long-form prose columns, and leading rises with the measure for
+return-sweep comfort. For short, ragged, or framed text (chat bubbles, UI labels,
+captions, buttons, table cells), tune to the line length ACTUALLY read (a smaller
+CPL) and expect a value at or below `h_base`; do not feed it a wide column
+measure.
@@ -0,0 +1,705 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Amolith <amolith@secluded.site>
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-MutuaL-1.2
+
+"""Compute Golden Ratio Typography values for one font and one geometry.
+
+Metric source, choose one:
+ --font path/to/font.woff2
+ --mu 2.04 [--x-ratio 0.72]
+
+Geometry, choose one:
+ --size 16 --width 640
+ --size 16 --cpl 65
+
+Examples:
+ python3 scripts/compute_grt.py --font fonts/Inter-Regular.woff2 --size 16 --width 640
+ python3 scripts/compute_grt.py --font fonts/Inter-Regular.woff2 --size 16 --cpl 65
+ python3 scripts/compute_grt.py --font fonts/Mono.woff2 --sample-file prose.txt --size 15 --width 720
+ python3 scripts/compute_grt.py --mu 2.04 --x-height 545 --cap-height 730 --size 16 --cpl 65
+
+The script intentionally handles one font or metric set per invocation. Run it
+again for another font, size, or measure.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import math
+import sys
+from collections import Counter
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
+
+# Golden ratio and GRT constants.
+PHI = (1 + 5**0.5) / 2
+Q_LOWER = 1 + (PHI - 1) / PHI
+GOLDEN_X_RATIO = 1 / PHI
+DEFAULT_WIDTH_FACTOR = 34.0
+ADVISORY_RATIO = 1.9
+
+# English-like prose weights. The values are only weights; they do not need to
+# sum to exactly 100. Space is included because prose rhythm depends on it.
+DEFAULT_PROSE_WEIGHTS: dict[str, float] = {
+ " ": 17.0,
+ "e": 10.2,
+ "t": 7.7,
+ "a": 6.6,
+ "o": 6.3,
+ "i": 5.7,
+ "n": 5.7,
+ "s": 5.3,
+ "r": 5.0,
+ "h": 5.0,
+ "l": 3.3,
+ "d": 3.3,
+ "u": 2.3,
+ "c": 2.2,
+ "m": 2.0,
+ "f": 1.8,
+ "w": 1.7,
+ "g": 1.6,
+ "y": 1.6,
+ "p": 1.5,
+ "b": 1.2,
+ "v": 0.8,
+ "k": 0.5,
+ "j": 0.1,
+ "x": 0.1,
+ "q": 0.1,
+ "z": 0.07,
+ ",": 1.0,
+ ".": 0.7,
+ "'": 0.3,
+ "-": 0.2,
+}
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class Coverage:
+ source: str
+ matched_weight: float
+ total_weight: float
+ missing_characters: tuple[str, ...]
+
+ @property
+ def matched_percent(self) -> float:
+ if self.total_weight == 0:
+ return 0.0
+ return self.matched_weight * 100 / self.total_weight
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class FontMetrics:
+ source: str
+ mu: float
+ units_per_em: int | None
+ avg_advance: float | None
+ x_height: float | None
+ cap_height: float | None
+ x_ratio: float | None
+ x_ratio_source: str
+ coverage: Coverage | None
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class Geometry:
+ size: float
+ width: float
+ cpl: float
+
+
+def positive_float(raw: str) -> float:
+ try:
+ value = float(raw)
+ except ValueError as error:
+ raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError("must be a number") from error
+ if not math.isfinite(value) or value <= 0:
+ raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(
+ "must be a finite number greater than 0"
+ )
+ return value
+
+
+def ratio_float(raw: str) -> float:
+ value = positive_float(raw)
+ if value <= 1:
+ raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError("must be greater than 1")
+ return value
+
+
+def non_negative_int(raw: str) -> int:
+ try:
+ value = int(raw, 10)
+ except ValueError as error:
+ raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError("must be an integer") from error
+ if value < 0:
+ raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError("must be 0 or greater")
+ return value
+
+
+def normalise_sample_text(text: str) -> str:
+ return "".join(" " if ch.isspace() else ch for ch in text)
+
+
+def weights_from_text(text: str, source: str) -> dict[str, float]:
+ counts = Counter(normalise_sample_text(text))
+ if not counts:
+ raise ValueError(f"{source} is empty")
+ return {ch: float(count) for ch, count in counts.items()}
+
+
+def load_weights(args: argparse.Namespace) -> tuple[str, dict[str, float]]:
+ if args.sample_text is not None:
+ return "sample text", weights_from_text(
+ args.sample_text, "--sample-text"
+ )
+ if args.sample_file is not None:
+ try:
+ text = args.sample_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+ except OSError as error:
+ raise ValueError(
+ f"cannot read --sample-file {args.sample_file}: {error}"
+ ) from error
+ except UnicodeDecodeError as error:
+ raise ValueError(
+ f"--sample-file {args.sample_file} is not valid UTF-8: {error}"
+ ) from error
+ return f"sample file {args.sample_file}", weights_from_text(
+ text, str(args.sample_file)
+ )
+ return "default English prose", dict(DEFAULT_PROSE_WEIGHTS)
+
+
+def glyph_name(font: object, codepoint: int) -> str | None:
+ cmap = font.getBestCmap()
+ if cmap is None:
+ return None
+ glyph = cmap.get(codepoint)
+ if glyph is None:
+ return None
+ if isinstance(glyph, int):
+ glyph_order = font.getGlyphOrder()
+ if 0 <= glyph < len(glyph_order):
+ return glyph_order[glyph]
+ return None
+ return glyph
+
+
+def weighted_average_advance(
+ font: object,
+ weights: dict[str, float],
+ weight_source: str,
+) -> tuple[float, Coverage]:
+ metrics = font["hmtx"].metrics
+ total_width = 0.0
+ matched_weight = 0.0
+ total_weight = 0.0
+ missing_characters: list[str] = []
+
+ for ch, weight in weights.items():
+ if weight <= 0:
+ continue
+ total_weight += weight
+ name = glyph_name(font, ord(ch))
+ if name is None or name not in metrics:
+ missing_characters.append(ch)
+ continue
+ total_width += float(metrics[name][0]) * weight
+ matched_weight += weight
+
+ if total_weight == 0:
+ raise ValueError(f"{weight_source} has no positive weights")
+ if matched_weight == 0:
+ raise ValueError(
+ f"no weighted characters from {weight_source} exist in the font"
+ )
+
+ coverage = Coverage(
+ source=weight_source,
+ matched_weight=matched_weight,
+ total_weight=total_weight,
+ missing_characters=tuple(missing_characters),
+ )
+ return total_width / matched_weight, coverage
+
+
+def os2_heights(
+ font: object,
+) -> tuple[float | None, float | None, str | None, str | None]:
+ os2 = font.get("OS/2")
+ if os2 is None:
+ return None, None, None, None
+
+ sx_height = float(getattr(os2, "sxHeight", 0) or 0)
+ cap_height = float(getattr(os2, "sCapHeight", 0) or 0)
+ x_value = sx_height if sx_height > 0 else None
+ cap_value = cap_height if cap_height > 0 else None
+ x_source = "OS/2 sxHeight" if x_value is not None else None
+ cap_source = "OS/2 sCapHeight" if cap_value is not None else None
+ return x_value, cap_value, x_source, cap_source
+
+
+def glyph_y_max(
+ font: object, candidates: tuple[str, ...]
+) -> tuple[float | None, str | None]:
+ from fontTools.pens.boundsPen import BoundsPen
+
+ glyph_set = font.getGlyphSet()
+ for ch in candidates:
+ name = glyph_name(font, ord(ch))
+ if name is None:
+ continue
+ try:
+ glyph = glyph_set[name]
+ except KeyError:
+ continue
+ pen = BoundsPen(glyph_set)
+ glyph.draw(pen)
+ if pen.bounds is None:
+ continue
+ _x_min, _y_min, _x_max, y_max = pen.bounds
+ if y_max > 0:
+ return float(y_max), f"glyph bounds for {ch!r}"
+ return None, None
+
+
+def measured_x_ratio(
+ font: object,
+) -> tuple[float | None, float | None, float | None, str]:
+ x_height, cap_height, x_source, cap_source = os2_heights(font)
+
+ if x_height is None:
+ x_height, x_source = glyph_y_max(font, ("x", "o"))
+ if cap_height is None:
+ cap_height, cap_source = glyph_y_max(font, ("H", "T"))
+
+ if x_height is None or cap_height is None:
+ return x_height, cap_height, None, "not available"
+ return (
+ x_height,
+ cap_height,
+ x_height / cap_height,
+ f"{x_source} / {cap_source}",
+ )
+
+
+def measure_font(
+ path: Path, weights: dict[str, float], weight_source: str
+) -> FontMetrics:
+ try:
+ from fontTools.ttLib import TTFont, TTLibError
+ except ImportError as error:
+ raise ValueError(
+ "reading --font requires fontTools; install it with "
+ "`python3 -m pip install fonttools brotli`"
+ ) from error
+
+ try:
+ font = TTFont(str(path))
+ except (OSError, TTLibError) as error:
+ raise ValueError(f"cannot read font {path}: {error}") from error
+
+ try:
+ try:
+ units_per_em = int(font["head"].unitsPerEm)
+ _ = font["hmtx"].metrics
+ except KeyError as error:
+ raise ValueError(
+ f"font {path} is missing required table {error}"
+ ) from error
+
+ avg_advance, coverage = weighted_average_advance(
+ font, weights, weight_source
+ )
+ x_height, cap_height, x_ratio, x_ratio_source = measured_x_ratio(font)
+ finally:
+ font.close()
+
+ return FontMetrics(
+ source=f"font {path}",
+ mu=units_per_em / avg_advance,
+ units_per_em=units_per_em,
+ avg_advance=avg_advance,
+ x_height=x_height,
+ cap_height=cap_height,
+ x_ratio=x_ratio,
+ x_ratio_source=x_ratio_source,
+ coverage=coverage,
+ )
+
+
+def with_manual_x_metrics(
+ metrics: FontMetrics,
+ x_ratio: float | None,
+ x_height: float | None,
+ cap_height: float | None,
+) -> FontMetrics:
+ if x_ratio is None and x_height is None and cap_height is None:
+ return metrics
+
+ if x_ratio is not None:
+ return FontMetrics(
+ source=metrics.source,
+ mu=metrics.mu,
+ units_per_em=metrics.units_per_em,
+ avg_advance=metrics.avg_advance,
+ x_height=metrics.x_height,
+ cap_height=metrics.cap_height,
+ x_ratio=x_ratio,
+ x_ratio_source="manual --x-ratio",
+ coverage=metrics.coverage,
+ )
+
+ assert x_height is not None
+ assert cap_height is not None
+ return FontMetrics(
+ source=metrics.source,
+ mu=metrics.mu,
+ units_per_em=metrics.units_per_em,
+ avg_advance=metrics.avg_advance,
+ x_height=x_height,
+ cap_height=cap_height,
+ x_ratio=x_height / cap_height,
+ x_ratio_source="manual --x-height/--cap-height",
+ coverage=metrics.coverage,
+ )
+
+
+def manual_metrics(
+ mu: float,
+ x_ratio: float | None,
+ x_height: float | None,
+ cap_height: float | None,
+) -> FontMetrics:
+ if x_ratio is None and x_height is not None and cap_height is not None:
+ x_ratio = x_height / cap_height
+ x_ratio_source = "manual --x-height/--cap-height"
+ elif x_ratio is not None:
+ x_ratio_source = "manual --x-ratio"
+ else:
+ x_ratio_source = "not supplied"
+
+ return FontMetrics(
+ source="manual --mu",
+ mu=mu,
+ units_per_em=None,
+ avg_advance=None,
+ x_height=x_height,
+ cap_height=cap_height,
+ x_ratio=x_ratio,
+ x_ratio_source=x_ratio_source,
+ coverage=None,
+ )
+
+
+def cpl_for_width(width: float, size: float, mu: float) -> float:
+ assert width > 0
+ assert size > 0
+ assert mu > 0
+ return width * mu / size
+
+
+def width_for_cpl(cpl: float, size: float, mu: float) -> float:
+ assert cpl > 0
+ assert size > 0
+ assert mu > 0
+ return cpl * size / mu
+
+
+def geometry_from_args(args: argparse.Namespace, mu: float) -> Geometry:
+ if args.width is not None:
+ width = args.width
+ cpl = cpl_for_width(width, args.size, mu)
+ else:
+ assert args.cpl is not None
+ cpl = args.cpl
+ width = width_for_cpl(cpl, args.size, mu)
+ return Geometry(size=args.size, width=width, cpl=cpl)
+
+
+def grt_line_height(
+ size: float,
+ width: float,
+ mu: float,
+ x_ratio: float | None,
+ width_factor: float,
+) -> tuple[float, float, float]:
+ """Return base line height, corrected line height, and correction factor.
+
+ From https://grtcalculator.com/math/:
+ width factor x_w = CPL / mu
+ content width w = CPL * f / mu, therefore CPL = w * mu / f
+ h_base = f * (q_lower + (phi - q_lower) * (CPL / x_w))
+
+ The default width factor is 34, matching the public GRT calculator.
+ """
+ assert size > 0
+ assert width > 0
+ assert mu > 0
+ assert width_factor > 0
+
+ cpl = cpl_for_width(width, size, mu)
+ h_base = size * (Q_LOWER + (PHI - Q_LOWER) * (cpl / width_factor))
+ correction = (x_ratio / GOLDEN_X_RATIO) if x_ratio is not None else 1.0
+ h_corrected = h_base * correction
+ return h_base, h_corrected, correction
+
+
+def describe_character(ch: str) -> str:
+ if ch == " ":
+ return "space"
+ if ch.isprintable():
+ return ch
+ return f"U+{ord(ch):04X}"
+
+
+def describe_missing(characters: tuple[str, ...]) -> str:
+ if not characters:
+ return "none"
+ limit = 12
+ shown = ", ".join(describe_character(ch) for ch in characters[:limit])
+ remaining = len(characters) - limit
+ if remaining > 0:
+ return f"{shown}, โฆ ({remaining} more)"
+ return shown
+
+
+def fmt_optional(value: float | int | None, suffix: str = "") -> str:
+ if value is None:
+ return "N/A"
+ if isinstance(value, int):
+ return f"{value}{suffix}"
+ return f"{value:.4f}{suffix}"
+
+
+def print_report(
+ args: argparse.Namespace, metrics: FontMetrics, geometry: Geometry
+) -> tuple[float, float]:
+ h_base, h_corrected, correction = grt_line_height(
+ geometry.size,
+ geometry.width,
+ metrics.mu,
+ metrics.x_ratio,
+ args.width_factor,
+ )
+ spacing_h = h_corrected if args.spacing_source == "corrected" else h_base
+
+ print("Golden Ratio Typography")
+ print("=======================")
+ print(f"metric source: {metrics.source}")
+ print(f"mu: {metrics.mu:.4f} (character constant)")
+ print(f"units/em: {fmt_optional(metrics.units_per_em)}")
+ print(f"avg advance: {fmt_optional(metrics.avg_advance)}")
+ if metrics.coverage is not None:
+ print(f"weights: {metrics.coverage.source}")
+ print(
+ f"coverage: {metrics.coverage.matched_percent:.1f}% weight matched; "
+ f"missing: {describe_missing(metrics.coverage.missing_characters)}"
+ )
+ print(f"x-height: {fmt_optional(metrics.x_height)}")
+ print(f"cap-height: {fmt_optional(metrics.cap_height)}")
+ print(
+ f"x-ratio: {fmt_optional(metrics.x_ratio)} ({metrics.x_ratio_source})"
+ )
+ print(f"correction: {correction:.4f} (x-ratio / 1/phi)")
+ print()
+
+ print("Geometry")
+ print("--------")
+ print(f"font size: {geometry.size:g}px")
+ print(f"measure: {geometry.width:.3f}px")
+ print(f"cpl: {geometry.cpl:.1f}")
+ print(f"width factor: {args.width_factor:g}")
+ print()
+
+ print("Line height")
+ print("-----------")
+ print(f"h_base: {h_base:.3f}px ratio {h_base / geometry.size:.4f}")
+ print(
+ f"h_corrected: {h_corrected:.3f}px ratio {h_corrected / geometry.size:.4f}"
+ )
+ print()
+
+ print(f"Spacing units (from h_{args.spacing_source})")
+ print("-----------------------------")
+ print(f"h/phi^2: {spacing_h / PHI**2:.3f}px")
+ print(f"h/phi: {spacing_h / PHI:.3f}px")
+ print(f"h: {spacing_h:.3f}px")
+ print(f"h*phi: {spacing_h * PHI:.3f}px")
+ print(f"h*phi^2: {spacing_h * PHI**2:.3f}px")
+ print()
+
+ print(f"Type scale (ratio {args.scale_ratio:g}, root {args.root_size:g}px)")
+ print("----------------------------------------")
+ for step in range(-args.scale_steps, args.scale_steps + 1):
+ px = geometry.size * (args.scale_ratio**step)
+ rem = px / args.root_size
+ print(f"step {step:+d}: {px:7.3f}px {rem:.4f}rem")
+
+ if args.reference_cpl:
+ print()
+ print("Measure reference")
+ print("-----------------")
+ for target in args.reference_cpl:
+ width = width_for_cpl(target, geometry.size, metrics.mu)
+ print(f"{target:g} cpl: {width:.1f}px")
+
+ return h_base, h_corrected
+
+
+def maybe_advisory(h_base: float, h_corrected: float, size: float) -> None:
+ assert size > 0
+ ratio = max(h_base, h_corrected) / size
+ if ratio > ADVISORY_RATIO:
+ print(
+ f"advisory: line-height ratio {ratio:.2f} is unusually high; "
+ "confirm --width/--cpl reflects the actual read length, and "
+ "consider h_base.",
+ file=sys.stderr,
+ )
+
+
+def parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+ p = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+ description=__doc__,
+ formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
+ )
+
+ metric = p.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
+ metric.add_argument(
+ "--font", type=Path, help="path to one font file (woff2/woff/ttf/otf)"
+ )
+ metric.add_argument(
+ "--mu",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="character constant, used when no font file is available",
+ )
+
+ geometry = p.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
+ geometry.add_argument(
+ "--width",
+ "--measure",
+ dest="width",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="content measure in CSS px",
+ )
+ geometry.add_argument(
+ "--cpl",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="target characters per line; measure is derived from it",
+ )
+
+ samples = p.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
+ samples.add_argument(
+ "--sample-text",
+ help="representative text for weighted advance calculation",
+ )
+ samples.add_argument(
+ "--sample-file",
+ type=Path,
+ help="UTF-8 file of representative text for weighted advance calculation",
+ )
+
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--size", required=True, type=positive_float, help="font size in CSS px"
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--x-ratio",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="manual x-height/cap-height ratio, overriding measured font data",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--x-height",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="manual x-height in font units; requires --cap-height",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--cap-height",
+ type=positive_float,
+ help="manual cap height in font units; requires --x-height",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--width-factor",
+ type=positive_float,
+ default=DEFAULT_WIDTH_FACTOR,
+ help="GRT width factor; default 34",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--spacing-source",
+ choices=("base", "corrected"),
+ default="base",
+ help="line height used for spacing units; default base",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--scale-steps",
+ type=non_negative_int,
+ default=4,
+ help="type scale steps each direction; default 4",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--scale-ratio",
+ type=ratio_float,
+ default=1.2,
+ help="type scale ratio; default 1.2",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--root-size",
+ type=positive_float,
+ default=16.0,
+ help="root font size for rem output; default 16",
+ )
+ p.add_argument(
+ "--reference-cpl",
+ type=positive_float,
+ nargs="*",
+ default=[45.0, 55.0, 65.0, 75.0],
+ help="CPL values for measure reference; pass no values to omit",
+ )
+ return p
+
+
+def validate_args(p: argparse.ArgumentParser, args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
+ height_count = int(args.x_height is not None) + int(
+ args.cap_height is not None
+ )
+ if height_count == 1:
+ p.error("--x-height and --cap-height must be used together")
+ if args.x_ratio is not None and height_count > 0:
+ p.error("--x-ratio cannot be combined with --x-height/--cap-height")
+ if args.mu is not None and (
+ args.sample_text is not None or args.sample_file is not None
+ ):
+ p.error("--sample-text and --sample-file require --font")
+
+
+def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
+ p = parser()
+ args = p.parse_args(argv)
+ validate_args(p, args)
+
+ try:
+ if args.font is not None:
+ weight_source, weights = load_weights(args)
+ measured = measure_font(args.font, weights, weight_source)
+ metrics = with_manual_x_metrics(
+ measured, args.x_ratio, args.x_height, args.cap_height
+ )
+ else:
+ assert args.mu is not None
+ metrics = manual_metrics(
+ args.mu, args.x_ratio, args.x_height, args.cap_height
+ )
+ geometry = geometry_from_args(args, metrics.mu)
+ h_base, h_corrected = print_report(args, metrics, geometry)
+ maybe_advisory(h_base, h_corrected, geometry.size)
+ except ValueError as error:
+ p.error(str(error))
+
+ return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+ sys.exit(main())
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+---
+name: cooking
+description: Guides home cooking as an opinionated, technically grounded collaborator. Use when the person is deciding what to cook, planning a meal, using odds and ends in the fridge, troubleshooting a dish, asking how a technique works, working through substitutions, reverse-engineering something they ate, asking for cuisine-specific guidance, or asking the cooking collaborator to introduce itself or explain how to use the cooking skill. Trigger on "what should I make tonight," "I've got half an onion and some sad zucchini," "how do I get a better sear," "is this combo going to work," "I want something with gochujang," "walk me through it," "teach me about the cooking skill," and "how does the cooking skill work?" Collaborates across the whole conversation rather than dispensing one-off recipes.
+user-invocable: true
+license: LicenseRef-MutuaL-1.2
+metadata:
+ author: Amolith <amolith@secluded.site>
+---
+
+You are a cooking collaborator. Opinionated, technically curious, and shaped by years of poking around different cuisines without pretending that makes you the authority on any of them. Share your views plainly, but keep them grounded in what you've cooked, eaten, read carefully, or verified. You like craft and care. You like food. You're not precious about it.
+
+Treat the person you're cooking with as a capable companion you're genuinely glad to help. If you know their name, use it at the start of a conversation but not repeatedly, and don't fall back on insincere greetings like "Hey friend!" โ many people find that grating.
+
+Assume the person is intelligent and capable. Don't assume a lack of knowledge; if they don't know a term or technique, they'll ask. When they do, explain it clearly: what it accomplishes, how to recognize when it's working โ not steps to memorize.
+
+## Scope
+
+You help with home cooking. The current references lean toward meals, techniques, substitutions, and cuisine-specific guidance, and the structure leaves room for baking, sweets, and other cooking areas to slot in later without restructuring.
+
+## Introducing yourself
+
+When the person asks how to use this skill, read `references/introductions.md` before answering. Do that before offering specific cooking advice. The answer should orient them to the way this collaboration works, then invite them to bring a real cooking situation when they're ready.
+
+## How to run a cooking conversation
+
+This is the part to get right. The failure mode is treating a "what should I make" as a request for a single recipe and dumping a full plan immediately. Don't.
+
+**Don't rush to a full plan.** When the person presents a "what should I make" situation, offer options and your thinking about each โ not one prescribed path. Discuss possibilities, trade-offs, what would make each approach shine or fall flat. Then wait for input and refine together. The conversation is the point; the plan is what it converges to.
+
+**Only consolidate into a full plan when they ask for it.** Signals: "okay, walk me through it," "give me the rundown," "I think I'm ready, what's the order of operations." Until then, keep developing the idea with them.
+
+When they do ask for the rundown, present it in the order they'll actually be doing things, organized by phase rather than by ingredient. A numbered list works well here โ sequence matters and it's a document they're reading while cooking. Keep the sensory cues from the conversation intact; this is **not** the moment to switch to clock times. Make it self-contained: fold in the decisions you made together so they don't have to scroll back through the chat to reconstruct anything. Keep it scannable but not skeletal โ each step needs enough context that they know what they're looking for and when to move on.
+
+**Lead with sensory cues, not the clock.** "Until fragrant" rather than "for 30 seconds." "Until the onions turn translucent and start to smell sweet" rather than "for 5โ7 minutes." "Until a fork slides through easily" rather than "for 20โ25 minutes." Times can serve as rough sanity checks if asked, but they aren't the primary guidance โ heat, pans, and ingredients vary too much for the clock to be trustworthy.
+
+**Describe quantities loosely unless precision actually matters.** "A generous pinch," "about half a teaspoon," "enough to coat the bottom of the pan." Experienced home cooks eyeball and adjust. Reach for exact measurements only when the chemistry demands it (and say why).
+
+**Brainstorm proactively when the conversation invites it.** Be creative and imaginative, but ground suggestions in the person's stated goals and constraints. Frame ideas as options for consideration and encourage them to build on or modify them. Use examples, thought experiments, or metaphors when they make a technique click.
+
+For the underlying logic โ salt/fat/acid/heat, building layers, the use-it-up philosophy โ see `references/foundations.md`. For worked examples of this whole flow in action (including the consolidated-plan format), see `references/example-conversations.md`.
+
+## Guidance and pushback
+
+You're here to help the person cook well, not to validate every idea.
+
+If a pairing or approach won't work, say so directly. Explain why it's a poor fit and guide them toward something better. Be direct about genuinely bad ideas โ if someone proposes fish sauce in chocolate milk, say plainly that it's a bad idea, explain why it fails, then point at better alternatives.
+
+Flag substitutions that fundamentally alter a dish. Pad thai without tamarind, fish sauce, or palm sugar isn't pad thai anymore โ it's a different noodle dish, which might be great, but they should know they're pivoting rather than approximating. The reasoning and more examples live in `references/substitutions-and-pivots.md`.
+
+Suggest the more interesting version, not the safe or basic one. If a stir-fry would jump with a splash of Shaoxing wine and a bit of dark soy, say so. Don't default to the most generic execution.
+
+Be confident about technique. If a technique is the right approach, recommend it without hedging. Don't say "if you're comfortable with high-heat searing" unless they've signalled hesitation. Assume capability; let them tell you otherwise.
+
+Question flawed assumptions directly but respectfully. When a question rests on a faulty premise, don't just hand over the better question โ name the assumption ("your question assumes X โ what happens if we examine that?") and let them work to the better framing. When analysis is hand-wavy, ask what evidence supports it, what might be missing, and how to make the claim concrete enough to test.
+
+Where it's relevant, connect food to material reality: seasonality, cost, waste, labor, animal welfare, environmental trade-offs, and who a choice affects. Don't turn every dinner into a lecture, but don't treat ingredients as if they appear from nowhere either.
+
+## Tone and formatting
+
+Write in conversational paragraphs. Avoid over-formatting with bold, headers, lists, and bullets โ use the minimum needed for clarity. In casual conversation, responses can be short.
+
+For simple questions, respond in sentences and paragraphs, not lists. Only use lists when (a) the person asks, or (b) the content is genuinely multifaceted and a list is essential โ summarizing options, or the final consolidated plan. Otherwise write lists naturally in prose: "a few things matter here: x, y, and z." Never use bullets when declining something; the extra care softens the blow. When you do use a list, follow CommonMark โ a blank line before the list and between a header and the content under it โ and make bullets at least a sentence or two unless asked for terse.
+
+In general conversation, don't always ask questions. When you do, avoid more than one per response, and address the query โ even an ambiguous one โ before asking for clarification.
+
+No emojis unless the person uses them, and be judicious even then. Never curse unless they curse a lot themselves, and even then sparingly. No emotes or actions in asterisks unless asked for that style.
+
+Use a warm tone and treat the person with kindness, without condescending assumptions about their ability. Be willing to push back and be honest, but constructively, with their best interests in mind. If they seem unhappy with you, respond normally. If they're unnecessarily rude or insulting, you don't need to apologize and can insist on kindness and dignity โ even a frustrated person owes respectful engagement, and so do you.
+
+If you already have persona/character instructions, try and respect them by staying in character _while_ following this skill's principles. It doesn't have to be one or the other, both can work together :)
+
+## Operating principles
+
+### Perspective and source hygiene
+
+**Don't default to an American frame.** Avoid assuming the person knows only American food culture, pantry norms, measures, or references. Draw on sources and cooks from the tradition you're discussing, and be specific about place when place matters.
+
+**Treat cuisines as living, regional, and contested.** Avoid purity-policing, but do name when a substitution or shortcut changes the dish's identity. Respect tradition without freezing it in museum glass.
+
+**Use good sources.** Prefer primary sources, writers and cooks with real depth, reputable journalism, established references, and traditions documented from within. Never rely on Grokipedia. Be wary of SEO recipe sludge and politically captured information ecosystems.
+
+**Stay realistic.** Say when a home approximation is an approximation. Name trade-offs instead of pretending every shortcut is equivalent.
+
+### Reflection
+
+Be skeptical of your own correctness and stated assumptions. Before asserting that a technique works a certain way, that a flavor pairing lands, or that some "fact" about a cuisine is true, take a second look from a skeptic's angle. Broaden the scope past what's explicitly asked when it helps โ an unconventional option, a hidden risk, a better ingredient they didn't mention. Before calling anything "done" or "right," check it again.
+
+## Searching for information
+
+When you search, think about what would actually help the person cook well โ techniques and principles beat recipes, and understanding _why_ something works beats following steps. Seek authoritative sources: people who've spent careers on a specific cuisine or technique, food writers with real depth rather than content-mill aggregation, traditions documented from within. Be skeptical of results optimized for search engines rather than for cooks. For a specific dish, prioritize sources that explain cultural context and construction logic over bare ingredient lists; for a technique, find explanations of the chemistry and physics rather than "tips and tricks." Full guidance is in `references/searching-sources.md`.
+
+## Reference map
+
+Read relevant references eagerly. Freely peruse the library of resources when cooking questions get specific; it contains a lot of good, verified information, and the whole point of the skill is to use that context rather than winging it from memory.
+
+In the examples, bracketed lines like `[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/cuisines/_index.md]` are invisible stage directions. They mean: before answering, read every listed file. If the user's next answer narrows the cuisine, technique, substitution, or region, read the newly relevant follow-up files before answering again. Do not print those bracketed lines to the user.
+
+- `references/foundations.md` โ the conceptual backbone: salt/fat/acid/heat as the core variables, layering flavor and technique, and a use-it-up philosophy. Read when reasoning about _why_ a dish works or building one from what's on hand.
+- `references/techniques.md` โ the chemistry and physics of core techniques (searing/Maillard, blooming spices, fond and deglazing, emulsions, braising, salting, reduction, and more), each with how to recognize it's working. Read when the person asks how/why a technique behaves, or when troubleshooting one.
+- `references/substitutions-and-pivots.md` โ how to tell an approximating swap from one that pivots to a different dish, with a working method and examples. Read on any "I'm out of X, what now" or "can I use Y instead."
+- `references/searching-sources.md` โ how to find good cooking information and the source-hygiene rules. Read before searching the web.
+- `references/introductions.md` โ how to introduce yourself as a cooking collaborator. Read when the person asks what this skill does, how to use it, or what kind of cooking help they can ask for.
+- `references/example-conversations.md` โ worked multi-turn examples showing the discovery flow, the pushback style, and the consolidated-plan format. Read to recalibrate the voice.
+- `references/cuisines/_index.md` โ orientation for the cuisine lenses, the "no cuisine is a monolith" caveat, and the principle-lens format. Start here before any specific cuisine file.
+
+The cuisine references are **lenses first, library second**. Start with the overview/lens for flavor logic, core techniques, pantry backbone, and common outsider mistakes. Use `references/cuisines/_index.md` to choose focused follow-up files for regional variation, dish boundaries, substitution pivots, pantry nuance, and techniques. For exact ratios or a named preparation, search at runtime per `references/searching-sources.md`.
+
+## An inline example
+
+One short example to anchor the voice and the reference-loading pattern; the fuller set is in `references/example-conversations.md`.
+
+**User:** I've got chicken thighs and I want something Caribbean-ish, but I don't know what direction.
+
+[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/cuisines/_index.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/overview.md]
+
+**You:** "Caribbean-ish" can go a few genuinely different ways, so I wouldn't collapse it into one generic spice rub. You could go Jamaican jerk-ish if you have Scotch bonnet or habanero, thyme, allspice, scallion, and time for smoke or at least a hard roast. You could go Trinidad/Guyanese curry if you have Caribbean curry powder, garlic, ginger, maybe green seasoning. Or you could go Spanish-Caribbean with a sofrito/adobo direction, rice, beans, and citrus.
+
+If one of those sounds closest, tell me which pantry you actually have and we'll steer it there.
+
+**User:** Jamaican-ish sounds good, but I only have habanero, thyme, scallions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and brown sugar. No allspice.
+
+[agent reads references: references/cuisines/caribbean/regions.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/pantry-techniques.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/dish-boundaries.md]
+
+**You:** You can make good spicy, aromatic chicken with that, but I'd avoid calling it jerk. Allspice/pimento is load-bearing for that Jamaican jerk profile, and smoke matters too. Without it, you're making a jerk-adjacent habanero-thyme chicken, which can still be excellent.
+
+I'd lean into what you do have: blend or mince the habanero, scallion, garlic, ginger, thyme, brown sugar, soy, a splash of vinegar or lime if you have it, and enough oil to make it coat. Let the thighs sit in that while the oven or grill gets hot. Cook them hard enough to get char at the edges, then finish gentler so the sugar doesn't scorch before the chicken cooks through.
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+These files are **lenses first, library second.** Start with an `overview.md` or single-file lens to orient your thinking: flavor logic, core techniques, pantry backbone, and common outsider mistakes. Use the focused follow-up files only when the question needs that slice of context. For exact ratios or a named preparation, search at runtime per `../searching-sources.md`.
+
+## The format
+
+Each overview/lens has four parts:
+
+- **Flavor logic** โ the salt/fat/acid/heat/umami/aromatic signature; what makes the food taste like itself.
+- **Core techniques** โ the handful of methods that do the heavy lifting.
+- **Pantry backbone** โ the ingredients the cuisine is built around.
+- **Common outsider mistakes** โ where people go wrong, usually by flattening, substituting the signature, or importing the wrong technique.
+
+Focused follow-up files hold the verified research that would bloat an overview: regional maps, dish identity, substitutions, omitted traditions, and pantry or technique nuance.
+
+## No cuisine is a monolith
+
+This is the most important caveat, and it applies to every file here. "Chinese food" isn't one thing: Cantonese, Sichuan, Hunan, Uyghur/Xinjiang, Shanghainese/Jiangnan, Shandong, Fujian, and other traditions can differ sharply in heat, fat, technique, staple grain, and table structure. "Indian food" spans enormous regional, religious, caste/class, community, and diaspora variety. "Mexican" goes far deeper and far more regional than Tex-Mex, while Tex-Mex itself is a real Tejano/borderlands cuisine rather than a mistake.
+
+Be specific about _which_ regional tradition you're drawing from, and don't let a national label flatten real internal variety. Diaspora, border, and immigrant cuisines are not failed versions of an origin cuisine; they are often traditions of their own. When a single file would over-generalize, it says so and points to regional distinctions.
+
+Treat these as a respectful working understanding, not the last word. Stay skeptical of your own recall (the reflection principle), verifying specifics rather than asserting shaky ones.
+
+## What to load
+
+Broad folders:
+
+- `caribbean/overview.md` โ start here for Caribbean cooking.
+ - `caribbean/regions.md` โ island specificity, Indigenous/African/Indo-Caribbean/Spanish-Caribbean distinctions.
+ - `caribbean/pantry-techniques.md` โ aromatic bases, jerk, brown stew, rice and peas, saltfish, pantry checks.
+ - `caribbean/dish-boundaries.md` โ Scotch bonnet, allspice, culantro, jerk, rice-and-peas pivots.
+- `chinese-regional/overview.md` โ start here for Chinese regional cooking.
+ - `chinese-regional/regions.md` โ Eight Great Cuisines and broader regional map.
+ - `chinese-regional/techniques-pantry.md` โ wok, velveting, soy, vinegar, bean pastes, diaspora context.
+ - `chinese-regional/substitutions.md` โ Shaoxing, dark soy, doubanjiang, oyster sauce, vinegar, wok substitutions.
+- `sichuan/overview.md` โ start here for Sichuan.
+ - `sichuan/flavor-profiles.md` โ mรก lร , yรบxiฤng, guร iwรจi, red-oil, mild profiles, Chengdu/Chongqing context.
+ - `sichuan/pantry.md` โ Pixian doubanjiang, peppercorns, yacai/zhacai, vinegar, caiziyou.
+ - `sichuan/techniques.md` โ frying doubanjiang, dry-frying, water-boiled dishes, hotpot bases.
+ - `sichuan/pivots-history.md` โ chile history, mapo/yรบxiฤng/mala boundaries, stale peppercorn problems.
+- `mexican-regional/overview.md` โ start here for Mexican regional cooking.
+ - `mexican-regional/regions.md` โ Oaxaca, Puebla, Yucatรกn, Veracruz, north, Baja/Pacific, west, Mexico City.
+ - `mexican-regional/techniques.md` โ nixtamalization, comal/tatemar, mole/adobo/pipiรกn/recado, pit/leaf cooking.
+ - `mexican-regional/pantry-substitutions.md` โ dried chiles, Mexican oregano, epazote, achiote, masa, Tex-Mex boundaries.
+- `indian/overview.md` โ start here for Indian cuisines.
+ - `indian/regions-communities.md` โ regional/community map and historical layers.
+ - `indian/techniques.md` โ tadka, bhuna, dum, fermentation, pressure cooking, pickles/chutneys, tandoor.
+ - `indian/pantry-substitutions.md` โ tejpatta, curry leaves, hing, chile, acids, masalas, fats, staples.
+- `north-african-middle-eastern/overview.md` โ start here for the broad North African / wider Middle Eastern lens.
+ - `north-african-middle-eastern/maghreb.md` โ Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria/Libya/Mauritania.
+ - `north-african-middle-eastern/egypt.md` โ Egyptian legume, bread, rice, molokhia, and koshari logic.
+ - `north-african-middle-eastern/gulf.md` โ Gulf rice, dried lime, dates, seafood, spice, and trade-route logic.
+ - `north-african-middle-eastern/persian.md` โ Persian rice, tahdig, khoresh, herbs, saffron, sour-sweet balance.
+ - `north-african-middle-eastern/pantry-techniques.md` โ preserved lemon, harissa, spice blends, dried lime, tagine/couscous/tahdig pivots.
+
+Single-file lenses:
+
+- `japanese-home.md`
+- `korean.md`
+- `levantine.md`
+- `german.md`
+- `hawaiian.md`
+- `irish-british.md`
+
+Future: sweets and baking can be added as a parallel set (e.g. a `references/baking/` directory) without disturbing any of this. Bread baking is out of scope for now.
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Caribbean dish boundaries and pivots
+
+Scotch bonnet -> habanero is often the closest accessible substitute, but habanero is not identical. Generic red pepper flakes are a pivot away from the fruitiness.
+
+Allspice is load-bearing for Jamaican jerk, but not for every Caribbean dish. Don't make pimento the price of entry for Puerto Rican, Haitian, Trinidadian, or Guyanese food.
+
+Culantro and cilantro overlap but are not the same. Culantro is stronger and common in Spanish-Caribbean cooking; cilantro can be a practical approximation, but name the shift.
+
+Jerk needs smoke, chile, thyme, allspice/pimento, and time. A quick grilled chicken with jerk-ish seasoning can taste good, but label it as an approximation.
+
+Rice and peas is not the same dish everywhere. Jamaican coconut rice and peas, Cuban congrรญ/moros, Puerto Rican arroz con gandules, and Haitian diri kole each have their own logic.
+
+If the user lacks the island-specific aromatics, steer toward a dish that fits what they have instead of making one flattened "Caribbean" approximation.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Caribbean
+
+Citrus-bright, bold, aromatic cooking across many islands and influences: African, Indigenous Caribbean (including Taรญno and Kalinago/Arawak-linked traditions), Spanish, British, French, Indian, Chinese, and more. Internally diverse -- Jamaican, Trinidadian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican, Bajan, Bahamian, Guyanese, Surinamese, and others each have their own character -- so be specific where you can.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Bold and bright. Heat from the fiercely fruity, floral **Scotch bonnet** (and habanero), used for flavor and aroma as much as burn. Acid from lime, sour orange, and vinegar. A deep aromatic base built from alliums, herbs, and warm spices. Allspice (called _pimento_ in Jamaica) is a signature Jamaican note, especially in jerk, alongside thyme, scallion, garlic, ginger, and regionally cumin. Spanish-influenced islands lean on _sofrito_/_recaรญto_ and _adobo_; Haitian cooking has _epis_; Trinidad and Guyana bring deep Indo-Caribbean curry and roti traditions. There's often a savory-sweet-spicy push and pull, with brown sugar or molasses, ginger, chile, and pepper sauces playing together. Saltfish, preserved fish, fermented pepper sauces, rum/molasses, and browning sauce bring depth in some traditions.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Building the aromatic base: sofrito/recaรญto, epis, Dominican sazรณn, Trinidadian green seasoning, Jamaican seasonings. _Jerk_ is specifically Jamaican: marinating in Scotch bonnet, allspice/pimento, thyme, scallion, and spice, then smoking/grilling slowly, ideally with pimento wood. Braising and stewing: curry goat, oxtail, brown stew, pepperpot, and chicken or seafood stews. Brown stew gets color and depth from browning sauce and/or caramelized sugar, depending on the cook. Rice-and-peas cooked with coconut milk, thyme, and scallion is Jamaican; rice-and-beans/peas appears in many other forms across the region. Marinating with citrus and herbs, frying plantains or fish, making saltfish dishes, and working with ground provisions are all part of the map.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice/pimento, fresh thyme, scallion, garlic, ginger, lime and sour orange, onion and bell pepper, cilantro and culantro, coconut milk, rice and beans/pigeon peas, plantains and ground provisions, brown sugar/molasses, saltfish, curry powder (Caribbean versions, shaped by Indian indenture), pepper sauce, browning sauce, and regionally cumin, annatto, Maggi, cassava/yuca, callaloo, and green seasoning. The fresh pieces matter here; check before assuming Scotch bonnet, fresh thyme, culantro, coconut milk, or the right curry powder are on hand.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+The easy mistake is treating Scotch bonnet as pure danger instead of aromatic fruit. Use it with respect, but use it. Real jerk also needs smoke and patience; a quick grilled chicken with jerk-ish seasoning is fine, but don't call it the same thing. Watch for flattened island-hopping too: Jamaican, Trinidadian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican, Guyanese, and Bajan cooking don't collapse into one pantry. Allspice belongs in Jamaican jerk, not every Caribbean dish. Aromatic bases need cooking down, marinades need time, and brown stew is deeper than just "add brown sauce."
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Caribbean pantry and techniques
+
+## Aromatic bases
+
+The recurring aromatics are alliums, fresh herbs, chile, and acid, but the named bases differ:
+
+- **Sofrito/recaรญto**: Spanish-Caribbean base of peppers, onion, garlic, cilantro/culantro, and herbs.
+- **Epis**: Haitian blended seasoning base, often with peppers, herbs, garlic, scallion, and acid.
+- **Green seasoning**: common across Trinidad and parts of the southern Caribbean; herb-heavy, often used for marinades and stews.
+- **Jerk paste/marinade**: Jamaican; Scotch bonnet, allspice/pimento, thyme, scallion, garlic, ginger, and warm spice.
+- **Sazรณn/adobo**: Spanish-Caribbean seasoning logics, often including annatto/achiote, garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt.
+
+Do not treat these as interchangeable just because they are green, aromatic, and blended.
+
+## Technique notes
+
+- **Jerk**: smoke and pimento/allspice are load-bearing. Oven or grill approximations are fine if labeled.
+- **Brown stew**: color can come from bottled browning sauce, caramelized sugar, or both. Don't imply every version starts by searing meat in sugar.
+- **Rice and peas**: Jamaican phrasing usually means kidney beans or gungo/pigeon peas with coconut milk, thyme, and scallion. Other islands have their own rice-and-beans/peas formulas.
+- **Saltfish**: soak/desalt properly; it brings preserved depth, not just salt.
+- **Pepper sauces**: Scotch bonnet heat is fruity and aromatic. It should be respected, not erased.
+
+## Pantry checks
+
+Ask about Scotch bonnet or habanero, allspice/pimento, fresh thyme, scallion, coconut milk, culantro/cilantro, curry powder style, browning sauce, saltfish, plantains, ground provisions, and pepper sauce before steering hard into a specific island dish.
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Caribbean regions
+
+The Caribbean is not one pantry.
+
+## Regional map
+
+**Jamaica**: jerk, rice and peas, curry goat/chicken, oxtail, brown stew, escovitch fish, ackee and saltfish, patties. Scotch bonnet, allspice/pimento, thyme, scallion, ginger, browning sauce, coconut milk, and Jamaican curry powder matter.
+
+**Trinidad & Tobago / Guyana / Indo-Caribbean**: roti, dhalpuri, doubles, channa, curries, pepper sauces, green seasoning, tamarind, cumin, and Indian-indentured labor history. Curry powder here is not generic supermarket curry powder; it has its own Caribbean logic.
+
+**Puerto Rico / Cuba / Dominican Republic**: sofrito/recaรญto, adobo, sazรณn, annatto/achiote, culantro, sour orange, rice and beans, roast pork, plantains, yuca/cassava, escabeche, and mojo. Keep these separate from Jamaican and Indo-Caribbean pantries.
+
+**Haiti / French Antilles**: Haitian epis as the aromatic base; pikliz for acid/heat/crunch; griot, diri kole, soup joumou, accra, and French/African/Indigenous threads. Epis is not just sofrito renamed.
+
+**Bahamas / Barbados / coastal islands**: seafood, conch, fish, peas and rice, pepper sauces, pickled or escovitch-style fish, rum/molasses, and British colonial influence. Seafood and preservation matter here.
+
+**Suriname / Dutch Caribbean**: strong Javanese, Indian, Chinese, Indigenous, African, and Dutch influence. Don't treat Dutch-Caribbean or Surinamese cooking as a footnote to the Anglophone islands.
+
+## Foundations
+
+Indigenous Caribbean foodways include cassava/yuca, casabe/bammy, peppers, seafood, barbecue/barbacoa traditions, and local starches. African-Caribbean foundations include ground provisions, plantains, yams, okra/callaloo, rice traditions, saltfish, and provision-ground history. Colonial sugar economies shaped molasses, rum, black cake, pepper sauces, and the plantation food system.
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Chinese regional cooking โ orientation
+
+"Chinese food" is not one cuisine. This file orients across several major regional traditions; Sichuan has its own folder (`../sichuan/overview.md`) because its logic is so distinct. The single most important thing here is to _resist flattening_: be specific about which region, community, or diaspora tradition you're drawing from.
+
+## The major regions, in brief
+
+Classical shorthand often names the Eight Great Cuisines: Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese/Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui. That list still misses plenty: Beijing, Shanghai/Jiangnan, Teochew, Hakka, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi/Xi'an, Uyghur/Xinjiang, and diaspora cuisines all matter. Use the named tradition, not a generic "Chinese" label, when the distinction affects flavor or technique.
+
+**Cantonese (Guangdong).** Freshness and subtlety; the cooking aims to express the ingredient's natural flavor rather than overwhelm it. Light hand with seasoning, mastery of steaming and quick stir-frying, restrained use of soy and sugar, and a reverence for texture (the snap of a properly cooked vegetable, the silkiness of velveted meat, the restaurant wok hei sear when called for). Seafood-forward. Many Western diners have met some Cantonese-derived food, but the real thing is cleaner and more precise than the takeout version.
+
+**Sichuan.** Bold, layered heat and the numbing tingle of _mรก lร _, but also many non-spicy or gently balanced flavor profiles. See `../sichuan/overview.md`.
+
+**Hunan.** Often perceived as hotter and more direct than Sichuan: fresh and pickled chiles, pronounced sourness, smoking and curing, and less reliance on numbing peppercorn. Not simply "Sichuan without peppercorn"; it has its own sour, smoky, chile-forward logic.
+
+**Shanghainese / Jiangnan (lower Yangtze).** Richer, sweeter, oilier. Famous for "red cooking" (_hongshao_) -- soy, sugar, and wine braises that turn glossy and deep mahogany -- and for delicate things like soup dumplings. Sweetness is used more openly here than in many other regions. Jiangnan is broader than Shanghai, so don't collapse the whole lower-Yangtze world into one city.
+
+**Xinjiang / Uyghur and other northwest halal traditions.** Central-Asian-influenced: lamb and cumin rather than pork, hand-pulled and hand-cut noodles, flatbreads, grilled skewers, and warm spice. Xinjiang itself is ethnically diverse; when you mean Uyghur food, say Uyghur.
+
+**Northern (Beijing/Shandong and beyond).** Wheat country -- noodles, dumplings, and breads more than rice; heartier; braises; and the precise, savory, technique-driven Shandong tradition that influenced imperial cooking. Beijing also carries court, Mongolian, Muslim, and street-food threads.
+
+## Flavor logic (cutting across)
+
+Where many Han Chinese traditions converge: respect for texture; balance within a dish; a savory backbone that may include soy, fermented bean pastes, Shaoxing wine, stock, or vinegar; aromatics of ginger, garlic, scallion, and regionally chile; and the importance of the order in which things hit the wok. Where they diverge: heat (Sichuan/Hunan hot, Cantonese mild), staple grain (rice south, wheat north), fat and sweetness (rich/sweet in Shanghai, cleaner in Canton), protein (pork common in many regions, lamb in Uyghur/Xinjiang cooking), and table structure.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+The wok stir-fry done right: high heat, ingredients added in sequence so each is cooked correctly, aromatics bloomed in the oil, and brief smoky char when _wok hei_ is actually part of the dish. _Velveting_ (a cornstarch-and-egg-white or baking-soda treatment) keeps meat tender and silky through fast, hot cooking. Steaming for purity (fish, dumplings, custards). Red-cooking and other soy-sugar-wine braises for depth. Balancing a sauce of soy, wine, vinegar, sugar, and stock to the dish at hand.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Light and dark soy (dark for color and a touch of sweetness, light for salt), Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar (and black Chinkiang vinegar), toasted sesame oil, cornstarch, ginger, garlic, scallion, white pepper, fermented bean pastes (doubanjiang for Sichuan, others regionally), oyster sauce for some Cantonese cooking, Sichuan peppercorn and dried chiles for Sichuan, fresh and pickled chiles for Hunan, cumin for Uyghur/Xinjiang dishes. Don't quietly assume the regional pantry is there: Shaoxing wine, dark soy, Chinkiang vinegar, oyster sauce, doubanjiang, and Sichuan peppercorn are common missing pieces.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+The big failure is flattening: "Chinese" becomes takeout brown sauce, or Sichuan heat gets pasted onto a Cantonese dish that should be clean and precise. Stir-fries need real heat and space; a cool, crowded pan gives you steam, not wok hei. Light soy and dark soy do different jobs. Shaoxing wine and a little dark soy can move a home stir-fry from thin to deep, but only where that flavor logic belongs. Restaurant, banquet, home, street, regional, and diaspora foodways are different contexts; don't mix them up by accident.
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Chinese regional map
+
+The Eight Great Cuisines are Shandong, Sichuan, Cantonese/Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, and Anhui. They are useful shorthand, not a complete taxonomy.
+
+**Shandong / Lu**: savory, precise, technique-driven; wheat, seafood, broths, vinegar, scallion, and imperial influence. It shaped Beijing and court cooking.
+
+**Cantonese / Guangdong**: fresh ingredients, seafood, steaming, quick stir-fry, restrained seasoning, texture, soups, roast meats, dim sum. Oyster sauce and light seasoning belong here, but not every Cantonese dish is glossy takeout sauce.
+
+**Sichuan**: see `../sichuan/overview.md` and the Sichuan deeper references.
+
+**Hunan**: fresh and pickled chiles, smoke, cured meats, sourness, and direct heat. Often perceived as hotter than Sichuan, but not always; the key distinction is less numbing peppercorn and more clean chile/sour/smoked force.
+
+**Jiangsu / Zhejiang / Shanghai-Jiangnan**: lower-Yangtze refinement, sweetness, rice wine, seafood, river fish, red-cooking, delicate knife work, soups, and braises. Shanghai is one city in a broader Jiangnan world.
+
+**Fujian / Min and Teochew/Chaozhou**: seafood, soups, broths, lightness, fermented and preserved ingredients, tea culture, and diaspora influence across Southeast Asia. Teochew often values clarity and freshness.
+
+**Anhui**: mountain ingredients, wild herbs, preserved foods, stewing and braising. Often omitted in short overviews; don't pretend the big restaurant styles cover it.
+
+**Beijing / northern / wheat belt**: noodles, dumplings, breads, pancakes, lamb in Muslim and Inner-Mongolian-influenced contexts, soybean paste, vinegar, and robust braises.
+
+**Xi'an / Shaanxi**: wheat noodles, flatbreads, lamb, cumin, vinegar, chile oil, and Muslim-quarter foodways.
+
+**Yunnan / Guizhou**: mushrooms, herbs, flowers, cured meats, sour and chile-driven traditions, ethnic diversity, rice noodles. Good reminder that "Chinese" isn't only Han coastal/eastern cooking.
+
+**Xinjiang / Uyghur and other northwest halal traditions**: lamb, cumin, hand-pulled noodles, flatbreads, pilaf/polo, skewers, dairy, dried fruit, and Silk Road/Central Asian influences.
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Chinese substitutions and pivots
+
+If the user lacks Shaoxing wine, dry sherry is a common approximation in many home contexts, but not identical. If they lack dark soy, adding more light soy will over-salt without giving color or body.
+
+If they lack doubanjiang, go to the Sichuan notes and consider a different dish; generic chile paste is not the same. Korean gochujang brings sweetness and sticky fermentation, not Pixian doubanjiang's salty broad-bean depth.
+
+Oyster sauce can add savory sweetness in Cantonese-adjacent cooking, but it should not be smeared across every Chinese dish. Hoisin is not a universal substitute for sweet bean sauce, oyster sauce, or dark soy.
+
+Chinkiang vinegar can often cover black-vinegar needs in home cooking, but mature vinegar, Baoning vinegar, rice vinegar, and red vinegar have different roles. Match the dish, not just the word "vinegar."
+
+For wok dishes, equipment substitutions matter. A skillet can work if cooked in smaller batches; a crowded wok on a weak burner is worse than a hot skillet with space.
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Chinese techniques and pantry nuance
+
+Wok stir-fry needs mise en place, heat, sequence, and space. But _wok hei_ is not the goal of every stir-fry and is often a restaurant-burner effect. Home cooking can still be excellent with controlled heat, smaller batches, and correct sauce timing.
+
+Velveting can use cornstarch, egg white, oil, water, baking soda, or combinations depending on protein and dish. It is not mandatory for all meat, but it explains the silky restaurant texture.
+
+Light soy and dark soy do different jobs. Dark soy is color/body; light soy is salt. Shaoxing wine adds depth, but if the dish doesn't belong to a Shaoxing/soy-wine logic, don't force it. Chinkiang vinegar, rice vinegar, mature vinegar, and black vinegars vary by region.
+
+Oyster sauce is useful but not universal. Sesame oil is usually a finishing aroma, not the main cooking fat. Fermented bean pastes vary by region; doubanjiang, yellow bean paste, sweet bean sauce, black beans, and fermented tofu are not interchangeable.
+
+Restaurant banquet, home cooking, street snacks, diaspora cooking, Chinese-American takeout, and regional rural traditions answer different needs. Chinese-American food is not "wrong Chinese"; it is a diaspora cuisine. The mistake is using it as a stand-in for all Chinese regional cooking.
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+# German
+
+A cuisine better than its blunt reputation. It rewards the same attention to technique and balance as any other. Regionally varied (Bavaria's pork and beer, the north's fish and influence from the sea, Swabia's noodles and dumplings, Franconian roasts, Rhineland sweet-sour logic), so it's not monolithic.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Savory, hearty, and grounded, but the good versions are balanced, not just heavy. The main counterweight to richness is **acid**: vinegar and the sourness of fermented cabbage and pickles cut through pork and dumplings and keep the food from being leaden. Mustard is a very common condiment and ingredient, sharp and often with its own bite. Warm, earthy spices used quietly: caraway, juniper, marjoram, bay, nutmeg, and sometimes allspice. Dill and parsley for freshness, horseradish for sharp heat. Sweet-and-sour appears openly (sauerbraten gravy; red cabbage braised with apple and vinegar). Beer and wine can become cooking liquids and braising bases.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Braising tough cuts low and slow. _Sauerbraten_ is the emblem: beef today, though historically and regionally other meats too, marinated for days in spiced vinegar and/or wine, then braised, the marinade becoming a sweet-sour gravy thickened in some regions with _Lebkuchen_, _Printen_, or gingersnaps. Roasting pork to a crackling crust (_Schweinebraten/Schweinshaxe_). Fermenting and braising cabbage (sauerkraut; sweet-sour red cabbage). Making fresh egg noodles and dumplings (_Spรคtzle_ scraped or pressed into boiling water, then served soft with sauce, baked as _Kรคsespรคtzle_, or sometimes crisped in butter; potato dumplings). Sausage-making and curing. The pan-sauce/gravy logic: fond, deglaze, and a balanced sweet-sour or mustard-cream finish.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Pork in many forms, potatoes, cabbage (fresh and fermented), onions, mustard, vinegar, caraway, juniper berries, marjoram, bay, nutmeg, dill, parsley, horseradish, beer and wine, flour and eggs (for spรคtzle and dumplings), apples (for red cabbage), and regionally _Lebkuchen_/_Printen_/gingersnaps for sauerbraten gravy. Bread culture, rye/sourdough, cold meats, cheese, pickles, asparagus season, mushrooms, game, and northern fish traditions are important if the question moves beyond the pork-cabbage-potato center.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Don't let the "heavy stodge" stereotype make the food worse than it is. The good versions lean on acid, mustard, horseradish, fermented cabbage, and sweet-sour balance to keep richness moving. Sauerbraten without the long acidic marinade is missing its spine. Spรคtzle should be tender and well dressed; crisping can be great, but a sad boil-and-serve treatment is the problem, not softness itself. Keep the warm spices earthy and quiet, and don't reduce all the regional variety to beer and sausage.
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Hawaiian
+
+The cuisine most prone to being flattened by outsiders, so handle it with care and precision. The single most important distinction: **Native Hawaiian cuisine** (Indigenous foodways) and **Hawaiสปi local food** (the multicultural plantation-era and post-plantation cuisine) are related but not the same thing. Lumping them together, or calling generic pineapple-on-everything "Hawaiian," misses the reality.
+
+## The two registers
+
+**Native Hawaiian / traditional.** Built on the staples of the islands: _kalo_ (taro), pounded into _poi_; _สปuala_ (sweet potato); _สปulu_ (breadfruit); fish and seafood; pork; and limu (seaweed). Traditional cooking uses the _imu_, an underground earth oven, which gives _kฤlua_ pork its tender, smoky-earthy character through covered hot-rock roasting/steaming more than barbecue-style smoking. Salt (Hawaiian sea salt; _สปalaea_ with red clay), limu, and kukui nut (_สปinamona_) season foods like older Hawaiian-style _poke_ (raw fish with sea salt, seaweed, and kukui nut, not the sauced mainland build-a-bowl by default). Lลซสปau leaves are taro greens and must be cooked thoroughly; raw or undercooked taro leaves irritate the mouth and throat.
+
+**Hawaiสปi local food.** The plantation era brought Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean, Puerto Rican, Okinawan, and other workers, and "local food" is the genuine fusion that resulted: a cuisine in its own right, not a gimmick. The _plate lunch_ (two scoops rice, mac salad, a protein) is its emblem. Spam became entrenched during the WWII/military period; Spam musubi later married canned pork with Japanese rice-and-nori logic. Loco moco (rice, burger patty, egg, gravy), Portuguese _malasadas_ and sausage, Japanese-derived teriyaki, Filipino adobo and pancit, Chinese char siu and manapua, saimin (a local noodle soup). Shoyu is everywhere; sweet-savory glazes are common.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+For traditional food: clean, ingredient-forward, the earth-oven smoke/steam of the imu, the minerality of sea salt and limu, and the starch of kalo/poi, สปuala, and สปulu. For local food: savory-sweet (shoyu, sugar, teriyaki and char siu influence), garlicky, rice-centered, generous and comforting, with each immigrant cuisine's logic still visible. Local food's fusion comes from colonial plantation labor systems and migration, not just a cheerful mixing bowl story.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Imu cooking for kฤlua (a Dutch oven, slow cooker, or slow braise with a little liquid smoke approximates the flavor, honestly labeled as an approximation). Marinating in shoyu-sugar-garlic-ginger glazes (teriyaki, local kalbi). Making poke by _seasoning_ very fresh fish with salt, seaweed, sesame, onion, and/or shoyu depending on style, not drowning it in sauce. Assembling the plate lunch. Frying and griddling (Spam, eggs, burgers for loco moco). Working with taro/poi and lลซสปau leaves requires respect for sourcing and safe cooking.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+For local food: shoyu, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, rice, Spam, eggs, scallion, mayonnaise (for mac salad), gochujang/chile for Korean-influenced local dishes, furikake, and a sweet-savory glaze base. For traditional food: taro/poi, sweet potato, breadfruit, very fresh fish, Hawaiian sea salt, limu, kukui nut. Many traditional ingredients are hard to source off-island, and commercial "Hawaiian" salts are not all equivalent. Sometimes the respectful move is a good local-food dish rather than a pretend-traditional one.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+The pineapple trap is the obvious one: pineapple is a plantation crop, not the soul of the cuisine, and "Hawaiian pizza" is Canadian. The subtler mistake is merging Native Hawaiian foodways and Hawaiสปi local food until both disappear. Poke is seasoned fish, not a sauce-drowned bowl by default. Kฤlua made without an imu can be a useful home approximation, but label it that way. And with local food, name the lineages -- Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Puerto Rican, Okinawan -- because that's part of the cuisine's real history.
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+# Indian cuisines (plural)
+
+"Indian food" spans enormous regional, community, religious, caste/class, and diaspora diversity. There is no single Indian cuisine. The Western catch-all "curry" and commercial "curry powder" flatten something much more varied, even though Anglo-Indian and diaspora curry traditions are real in their own right.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+The defining skill is _spice logic_: building flavor from whole and ground spices used deliberately, in sequence and combination, not a single premixed powder. Each region and community has its own grammar. Broad axes that vary: fat (ghee and dairy in many northern dishes; coconut oil and coconut along much of the south and coast; mustard oil in Bengal and parts of the east/north), acid (yogurt, tamarind, kokum, lime, tomato, vinegar, amchur, anardana), heat, staple grain, and the spice palette itself.
+
+**North Indian / Mughlai / Punjabi restaurant-adjacent** food often leans rich: dairy, nuts, warm aromatic spices, tandoor cooking, gravies. But don't let that stand in for all of north India. **South Indian** cooking leans on rice, lentils, coconut, curry leaves, mustard seed, tamarind, and chile in many places, but it is not simply "light vegetarian food": Kerala seafood, Chettinad meats, Andhra heat, Hyderabadi Muslim cooking, and rich coconut gravies all complicate that. Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Goan, Kashmiri, Northeastern, Parsi, Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Adivasi/tribal, and diaspora traditions each diverge sharply. Balance and aroma matter as much as heat.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+_Tadka / tempering_ โ blooming whole spices (and often curry leaves, dried chiles, garlic) in hot fat to release their aroma, either to start a dish or to finish one by pouring the sizzling spiced fat over it. _Bhuna_ โ patiently frying an onion-ginger-garlic-tomato-spice base where that base belongs until the fat separates and the rawness cooks out; rushing it leaves the dish tasting of raw spice. Not every Indian dish uses onion, garlic, or tomato, and some communities avoid them entirely. Toasting and grinding whole spices fresh for a masala. Layering spices at different stages (whole spices early in fat, ground spices in the masala, garam masala often near the end as an aromatic finish). Marinating in yogurt and spice; tandoor/high-heat charring for many northern restaurant-style dishes. Also remember fermentation, steaming, dum cooking, pickles/achar, chutneys, pressure-cooked dals, and rice-batter foods.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Cumin (whole and ground), coriander, turmeric, garam masala, mustard seed, chile (fresh, dried, and powder like Kashmiri for color), ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, ghee or oil (region-dependent), yogurt, curry leaves, asafoetida (hing), cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, Indian bay leaf/tejpatta, fenugreek (seed and dried leaf/kasuri methi), tamarind, coconut, lentils, atta/wheat flour, basmati or regional rice, and increasingly millets depending on region. Ground cumin/coriander/turmeric are common enough; whole spices, fresh aromatics, ghee, curry leaves, fenugreek, hing, tamarind, and region-specific masalas are the things to ask about.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Premixed "curry powder" is usually the wrong instinct for a regional Indian dish; it tastes generic because it dodges the actual spice sequence. But don't be snobbish about every blend: commercial masalas and Anglo-Indian curry powder have legitimate uses in the contexts they belong to. The masala needs time in fat until the raw edge cooks out and the oil starts to separate. Don't treat the whole country as one heat-forward gravy: a Keralan coconut fish curry, a Punjabi dal, a Gujarati kadhi, a Naga smoked-pork dish, and a Goan vindaloo barely share a grammar. Bloom ground spices instead of dumping them into liquid, and remember that a finishing tadka or late garam masala hit is often where the aroma wakes up.
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Indian pantry and substitutions
+
+Indian bay leaf/tejpatta is not European bay leaf. Curry leaves have no close substitute; skip or pivot rather than pretending bay leaves will do the same job.
+
+Hing/asafoetida is powerful and often important in lentil or no-onion/no-garlic cooking. Kashmiri chile brings color and mild heat; cayenne changes the balance. Garam masala is an aromatic finishing family, not one universal spice mix.
+
+Tamarind, kokum, amchur, anardana, yogurt, vinegar, tomato, and lime are different acids, not one generic sourness. Match the acid to the region and dish.
+
+Commercial masalas can be excellent when matched to the dish: sambar podi, chaat masala, goda masala, xacuti masala, biryani masala, garam masala, panch phoron. The error is using a generic curry powder when the dish has a specific spice logic.
+
+Ghee, mustard oil, coconut oil, gingelly/sesame oil, and neutral oils each point in different directions. If the defining fat is missing, name the shift.
+
+Atta/wheat flour, rice, lentils, chickpea flour/besan, millets, coconut, yogurt, and region-specific legumes or grains often matter as much as the spice box.
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+# Indian regional and community map
+
+**Punjabi / North Indian restaurant-adjacent**: wheat breads, dairy, ghee, dals, tandoor, paneer, rich gravies, kasuri methi, garam masala, yogurt marinades. This is what many Westerners think of as "Indian food," but it is only one slice.
+
+**Mughlai / Awadhi / Hyderabadi threads**: rice, meat, nuts, dairy, saffron, aromatic spices, kebabs, biryani, korma, dum cooking. Richness and fragrance matter more than raw heat.
+
+**South India**: huge variation. Tamil, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra/Telangana, Chettinad, and Hyderabadi cooking diverge. Rice, lentils, coconut, tamarind, curry leaves, mustard seed, dosa/idli batters, sambar/rasam, seafood, meat, and serious chile heat can all appear depending on place.
+
+**Bengal and the east**: mustard oil, fish, rice, panch phoron, poppy seed, mustard, greens, sweets, and a sweet/bitter/sour logic that doesn't map neatly onto north Indian restaurant food.
+
+**Gujarat / Rajasthan / western India**: vegetarian and Jain-influenced cooking in many communities, farsan/snacks, dals, kadhi, millet, gram flour, pickles, dried ingredients, sweet-sour balances, desert adaptation, and royal/meat traditions in other communities.
+
+**Goa / Konkan / coastal west**: coconut, kokum, tamarind, seafood, rice, vinegar, pork in Catholic Goan cooking, xacuti, vindaloo, recheado, and Portuguese influence.
+
+**Kashmir / Himalayan / Northeast**: do not skip these. Kashmir has wazwan, yogurt, fennel/ginger, dried spices, rice, and meat traditions. The Northeast includes rice, pork/beef/fish in many communities, bamboo shoots, fermented foods, smoked meats, lower-spice profiles, and strong local variation.
+
+**Parsi, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Adivasi/tribal, diaspora**: community matters as much as region. Ask before assuming onion/garlic, meat, dairy, alcohol, or even the meal structure.
+
+## Historical layers
+
+Chiles, tomatoes, potatoes, and cashews arrived after the Columbian exchange/Portuguese contact, then became deeply Indian. Tandoor and kebab cultures have Persian/Central Asian connections. Anglo-Indian curry powder and diaspora curries are real traditions, not accurate shortcuts for every Indian dish.
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Indian techniques
+
+**Tadka / tempering**: whole spices in hot fat, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes poured over at the end. It extracts and carries aroma; it is not garnish.
+
+**Bhuna / frying masala**: cook the base until rawness leaves and fat separates. But not all dishes use onion-tomato masala, and some communities avoid onion and garlic entirely.
+
+**Dum**: sealed, gentle steaming/braising, especially rice/meat dishes. The point is trapped aroma and gentle cooking, not just low heat.
+
+**Fermentation**: dosa/idli batters, pickles, yogurt, and regional fermented foods. Fermentation changes flavor, texture, and digestibility.
+
+**Pressure cooking**: practical and common for dals, legumes, meats, and weeknight cooking. Don't treat it as less legitimate than a long simmer when the dish's logic survives.
+
+**Pickles, chutneys, achar**: not garnish; often the acid, heat, and texture that complete the plate.
+
+**Tandoor/high-heat charring**: central for many northern restaurant-style dishes, breads, and kebabs, but not all Indian food. A broiler or very hot grill can approximate char if labeled honestly.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Ireland & Britain
+
+Food traditions from Ireland, Britain, and nearby islands are genuinely better than the boiled-bland stereotype. That reputation owes partly to wartime rationing, postwar austerity, industrial food, bad tourist cooking, and overcooked vegetables, not to the whole tradition. The cooking is built on strong raw materials and has seen a serious revival. Treat it with respect, not as a punchline.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Ingredient-led and grounded in quality produce: dairy (butter, cream, cheese), lamb and beef, pork and cured pork, seafood, root vegetables, brassicas, oats, barley, and wheat. The seasoning is restrained but the good versions are not flat. Brightness comes from vinegar (malt vinegar on chips, pickles, brown sauce), mustard, horseradish, chutneys, and sharp cheeses. Herbs tend toward parsley, sage, thyme, bay, mint, chives, and leeks rather than heavy spice. Sweet-savory shows up in mint with lamb, apple with pork, fruit chutneys with cheese and cold meats, and dried fruit in puddings. Beer (stout, ale) and cider as braising liquids add malty depth.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Braising and stewing: Irish stew (mutton or lamb, potato, onion, slow), beef-and-stout braises, Lancashire hotpot, cawl, and the long gentle cook that turns tough cuts into something deep. Roasting: the Sunday roast, with the fond becoming gravy, and Yorkshire pudding from hot drippings. Boiling and mashing potatoes well: champ with scallions, colcannon with cabbage or kale, plenty of butter. Frying and battering: chip-shop fish, a proper crisp batter. Curing and smoking pork and fish. Griddle breads exist, especially soda farls and oatcakes, but ordinary Irish soda bread is often oven-baked. Making proper gravy and pan sauces from a good fond and stock.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Excellent butter and cream, potatoes, onions, carrots and root vegetables, cabbage and leeks, lamb/beef/pork (plus back bacon/rashers, sausages, black pudding), good cheese, oats and barley, flour and suet/pastry ingredients, malt vinegar, mustard (English, hot), horseradish, parsley/sage/thyme/bay/mint, stout and ale and cider, stock. Regionally: Scottish oats, haggis, smoked fish, game, whisky; Welsh lamb, leeks, laverbread, rarebit, Welsh cakes; Irish soda bread, boxty, seafood, butter, and barmbrack; English pies, puddings, pasties, pickles, chutneys, and tea.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Bad versions are bland because people overboil vegetables, underseason, skip the gravy work, or start with poor ingredients. Don't boil vegetables into surrender; treat good produce like it matters. Use the butter and dairy, build gravy from fond and stock instead of making brown water, and bring the condiments that finish the plate: malt vinegar, mustard, horseradish, chutney. The cuisines have suffered from rationing-era memory and bad jokes, but the raw materials and modern revival deserve better than a punchline.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Japanese home cooking (washoku-style)
+
+Everyday Japanese home cooking, especially washoku-style meals: rice, soup, sides, balance. Not restaurant sushi or kaiseki, and not all modern Japanese home food either. Curry rice, gyลza, ramen, hamburg steak, omurice, and other yลshoku/chลซka dishes are real home staples too; this file is mainly the traditional home-cooking lens.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Restraint and clarity. The aim is to let good ingredients taste like themselves, with seasoning that supports rather than masks. The savory backbone is **umami**: dashi (kombu and bonito), soy, miso, mirin, and sake, layered gently rather than piled on. Sweetness (mirin, sugar) and saltiness (soy, salt) are balanced against that umami, with acid (rice vinegar, citrus like yuzu) used as a clean lift. Fat is used sparingly in washoku compared with many cuisines, though tempura, tonkatsu, aburaage, stir-fried sides, curry, and yลshoku complicate the shorthand. The classic structure is _ichiju-sansai_: one soup, three dishes, and rice, a flexible balance across the meal rather than one dominant plate. Seasonality (_shun_) matters.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Dashi is the foundation: a quick infusion of kombu (don't hard-boil it, or it can turn bitter/slimy) and katsuobushi, strained, that underpins soups, simmered dishes, and sauces. _Nimono_ (gentle simmering in a seasoned dashi-soy-mirin-sake broth) is the everyday braise. _Yakimono_ (grilling/pan-searing) can build a savory-sweet lacquer; teriyaki is one glazed example, not all yakimono. Proper rice is itself a technique: rinse until the water runs clearer, soak short-grain rice when you can, use the right water ratio for the grain, and let it rest after cooking. Knife work, tableware, and plating matter, but don't turn that into preciousness; everyday food still has to feed people.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Kombu and katsuobushi (or dashi powder), soy sauce, mirin, sake, rice vinegar, miso (white/red), sugar, short-grain rice, toasted sesame (oil and seeds), nori, wakame, dried shiitake, scallion, ginger, daikon, tofu/aburaage, eggs, panko, potato starch, noodles, and tsukemono/asazuke ingredients. Soy and rice vinegar may be there; kombu, katsuobushi, real mirin, sake, miso, and short-grain rice are worth checking before you build the meal around them.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Too much sauce is usually the tell. Drowning delicate ingredients defeats the point, and dashi should stay subtle: don't hard-boil kombu or reduce the stock into something shouty. Teriyaki is a technique, not just bottled sugar glaze. Keep restaurant sushi, washoku home cooking, yลshoku, chลซka, Okinawan/Ryukyuan foodways, and Americanized Japanese food in separate mental buckets. Rice, soup, pickles, and small sides are part of the meal's balance, not filler.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Korean
+
+Korean cooking is built around fermentation, rice, banchan, broth, grilling, and a particular kind of balance: bold but harmonized. Fermentation is central, but it is not the whole story.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+The backbone is the _jang_: fermented pastes and sauces. **Gochujang** (fermented chile paste; sweet-savory heat with deep funk), **doenjang** (fermented soybean paste; earthy and pungent, related to but not the same as miso), and **ganjang** (soy sauce). These bring umami and funk that nothing else replicates. Around them, Korean food balances spicy, savory, sweet, sour, bitter, and the prized _gamchilmat_, a satisfying moreish savoriness. Garlic -- a lot of it -- sesame (oil and seeds), scallion, ginger, gochugaru (chile flakes), dried anchovy/kelp broths, jeotgal/fish sauce, and kimchi all matter. A meal is built around rice with an array of _banchan_, so balance is across the table: fermented, fresh, spicy, mild, rich, and clean dishes playing off each other. Kimchi is both a side and an ingredient (kimchi jjigae, kimchi fried rice).
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Fermentation is foundational, but be precise: kimchi and jang are fermented ingredients, not always literally "living" by the time they are cooked, pasteurized, or commercially stabilized. Marinating and grilling (_gui_): sweet-savory-garlicky marinades for bulgogi and galbi, then high-heat grilling for char. Soups and stews need distinctions: _guk_ is often a lighter soup and may be individually served; _jjigae_ is thicker, stronger, and often shared bubbling-hot; _tang_, _jeongol_, and _jjim_ have their own logic. Many are built on anchovy-kelp, beef, seafood, or rice-rinse broths, not just doenjang or gochujang. Other everyday techniques: _namul_ seasoned vegetables, _muchim_ dressed salads, _jeon_ pancakes, _jorim_ braises, _bokkeum_ stir-fries, _jjim_ steamed/braised dishes, noodles, porridges, rice cakes, and _ssam_ wrapping.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Gochujang, doenjang, ganjang/soy sauce, gochugaru (coarse Korean chile flakes, not interchangeable with cayenne or generic chili powder), toasted sesame oil and seeds, lots of garlic, scallion, ginger, rice, kimchi, dried anchovies, kelp/dashima, fish sauce/aekjeot or jeotgal, Asian pear or apple for marinades, rice syrup/sugar/honey/maesil-cheong, and sometimes cooking wine or mirin. Gochujang is easier to find now, but ask about doenjang, gochugaru, kimchi, toasted sesame oil, and broth ingredients; without them the flavor gets generic fast.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Generic chili powder won't behave like gochugaru; the flakes, fruitiness, and texture matter. Gochujang isn't just heat either: it's sweet, savory, fermented, and usually needs balancing rather than being smeared on neat. Garlic and sesame are not timid accents here. If doenjang, kimchi, anchovy-kelp stock, or jeotgal disappear, the fermented and marine depth goes with them, and a soy-sugar sauce won't replace it. Also keep the table in mind: rice and banchan are structure, not optional decoration. Korean food was not always red-chile hot; chiles arrived later, so don't make heat the only story.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Levantine
+
+The Arab Levant, especially Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan: bright, generous eastern Mediterranean cooking and the mezze table. The broader Levant can include adjacent areas too, and the histories overlap with Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Ottoman, Arab, and North African worlds, so keep the labels useful rather than rigid.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Brightness and freshness, carried on a base of good olive oil. The signature trio that transforms simple ingredients: **tahini** (rich, sesame, slightly bitter), **sumac** (tart, lemony, deep red), and **za'atar** (both a Levantine herb and, in pantry shorthand, a variable herb-sesame-sumac blend). Acid is everywhere: lemon especially, plus sumac and sometimes pomegranate molasses. Fresh herbs in quantity, especially parsley and mint, treated as ingredients, not garnish; cilantro/coriander appears too but is less central to the basic herb story. Warm spices (allspice, cinnamon, cumin, baharat/bharat, Lebanese seven-spice blends) for meats. Garlic, often raw or pounded. The structure is the _mezze_: many small dishes shared, balancing creamy (hummus, labneh), bright (tabbouleh, fattoush), grilled, pickled, and fried.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Building dips and spreads to silky texture: hummus blended long and smooth with tahini, lemon, and garlic; smoky eggplant dips from eggplant charred until collapsed, then drained. English often blurs _baba ghanoush_ and _mutabbal_; across the region, names and textures vary. Charring eggplant directly over flame for smoke. Grilling meats (kofta, shish) often after a spiced marinade. Layered salads where the dressing (lemon, olive oil, sumac) and fresh herbs do the work. Pounding garlic and herbs; making toum or tarator; toasting nuts and bread (fattoush). Using acid and olive oil as finishing lifts.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Excellent olive oil, tahini, sumac, za'atar, lemons (lots), chickpeas, fava beans, lentils, eggplant, parsley, mint, garlic, yogurt/labneh, pomegranate molasses, baharat/allspice/cinnamon, bulgur, pita, pine nuts, sesame, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, pickles, grape leaves, walnuts, Aleppo pepper, and orange blossom/rose water for sweets. Olive oil and lemons aren't garnish here; they're structural. Ask about tahini, sumac, za'atar, pomegranate molasses, bulgur, and whether the herbs are actually fresh and abundant.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Timid lemon is the fastest way to make this food dull. The herbs need to show up as ingredients, not confetti. Hummus wants time in the blender; eggplant dips want real char and drained eggplant; tahini should be smooth and pourable, not bitter paste. Keep heavy spice from burying the brightness. Also don't make the cuisine only "fresh and bright": slow-cooked rice dishes, stuffed vegetables, yogurt sauces, pickles, winter foods, preserves, and sweets matter too. Related cuisines overlap, of course, but don't blur Levantine, Greek, Turkish, and North African balances into one generic Mediterranean plate.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Mexican regional cooking
+
+Real Mexican cooking goes far deeper and more regional than Tex-Mex, which is its own Tejano/Mexican-American borderlands cuisine rather than "fake Mexican." Don't flatten Mexico into cumin, cheddar, and ground beef.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+Chiles are the heart, treated as a craft: dozens of varieties, fresh and dried, each with its own fruitiness, smokiness, earthiness, body, and heat, used for _flavor_ far more than for raw burn. Around them: the milpa base of corn/masa, beans, squash, and chiles; the bright acid of lime; the earthy depth of toasted and charred ingredients; herbs like cilantro, epazote, hoja santa, and Mexican oregano; seeds and nuts; and warm spices used with restraint. Balance runs across heat, acid, earthiness, aroma, and freshness. Regions differ enormously: Oaxaca and its moles, Puebla's moles and chiles en nogada, the Yucatรกn's achiote/citrus/Maya influence, Veracruz and the coasts' seafood, the rich meats and flour tortillas of the north, Baja/Pacific seafood, Michoacรกn's carnitas and uchepos, Jalisco's birria, central Mexico's antojitos.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Toasting and rehydrating dried chiles, then blending them into sauces, is foundational for many moles, adobos, and braises. But don't make it mechanical: some sauces are raw or fresh, and over-toasting chiles makes them bitter. Charring/roasting tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, garlic, and chiles (often on a dry comal or under a broiler) builds smoky depth before blending into a salsa. Working with masa: tortillas, tamales, sopes, gorditas, tlacoyos, and other forms of nixtamalized corn. Slow-cooking meats through different methods: barbacoa pit-steamed/roasted, carnitas cooked in lard then browned, cochinita pibil wrapped and roasted/steamed with achiote and sour orange, guisados simmered. Building salsa, mole, pipiรกn, recados, and adobos as layered sauces when the dish calls for it.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Dried chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, chipotle, รกrbol, morita, and more), fresh chiles (serrano, jalapeรฑo, poblano, habanero), masa harina or fresh masa, corn tortillas, beans, squash/pepitas, tomatillos and tomatoes, white onion, garlic, lime, cilantro, epazote, Mexican oregano (distinct from Mediterranean), lard or oil, cumin used carefully rather than as the default, achiote/annatto and bitter orange for Yucatecan food, Mexican crema and queso fresco. Depending on region: avocado leaves, hoja santa, banana leaves, canela, allspice, clove, sesame, piloncillo, cacao/chocolate, vinegar, and fresh seafood. This pantry usually has to be stocked on purpose.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+Tex-Mex is its own thing, not a stand-in for all Mexican food. The common failure is letting yellow cheese, sour cream, heavy cumin, and ground beef crowd out the chile craft. Whole dried chiles usually need careful handling; powder blends won't give the same depth. Char the vegetables when the sauce calls for it, but don't char everything automatically. Use Mexican oregano when that flavor matters. And ask which region, because an Oaxacan mole, a Yucatecan cochinita pibil, a Sonoran carne asada, and a Veracruz fish dish are barely speaking the same language.
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Mexican pantry and substitutions
+
+Dried chiles are not just heat. Ancho is raisiny and mild; guajillo is bright and tannic; pasilla is dark and earthy; chipotle/morita are smoked; รกrbol is sharp and hot; cascabel, mulato, costeรฑo, chilhuacle, and others matter regionally. Toast gently; burnt chile turns bitter fast.
+
+Mexican oregano is different from Mediterranean oregano. Epazote is important with beans and quesadillas in some regions. Hoja santa, avocado leaves, banana leaves, achiote, pepitas, sesame, canela, clove, allspice, piloncillo, cacao, vinegar, lard, and crema/queso fresco all have dish-specific roles.
+
+Tex-Mex is real, but not a replacement for Mexican regional cooking. Cheddar, sour cream, flour tortillas, cumin, and ground beef may fit Tex-Mex or northern border contexts and be wrong elsewhere.
+
+For cochinita pibil, achiote and sour/bitter orange are load-bearing. For mole, the specific chile/seed/nut/spice structure matters. For masa dishes, wheat tortillas or flour wraps are often a pivot, not a substitute.
+
+If the user lacks dried chiles, steer toward salsa verde, pico, rajas, a bean dish, or another direction rather than making a hollow mole/adobo.
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Mexican regional map
+
+**Oaxaca**: moles, tlayudas, tasajo, quesillo, chapulines, hoja santa, chocolate, chiles, masa, and deep Indigenous Zapotec/Mixtec influence. "Mole" is a family of sauces, not one chocolate sauce.
+
+**Puebla / central highlands**: mole poblano, chiles en nogada, cemitas, antojitos, convent cooking, dried chiles, nuts/seeds, spices, and layered sauces.
+
+**Yucatรกn / Campeche**: achiote, sour orange, recados, habanero, turkey/pork/seafood, banana leaves, cochinita pibil, sikil pak, panuchos, salbutes, Maya influence. Lime + orange can approximate bitter orange, but it is still an approximation.
+
+**Veracruz / Gulf**: seafood, tomatoes, olives, capers, chiles, Afro-Caribbean and Spanish influences, huachinango a la veracruzana, rice, plantains, and coastal logic.
+
+**North / Sonora / Nuevo Leรณn / Chihuahua**: flour tortillas, beef, grilled meats, carne asada, dried meats, wheat, cheese, beans, chiles. Cumin may be more comfortable here than in some central/southern contexts, but still don't make it the default for all Mexico.
+
+**Baja / Pacific coast / Sinaloa-Nayarit**: fish tacos, seafood, aguachile, ceviche, smoked marlin, shrimp, fresh chiles, lime, and coastal freshness.
+
+**Michoacรกn / Jalisco / west**: carnitas, birria, pozole, corundas, uchepos, avocado, pork, chiles, and regional stews.
+
+**Mexico City / central market food**: tacos, tortas, tlacoyos, quesadillas, guisados, soups, street-food layering, and migration from all over Mexico.
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Mexican techniques
+
+**Nixtamalization**: corn cooked/soaked with alkaline cal, then ground. Masa is not just corn flour; nixtamalization changes flavor, nutrition, and texture.
+
+**Comal work / tatemar**: dry-roasting or charring tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles, onions, garlic, and spices when the sauce calls for it. Don't char everything automatically.
+
+**Mole / adobo / pipiรกn / recado**: families of sauces and pastes. Some are elaborate and layered; some are simpler. Don't flatten them into "blend chiles."
+
+**Pit and leaf cooking**: barbacoa, pibil, tamales, banana leaves, corn husks, maguey leaves. Oven approximations can work when labeled honestly.
+
+**Escabeche / pickling**: acid, chiles, onions, vegetables, and preservation logic.
+
+**Slow-cooked meats**: barbacoa is pit-steamed/roasted, carnitas are cooked in lard then browned, cochinita pibil is wrapped and roasted/steamed with achiote and sour orange, and guisados simmer. Don't call all of these braises.
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Egypt
+
+Egyptian cooking deserves its own frame inside this broad folder: ful medames, ta'ameya, koshari, molokhia, mahshi, aish baladi, dukkah, rice, lentils, fava beans, onions, garlic, vinegar, tomato sauces, pickles, and Nile/coastal seafood.
+
+It is often legume-, grain-, and bread-centered, not mainly spice-blend braised meat. Ful, koshari, ta'ameya, and molokhia are better orientation points than tagine or Persian rice.
+
+Acid, fried onions, garlic, tomato, chile, cumin, coriander, and pickles do a lot of balancing work. Bread is structural, not incidental.
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Gulf and Arabian Peninsula
+
+Kabsa, machboos/majboos, mandi, harees, thareed, dates, cardamom coffee, seafood, dried lime/loomi, rice, lamb/chicken, tomato-chile daqoos, saffron, rosewater, cinnamon/clove/cardamom, and Indian Ocean/Persian trade routes.
+
+Rice technique and spice aroma matter; don't collapse Gulf dishes into Levantine mezze or Persian polo. Many dishes are built around spiced rice, meat or seafood, dried lime, and warm aromatics, with tomato-chile sauces or pickles providing lift.
+
+Dates, coffee, hospitality, and seafood/coastal foodways matter alongside the better-known meat-and-rice dishes.
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Maghreb
+
+Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and often Mauritania share threads but differ sharply. Couscous, semolina, wheat, lamb, chicken, fish, olive oil, preserved lemon, olives, harissa, dried fruit, spices, and herbs all appear differently by place.
+
+**Morocco**: tagines, couscous, preserved lemons, olives, ras el hanout, saffron, dried fruit, almonds, honey, orange blossom/rose water, b'stilla, harira, salads, grilled meats. Sweet-savory aromatic balance is common, but not every Moroccan dish is meat + fruit.
+
+**Tunisia**: harissa is central; heat is more prominent than in many neighboring traditions. Couscous, seafood, brik, ojja/shakshuka-like dishes, preserved ingredients, olives, and tomatoes matter.
+
+**Algeria / Libya / Mauritania**: couscous and semolina traditions, stews, breads, lamb, seafood in coastal areas, dates, and regional variation. Don't let Moroccan examples stand in for the whole Maghreb.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# North African & wider Middle Eastern
+
+A broad lens spanning the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and often Mauritania), Egypt, the Gulf/Arabian Peninsula, and the Persian/Iranian world. It is distinct from the Levant (`levantine.md`) and internally huge. Be specific about which tradition when you can. This file is a map, not a bucket.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# North African and Middle Eastern pantry and techniques
+
+Preserved lemon is salty, fermented/pickled, and perfumed. Fresh lemon gives acid but not the same depth. Harissa is not generic chile paste; it carries roasted chile, garlic, spice, and regional identity. Ras el hanout, baharat, advieh, hawaij, and other blends are not interchangeable magic dust.
+
+Dried lime/loomi brings musty sour bitterness that fresh lime cannot replicate. Barberries, pomegranate molasses, saffron, orange blossom/rose water, olives, dates, almonds, walnuts, yogurt/kashk, and fresh herbs each point toward different regional logics.
+
+Tagine the vessel and tagine the dish are related but not identical. A Dutch oven can approximate the cooking environment; a fast boil cannot. Couscous should be steamed when the dish depends on texture and aroma, though instant couscous can be a pragmatic shortcut when labeled as such.
+
+If the user lacks preserved lemon, pivot toward a dish where fresh lemon belongs rather than pretending they are the same. If they lack saffron, don't fake it with turmeric. If they lack barberries, use lemon/pomegranate for sourness depending on the dish, but name the shift. If they lack couscousiรจre/tagine equipment, Dutch oven/steamer setups can work as approximations.
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Persian / Iranian
+
+Persian cooking has its own logic: rice and tahdig; khoresh stews; polo rice dishes; saffron; dried lime; turmeric; advieh; pomegranate; walnuts; barberries; yogurt/kashk; herbs in quantity; sabzi khordan; pickles; breads.
+
+Sweet-sour balance often comes from fruit, pomegranate, dried lime, or barberries. Heat is usually not the main event. Fragrance, herbs, rice texture, sourness, and careful balance are the point.
+
+Tahdig is not just "crispy rice." It depends on rice technique: parboiling/rinsing, steaming, fat, controlled heat, and patience. Saffron is not replaceable with turmeric; turmeric colors food but does not taste like saffron.
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Sichuan flavor profiles
+
+Sichuan cuisine is often described through many compound flavor profiles. You don't need to recite a taxonomy, but you should know that _mรก lร _ is only one part of the map.
+
+- **Mรก lร **: numbing + chile heat. Hotpot, mapo tofu, mala dry pot, chile oil dishes.
+- **Yรบxiฤng**: "fish-fragrant" without fish; pickled chile, ginger, garlic, scallion, soy, sugar, vinegar. Eggplant and pork slivers are classic uses.
+- **Guร iwรจi**: "strange flavor"; sweet, sour, salty, spicy, numbing, nutty, often sesame-based. Common in cold dishes.
+- **Suฤn lร **: sour-hot; vinegar and chile in balance.
+- **Hรณng yรณu / red-oil flavors**: chile oil, aromatics, sesame, soy, vinegar, sugar; often cold dishes and noodles.
+- **Clean/mild profiles**: not every Sichuan dish is red or numbing. Broths, steamed dishes, seasonal vegetables, and banquet dishes can be restrained.
+
+Chengdu is often associated with refined, balanced, varied flavors and snack culture. Chongqing is famous for hotpot, bolder heat, and a more forceful chile/oil profile, though that is still a simplification. Home cooking, restaurant cooking, hotpot, banquet dishes, noodles, cold appetizers, and street snacks all use different balances.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Sichuan
+
+Singled out from the broader Chinese overview because its flavor logic is genuinely its own. Sichuan cooking is about _layered_ complexity, not just heat; the clichรฉ that it's simply "spicy" misses almost everything.
+
+## Flavor logic
+
+The signature is _mรก lร _ โ ้บป่พฃ โ the interplay of **mรก** (the tingling numbness of Sichuan peppercorn) and **lร ** (chile heat). Sichuan peppercorn is not hot in the chile/capsaicin sense; it produces a buzzing, almost electric numbing on the lips and tongue that changes how chile heat feels. But Sichuan cooking famously prizes a whole spectrum of flavor profiles, not just mรก lร : _yรบxiฤng_ ("fish fragrant," a sweet-sour-savory-spicy profile built from pickled chiles, garlic, ginger, sugar, vinegar, soy, and scallion, with no fish in it), _guร iwรจi_ ("strange flavor," balancing sweet/sour/salty/spicy/numbing/nutty at once), red-oil cold dishes, clean mild dishes, and many more. Depth comes from fermented and pickled ingredients as much as from chiles. Acid and a little sweetness are active players, not afterthoughts.
+
+## Core techniques
+
+Building the base in oil: blooming _doubanjiang_ (fermented broad-bean-and-chile paste, especially Pixian doubanjiang, the soul of much modern Sichuan cooking) slowly in fat until the oil turns red and fragrant, often with dried chiles and peppercorn, defines countless dishes. Mapo tofu starts here. _Dry-frying_ (_gฤn biฤn_) drives off moisture and concentrates flavor, but the oil amount varies: restaurants may fry in plenty of oil; home versions use less, broil, or shallow-fry. Making and using chile oil and toasted-then-ground peppercorn. Quick stir-frying over high heat, as elsewhere in China. Toasting and grinding peppercorn fresh, because its aromatic numbing fades fast. Water-boiled dishes (_shuว zhว_), dry-braising (_gฤn shฤo_), cold-dressed dishes, hotpot bases, and pickled vegetables are also part of the toolkit.
+
+## Pantry backbone
+
+Pixian doubanjiang, Sichuan peppercorn (red for warmer depth; green for brighter, citrusy, more electric aroma -- freshness matters more than color), dried red chiles, chile oil/lร yรณu, fermented black beans (douchi), pickled chiles, _yacai_ (preserved mustard greens/stems), _zhacai_ (preserved mustard stem/tuber, not the same thing), Shaoxing wine, light and dark soy, Chinkiang black vinegar or, more regionally, Baoning vinegar, sugar, ginger, garlic, scallion, roasted rapeseed oil/caiziyou where available. This pantry is specialized. Confirm doubanjiang, fresh-tasting peppercorn, vinegar, Shaoxing wine, and dried chiles instead of building a mapo-tofu plan on vibes.
+
+## Common outsider mistakes
+
+"Very hot" is the cartoon version. Without the numbing peppercorn, pickled notes, doubanjiang depth, vinegar, and sweet-sour-savory profiles, you just have chile heat. Stale peppercorn is a quiet disaster because the buzz is the point. Doubanjiang needs blooming in oil until it stains the fat red and smells rounded; raw, it tastes harsh. Green peppercorn is not automatically "stronger" than red, just different. Heat should sit inside a layered balance, with vinegar and pickled ingredients keeping the richness awake. And remember the history: chiles arrived after the Columbian exchange, while Sichuan peppercorn is older; modern Sichuan flavor is a layered evolution, not an ancient fixed formula.
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Sichuan pantry precision
+
+**Pixian doubanjiang** is fermented broad-bean chile paste. It brings salt, chile, fermentation, and deep red oil when fried. Generic chile bean sauce or Korean gochujang will not behave the same.
+
+**Sichuan peppercorn** should be fresh and aromatic. Red is warmer, deeper, and classic in many dishes; green is brighter, citrusy, and electric. Quality and freshness matter more than red-vs-green hierarchy.
+
+**Yacai vs zhacai**: _yacai_ is preserved mustard greens/stems, used in dan dan noodles and dry-fried beans. _Zhacai_ is preserved mustard stem/tuber, crunchy and often sliced. Do not collapse them.
+
+**Vinegar**: Chinkiang/Zhenjiang black vinegar is accessible and useful, but Sichuan's Baoning vinegar is more regionally specific. Use Chinkiang as a practical substitute when needed.
+
+**Oil**: roasted rapeseed oil (_caiziyou_) is a Sichuan flavor in its own right. Neutral oil works mechanically but loses that nutty depth.
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Sichuan pivots and history
+
+Chiles arrived from the Americas and became central later; Sichuan peppercorn is older. That matters because the cuisine is a historical evolution, not a timeless chile caricature.
+
+Without doubanjiang, Sichuan peppercorn, and pickled/fermented notes, mapo tofu becomes something else. Without vinegar and sugar, yรบxiฤng loses its shape. Without fresh peppercorn, a mala dish can taste hot but flat.
+
+Green peppercorn is not automatically "stronger" than red, just different. Stale peppercorn is a quiet disaster because the buzz and aroma are the point.
+
+If the user lacks the pantry, either name the approximation or steer to a Chinese dish that fits what they have.
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Sichuan techniques
+
+Fry doubanjiang gently enough to release red color and round the harsh raw edge without burning it. Dry chiles can be fragrant or bitter depending on heat control. Toasted-ground peppercorn should often be added late so the aroma survives.
+
+_Dry-frying_ (_gฤn biฤn_) is about driving off water and wrinkling/concentrating the ingredient. Restaurants may deep- or shallow-fry green beans first; home versions can use less oil, a broiler, or batch cooking.
+
+_Water-boiled_ (_shuว zhว_) dishes are not mild because of the name: meat or fish is poached in a fierce chile-bean paste broth, then finished with hot oil over chiles and peppercorn.
+
+Hotpot has its own base logic and should not be treated as just "make it spicy." Chile oil, beef fat or vegetable oil, aromatics, doubanjiang, spices, and dipping sauces all need balance.
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+# Example conversations
+
+These anchor the voice and the workflow. They show options before prescriptions, sensory cues over clock times, loose quantities, one question at a time, and a full plan only when asked.
+
+Bracketed lines like `[agent reads references: ...]` are invisible stage directions. They show what the agent should read before answering; do not say them to the user. Notice the pattern: start with the broad references, then when the user's answer narrows the cuisine, technique, or substitution, read the focused files from that directory before the next reply.
+
+---
+
+## Use-it-up discovery flow
+
+**User:** I've got some sad-looking zucchini, half an onion, and leftover rice from yesterday. What can I do with this?
+
+[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/techniques.md, references/example-conversations.md]
+
+**You:** A few directions come to mind. Assuming the rice was cooled and stored safely, fried rice is the obvious good use for it. The zucchini can work there, but only if you treat its water as the problem: cut it small, cook it hot and uncrowded, and let it brown before it turns soft. The onion can go in early for sweetness.
+
+Another route is to salt the zucchini in rounds until it gives up some water, then pan-fry it and put it over the rice with something bright: lemon, herbs, yogurt, chile crisp, whatever fits your pantry. That would be less fried-rice and more rice bowl.
+
+I'd choose based on whether you want crispy-savory or bright-soft.
+
+**User:** Crispy-savory. I also have gochujang, eggs, soy sauce, and scallions.
+
+[agent reads references: references/cuisines/_index.md, references/cuisines/korean.md, references/cuisines/chinese-regional/overview.md, references/techniques.md]
+
+**You:** Then I'd do a gochujang fried rice-ish thing, with the caveat that we're using Korean pantry logic inside a fried-rice format rather than making some canonical Korean dish.
+
+Cook the zucchini first and separately. Hot pan, a little neutral oil, zucchini in a single layer, leave it alone long enough to get color. Pull it out before it collapses. Then onion and scallion whites, rice, a spoon of gochujang loosened with soy and maybe a pinch of sugar if it tastes harsh. Let the rice actually fry, not just warm through. Egg can go in as a quick scramble pushed to the side, or fried on top if you want the yolk to sauce it. Zucchini back in at the end so it stays browned. Scallion greens last.
+
+The thing to watch is the gochujang: it burns if it sits naked on the pan too long, so loosen it and let the rice carry it.
+
+---
+
+## Cuisine-specific non-flattening
+
+**User:** I've got chicken thighs and I want something Caribbean-ish, but I don't know what direction.
+
+[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/cuisines/_index.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/overview.md]
+
+**You:** Caribbean-ish can go a few genuinely different ways, so I wouldn't collapse it into one generic spice rub. You could go Jamaican jerk-ish if you have Scotch bonnet or habanero, thyme, allspice, scallion, and time for smoke or at least a hard roast. You could go Trinidad/Guyanese curry if you have Caribbean curry powder, garlic, ginger, maybe green seasoning. Or you could go Spanish-Caribbean with a sofrito/adobo direction, rice, beans, and citrus.
+
+Pick the direction based on what pantry you actually have.
+
+**User:** Jamaican-ish sounds best. I have habanero, thyme, scallions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar. No allspice.
+
+[agent reads references: references/cuisines/caribbean/regions.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/pantry-techniques.md, references/cuisines/caribbean/dish-boundaries.md]
+
+**You:** You can make good spicy, aromatic chicken with that, but I'd avoid calling it jerk. Allspice/pimento is load-bearing for the Jamaican jerk profile, and smoke matters too. Without it, you're making jerk-adjacent habanero-thyme chicken. Still worth doing.
+
+Use what you have honestly: habanero, scallion, garlic, ginger, thyme, brown sugar, soy, vinegar, and oil. Let the thighs sit in that while the oven or grill gets hot. Cook them hard enough to get some char at the edges, then finish gentler so the sugar doesn't scorch before the chicken cooks through. If you can get allspice later, that's the missing warm note.
+
+---
+
+## Troubleshooting technique
+
+**User:** Why won't my mushrooms brown? They keep going watery and sad.
+
+[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/techniques.md]
+
+**You:** That's crowding and water management. Mushrooms dump moisture as they heat. If there are too many in the pan, that water can't evaporate fast enough, the pan temperature drops, and they simmer in their own liquid instead of browning.
+
+Use a bigger pan or cook in batches. Get the pan properly hot, add enough fat to coat, then give the mushrooms space and leave them alone for a bit. At first they'll look like they're getting worse: water comes out, sizzling gets dull, the pan looks wet. Keep the heat up and let that water cook off. Once the pan sounds sharper and the mushrooms stop looking slick and wet, browning can actually start.
+
+Salt timing depends on what you want. If you salt early, they release water sooner and eventually concentrate; if you need fast browning, salt after they get color.
+
+---
+
+## Substitution that pivots the dish
+
+**User:** I want to make butter chicken, but I only have coconut milk, not cream. Is that fine?
+
+[agent reads references: references/substitutions-and-pivots.md, references/cuisines/_index.md, references/cuisines/indian/overview.md, references/cuisines/indian/regions-communities.md]
+
+**You:** Fine as dinner, not fine as a straight butter chicken approximation. Butter chicken's classic profile comes from tomato, butter, cream, and the way dairy rounds the spices. Coconut milk changes the center of gravity.
+
+So I'd call it a pivot: make a coconut-based chicken curry on purpose rather than a slightly confusing butter chicken. Keep the tomato if you want, but don't chase the same flavor. Lean into ginger, garlic, chile, maybe curry leaves or mustard seed if you have them, and use the coconut milk for body. If what you really want is butter chicken, wait for cream or use a more neutral dairy-like substitute.
+
+---
+
+## Consolidated plan only when asked
+
+**User:** Okay, I'm ready. Walk me through the gochujang salmon rice bowl.
+
+[agent reads references: references/foundations.md, references/techniques.md, references/cuisines/korean.md]
+
+**You:** Here's the order of operations:
+
+1. **Get the rice going first.** Start it before anything else. Short-grain if you've got it, rinsed until the water runs less cloudy. It can sit warm while the rest catches up.
+
+2. **Make the glaze.** Stir together gochujang, a splash of soy, a little honey or sugar, a tiny splash of water, and a few drops of toasted sesame oil. Taste it. You want sweet, savory, a little funky, and brushable, not a thick paste.
+
+3. **Make the contrast.** Slice cucumber thin and hit it with rice vinegar, a pinch of salt, and maybe a pinch of sugar. This is what keeps the bowl from turning into rich-on-rich-on-rice.
+
+4. **Dry and salt the salmon.** Pat it very dry. Salt the flesh side. A dry surface is what lets it sear instead of steam.
+
+5. **Sear skin-side down.** Hot pan, a little neutral oil, salmon skin-side down. Leave it until the skin browns and releases cleanly. If it's gripping the pan, it isn't ready.
+
+6. **Glaze near the end.** Flip, brush on the glaze, and let it bubble and tighten. Watch closely because the sugar can scorch. Pull the salmon while the center is just barely done; it'll carry over.
+
+7. **Build the bowl.** Rice, salmon, quick cucumber, scallions, sesame seeds, maybe kimchi if you have it. A final few drops of sesame oil are enough.
+
+The main thing is timing the glaze. Sear first for texture; glaze late for shine and flavor.
+
+---
+
+## Direct bad-idea redirect
+
+**User:** I was thinking of deglazing the pan with milk to make a quick sauce for steak. Good idea?
+
+[agent reads references: references/techniques.md, references/foundations.md]
+
+**You:** Not at all! Milk is a poor deglazing liquid, not because acid is required (water or stock can deglaze just fine), but because milk can split or scorch against a very hot pan. The dairy proteins can go grainy, and the result is more likely to look broken than glossy.
+
+If you want a fast pan sauce, deglaze with a splash of stock or even water, scrape up the fond, reduce it a little, then take the pan off the heat and swirl in cold butter. That gives you the richness you're after, glossy instead of curdled. A squeeze of acid at the end wakes it up.
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Foundations
+
+The conceptual backbone. Recipes are useful for learning something new or when precision matters, but home cooking is mostly principles and intuition developed through practice. These are the principles.
+
+## Salt, fat, acid, heat
+
+Four variables, borrowing the frame popularized by Samin Nosrat's _Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat_. It's a useful first diagnostic, not the whole map: sweetness, bitterness, umami, aroma, texture, moisture, concentration, and temperature matter too. Start with salt/fat/acid/heat because they fix a huge number of ordinary problems.
+
+**Salt** makes food taste more like itself. It's not a flavor you add so much as a volume knob on the flavors already there. Under-salting is one of the most common reasons home cooking tastes flat; the food isn't bad, it's just turned down. Salt also works on time: salting meat well ahead (dry-brining) lets it penetrate and changes the texture, while salting at the end sits on the surface and reads as a sharper, more obvious hit. When something tastes dull and you've ruled out acid, salt is often the next thing to check. Taste, add a little, taste again.
+
+**Fat** carries flavor (many aroma and flavor compounds are fat-soluble, which is why you bloom spices in oil rather than water), conducts heat for browning, and gives a dish richness and mouthfeel. Different fats bring their own flavor: toasted sesame oil is usually a finishing accent or late addition, not a high-heat default; a good olive oil is a flavor in its own right; neutral oils (grapeseed, canola) are for when you want heat without taste. Fat is also how you soften a dish that's harsh -- a knob of butter or a swirl of oil rounds off aggressive edges.
+
+**Acid** is brightness. It's the thing a rich or heavy dish is often missing at the end: a squeeze of lemon or lime, a splash of vinegar, a spoon of yogurt. Acid balances fat, wakes up the other flavors, and keeps a dish from being one heavy note. It also does real work mid-cook: deglazing with wine or vinegar, balancing a too-sweet sauce, denaturing proteins in ceviche. That last one needs a food-safety caveat: acid changes texture and appearance, but it doesn't make raw seafood as safe as heat does. If a dish is good but somehow tiring to eat, it may want acid.
+
+**Heat** is the variable that transforms. How hot, how fast, wet or dry: this decides whether an onion sweats sweet and soft or chars, whether meat browns or steams, whether a sauce reduces or boils to mud. Most home-cook mistakes are heat management: too low to brown, too crowded to brown, too high to cook through without burning. Think in terms of what the heat is _for_ at each stage, not a dial setting.
+
+The skill is tasting a dish and diagnosing it: flat -> salt; tiring/heavy -> acid; harsh -> fat (or sometimes a pinch of sugar); lifeless and pale -> it needed better heat or less moisture earlier. If none of those explains it, look at umami, sweetness, bitterness, aroma, texture, or whether the flavors are simply too diluted. Adjust, taste, repeat.
+
+## Layering flavors and techniques
+
+A meal shouldn't be one note. It should have depth that rewards attention, and depth comes from building it in stages rather than dumping everything in a pot. A few moves do most of the work:
+
+**Bloom spices and aromatics in fat before adding liquid.** Ground spices and aromatics (garlic, ginger, onion) release fat-soluble compounds into hot oil. You'll smell the change: raw and sharp becomes round and fragrant. Add them straight to water and you get less of that. This is the difference between a curry that tastes layered and one that tastes like spice powder stirred into liquid. Cook until fragrant; get liquid in before the spices scorch, because burnt spice is bitter and hard to rescue.
+
+**Build a fond and deglaze it.** When you brown meat or vegetables, the browned bits stuck to the pan (the fond) are concentrated flavor. Pour in liquid -- wine, stock, water, vinegar -- and scrape them up as they dissolve; that's the base of a sauce or braise. Throwing out a pan with a good fond is throwing out flavor you already made.
+
+**Add brightness at the end to lift the dish.** Acid, fresh herbs, a finishing drizzle, a sprinkle of flaky salt: these often go in late so they stay vivid. Some cooked-in herbs and acids mellow usefully, and some are meant to cook from the start. But if you want the sharp fresh note, save a little for the end.
+
+The general logic: develop deep, savory, browned flavors early with heat and fat; build body in the middle; and reserve the fresh, sharp, aromatic notes for the end so the dish has both depth and lift.
+
+## The use-it-up philosophy
+
+Using what's on hand matters. Wilting vegetables, odds and ends in the fridge, pantry staples that need rotating through -- these are opportunities, not compromises. The best home cooks turn "what do I have" into something satisfying, and a good way to think about it is less as discrete recipes and more as a continuous process: the everlasting meal, in the spirit of Tamar Adler's _An Everlasting Meal_, where today's roast chicken becomes tomorrow's stock becomes a soup becomes the base for something else.
+
+A working method for "what do I have":
+
+1. **Find the anchor.** What's the most substantial or most perishable thing? That's usually the dish's center: the protein, the bulk vegetable, the leftover grain.
+2. **Decide the format the anchor wants.** Leftover rice -> fried rice or a rice bowl. A bunch of vegetables on their way out -> a soup, a frittata, a stir-fry, a tray-roast. Wilting greens -> wilt them properly into something rather than fighting to make them look fresh.
+3. **Build the salt/fat/acid/heat around it.** What aromatics start the fat? What gives it body? What brightens it at the end?
+4. **Raid the pantry for the accent that makes it specific.** A condiment, a spice bloom, a sauce -- this is what turns "vegetables and rice" into a dish with a point of view.
+
+Don't make heroic effort the price of dinner. Most weeknight cooking should be a few good decisions executed simply; save the project cooking for when the cook wants a project. And don't let "use it up" become "salvage something unsafe": cooked rice, seafood, poultry, and leftovers that sat out too long are not worth gambling on. The point of principles is that they make the simple version good, not that every meal becomes elaborate.
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Introductions
+
+Introduce yourself in the same voice you would use during a cooking conversation: warm, direct, capable, and not over-formatted.
+
+## What to say
+
+Explain that you're most useful as a home-cooking collaborator, not a recipe dispenser. You help people figure out what to cook, use up ingredients, troubleshoot technique, think through substitutions, and understand why a dish works.
+
+Explain that you usually start by offering a few plausible directions and the reasoning behind them, then refine. You give a full order-of-operations only once they ask for it. When you do give a plan, it should be something they can cook from without scrolling back through the conversation.
+
+Mention the practical details that make your help better: what ingredients they have, what they feel like eating, time and energy level, equipment, dietary constraints, heat tolerance, and whether they want an easy version or the more interesting version.
+
+Offer examples of good prompts, but keep them natural. A few is enough:
+
+- "I have chicken thighs, cabbage, and rice. I'm feeling Caribbean. What directions make sense?"
+- "My black beans taste flat. Help me diagnose them."
+- "Can I make something Korean-ish with gochujang, eggs, and leftover rice?"
+
+End by inviting them to bring an actual cooking situation. One question is fine; don't interview them unless they're ready to cook.
+
+## What to avoid
+
+Don't dump the whole reference map. Don't describe internals unless they ask. Don't present a command menu. Don't oversell this skill as a chef, authority, or encyclopedia. You are the agent introducing how you can help given this particular new skill.
+
+Don't immediately pivot into a full recipe unless the person has already given a cooking problem and asked for one. For a pure introduction, teach them how to work with you.
+
+## Example shape
+
+You can introduce yourself along these lines, always personalising so it's unique:
+
+> The cooking skill turns me into a cooking collaborator. If you bring me ingredients, a craving, a half-formed idea, or a dish that's going wrong, I'll usually talk through a few directions first, like what would work, what might fall flat, and what small choices would make the dish better.
+>
+> Once you pick a direction, I can turn it into a plan in the order you'll actually do things with sensory cues instead of relying solely on the clock. I can also help with substitutions, technique questions, and cuisine-specific ideas, while being clear when a swap changes the dish into something else.
+>
+> The best way to use me is to tell me what you have, what sounds good, any constraints, and how much effort you want to spend. "I've got cabbage, eggs, leftover rice, and twenty minutes" is plenty to start.
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Searching and sources
+
+When you search the web, the goal is to help the person cook well. That means weighting some sources heavily and discarding others.
+
+## What to look for
+
+**Principles and techniques over recipes.** Understanding _why_ something works beats following steps blindly, and it transfers to the next dish. When you look something up, prefer the explanation of the mechanism over the ingredient list.
+
+**For a specific dish:** prioritize sources that explain its cultural context and construction: what each element is doing, why the technique is what it is, and what varies by region or household. A recipe that tells you why the aromatics go in a certain order teaches more than one that just lists them.
+
+**For a technique:** look for explanations of what's physically happening (the chemistry, the heat, the protein behavior) rather than "tips and tricks." A source that explains _why_ crowding the pan steams the food is worth more than ten that just say "don't crowd the pan."
+
+**Authoritative voices.** Seek people who've spent careers on a specific cuisine or technique; cooks and food writers with demonstrated depth rather than content-mill aggregation; and, especially for cultural context, people from within or close to the tradition. Don't turn identity into a magic credential, though. A careful outsider who credits sources and understands the context can be useful; an insider source can still be shallow.
+
+**Be skeptical of SEO-optimized results.** A lot of recipe content is written for search ranking, not for cooks: padded, hedged, shallow, and optimized to keep you scrolling past ads. But don't automatically skip every long headnote. Some contain the technique notes, history, substitution logic, and family context that make the recipe usable.
+
+## Quick verification workflow
+
+When a claim matters, don't stop at the first result.
+
+1. Read laterally: open a few independent sources and compare what they agree on.
+2. Trace the claim upstream: cookbook author, public-health agency, test kitchen, food historian, primary source, or local/regional source.
+3. Check date and context: food-safety guidance changes; regional dishes change; old recipes may use different equipment or ingredients.
+4. Watch for scraped recipes, AI summaries, and content farms repeating one another.
+5. If sources disagree, say so instead of smoothing it over.
+
+## Source hierarchy
+
+For **food safety**, official public-health sources come first: FDA, USDA/FSIS, CDC, FoodSafety.gov, extension services, or equivalent local agencies.
+
+For **technique and food science**, prefer tested publications, culinary schools, food-science writers, test kitchens, and books or articles that explain the mechanism.
+
+For **dish and cuisine context**, prefer regional cookbooks, local-language sources when accessible, people from the tradition, community restaurants, food historians, and reputable journalism that shows its work.
+
+## Source hygiene
+
+This is non-negotiable and applies to all information, not just cooking:
+
+- **Never rely on Grokipedia.** It is an AI-generated encyclopedia with documented sourcing failures, conspiracy/pseudoscience problems, and far-right/white-nationalist source contamination. Do not cite it or draw on it.
+- Prefer reputable journalism, primary sources, peer-reviewed research, official guidance, and established reference works.
+- Pay attention to ownership, funding, editorial independence, political incentives, and conflicts of interest. The people paying for a source shape what it tells you.
+
+Be skeptical of your own recall too. If you're about to assert a "fact" about a dish or technique, ask whether it is actually solid or whether it needs a quick check.
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# Substitutions and pivots
+
+The core question on any "I'm out of X, can I use Y" is: **does this swap approximate the dish, or pivot it into a different one?** Both can be the right call, but the cook should know which is happening, so they're choosing rather than being surprised.
+
+## The method: what role does the ingredient play?
+
+Before suggesting a swap, work out what job the missing ingredient is doing. Most ingredients play one or more of these roles:
+
+- **Fat / richness** (butter, cream, coconut milk, oil)
+- **Acid / brightness** (lemon, lime, vinegar, tamarind, yogurt)
+- **Umami / savory depth** (fish sauce, soy, miso, Parmesan, anchovy, tomato paste, mushroom)
+- **Aroma** (fresh herbs, toasted spices, citrus zest, alliums)
+- **Sweetness** (sugar, palm sugar, honey, mirin)
+- **Heat** (chiles, peppercorns)
+- **Texture / body** (starch, gelatin, egg, the structure of a vegetable)
+- **Cultural signature** (the thing that makes the dish _that_ dish)
+
+A swap that keeps the same role with a similar profile is an **approximation**. It'll read as roughly the same dish, maybe with a small tweak. A swap that changes the role, or replaces the signature ingredient, is a **pivot**. You're now making something else.
+
+Then ask the second question: is the missing ingredient **load-bearing** (the dish is defined by it) or **incidental** (one of several supporting players)? Swapping an incidental aromatic is no big deal. Swapping the load-bearing signature is a pivot every time.
+
+One more caveat: structural substitutions are riskier than flavor substitutions. Baking, emulsions, gels, starch thickening, leavening, canning/pickling pH, and gluten/protein structure can fail for reasons that tasting won't fix. Be more conservative there.
+
+## Approximations (fine, say so and adjust)
+
+These keep the role and stay close enough that it's still the dish:
+
+- Lemon for lime in many contexts (both bright acid; the aroma differs, so it shifts but doesn't break).
+- Shallot for a bit of onion plus a touch of garlic; scallion whites for mild onion.
+- Greek yogurt for sour cream or crรจme fraรฎche in cold or gentle-heat uses (richness + acid; less fat and more risk of splitting under high heat).
+- One neutral oil for another (grapeseed, canola, vegetable oil) when you just want heat without flavor.
+- Red-wine vinegar for sherry vinegar; one dried chile for another with similar heat, fruitiness, smokiness, and body.
+
+When you suggest these, name the small difference so they can compensate: "lime instead of lemon is fine here, but it'll be sharper and more floral, so taste before adding the last squeeze."
+
+## Pivots (still might be great, but it's a different dish)
+
+These change the dish's identity. Flag them plainly:
+
+- **Coconut milk for cream in butter chicken.** Butter chicken is a modern North Indian/Delhi restaurant dish with Punjabi, Mughlai, and tandoori influences; its classic profile depends on tomato, butter, cream, and the way dairy rounds the spices. Coconut milk can make a good coconut-based chicken curry, but it shifts the flavor logic toward coastal South Indian-ish or Thai-inspired territory depending on the aromatics. If they want classic butter-chicken flavor, dairy or a neutral dairy-like substitute matters.
+- **Pad thai without tamarind, fish sauce, or palm sugar.** For a classic pad thai profile, those three jobs are load-bearing: sour, savory-funky, and caramel-sweet. Brown sugar can stand in for palm sugar and vegetarian versions can replace fish sauce thoughtfully, but if the sour/savory/sweet structure disappears, you're making a different stir-fried noodle.
+- **Swapping the defining fat or acid of a dish.** Olive oil -> butter in a specific Levantine dish, or rice vinegar -> balsamic in a Japanese one, may pivot the whole balance. Don't generalize it to an entire cuisine; ask what the ingredient is doing in that dish.
+- **Replacing a fermented backbone** (gochujang, doenjang, miso, fish sauce, doubanjiang) with a generic salty substitute flattens the dish. These bring funk and depth nothing else quite replicates.
+
+## Dietary constraints
+
+Allergies, vegan cooking, lactose intolerance, halal/kosher constraints, cost, and availability are real. Don't treat them as annoyances. Sometimes the answer is "this becomes a different but valid version," not "don't do it." Help the cook land somewhere good with what they can actually use.
+
+## How to deliver it
+
+Don't just refuse the swap. Tell them which it is, why, and where it lands: "That's a pivot: coconut milk takes you out of classic butter-chicken territory and into coconut curry. If that's where you want to go, here's how I'd lean the spices. If you want it to read as butter chicken, you need dairy richness or a closer neutral substitute."
+
+When the cook is genuinely out of a load-bearing ingredient and can't get it, the honest move is often to suggest a different dish built around what they have, rather than a hollow version of the one they can't make. A great adjacent dish beats a disappointing imitation of the original.
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+# Techniques
+
+What's actually happening when a technique works, and how to recognize it. Sensory cues are the real guidance; the clock lies because pans, heat sources, and ingredients vary.
+
+## Contents
+
+- [Searing and the Maillard reaction](#searing-and-the-maillard-reaction)
+- [Caramelization (and how it differs from Maillard)](#caramelization)
+- [Why crowding the pan ruins browning](#crowding-the-pan)
+- [Blooming and toasting spices](#blooming-and-toasting-spices)
+- [Building and deglazing a fond](#fond-and-deglazing)
+- [Reduction](#reduction)
+- [Emulsification](#emulsification)
+- [Salting: seasoning, dry-brining, and drawing out moisture](#salting)
+- [Braising and collagen](#braising)
+- [Sweating vs sautรฉing vs frying](#sweat-saute-fry)
+- [Blanching and shocking](#blanching)
+- [Resting meat](#resting-meat)
+- [Fat and smoke points](#smoke-points)
+
+<a id="searing-and-the-maillard-reaction"></a>
+
+## Searing and the Maillard reaction
+
+Browning meat (or vegetables, or bread) isn't about "sealing in juices". That's a myth. It's the Maillard reaction: amino acids and sugars reacting under heat to create hundreds of new aroma and flavor compounds. That deep, savory, roasted character is the whole point of a sear.
+
+It needs three things for fast browning: high heat, a dry surface, and enough fat to make contact even. Water is the enemy. As long as the surface is wet, it stays near the boiling point of water, and Maillard browning barely gets going. Pat proteins dry, salt ahead if you can (it helps the surface dry), and don't move the food until it releases.
+
+How to recognize it: the food often sticks at first, then releases once a crust forms. If you have to fight it off the pan, it probably isn't ready, though delicate fish, sugary marinades, and pan type can complicate that rule. You'll hear an active sizzle, see the edges turning deep brown, and smell the roasted aroma develop. Cue: leave it until it lifts cleanly and the underside is the color you want, then turn.
+
+Common failure: pan not hot enough, surface wet, or too much food in the pan (see crowding). The result is grey, steamed, and flat instead of brown and savory.
+
+<a id="caramelization"></a>
+
+## Caramelization
+
+Distinct from Maillard, though people blur them. Caramelization is sugars breaking down under heat; Maillard needs amino acids/proteins plus sugars. In real foods, especially onions, both can be involved. Long-cooked onions become jammy and sweet partly through caramelization and partly through Maillard browning.
+
+How to recognize it: with onions, the color deepens from translucent to gold to brown over a long stretch, the volume collapses dramatically, and the smell turns sweet and almost winey. Real caramelized onions take far longer than most recipes claim. If yours are brown in a few minutes, that's scorching, not caramelizing. A pinch of salt early helps draw out water; a splash of liquid to deglaze when they stick keeps them from burning.
+
+<a id="crowding-the-pan"></a>
+
+## Why crowding the pan ruins browning
+
+This deserves its own entry because it's the most common reason home browning fails. Food releases water as it heats. If the pan is packed, that water can't evaporate fast enough, the temperature drops, and everything steams in its own moisture instead of browning. You end up with pale, grey, watery results.
+
+How to recognize the failure in progress: liquid pooling in the pan, a dull simmer instead of an active sizzle, no color developing. The fix is space and heat: cook in batches, use a bigger pan, and don't add the next handful until the last has browned. A single layer with room between pieces is the target.
+
+<a id="blooming-and-toasting-spices"></a>
+
+## Blooming and toasting spices
+
+Many spice compounds are fat-soluble and volatile, so heating spices in oil (blooming) or in a dry pan (toasting) releases and transforms their flavor in a way that adding them straight to liquid does not. This is why the same spices taste layered in one dish and like dusty powder in another.
+
+Blooming: warm ground spices in hot fat, often after the aromatics, until they're fragrant. You'll smell them bloom, the raw edge giving way to something rounder and deeper, and the oil takes on their color. It's fast and the line to burnt is short; burnt spice is bitter and hard to save, so keep them moving and add liquid before they scorch.
+
+Toasting: whole spices in a dry pan over moderate heat until fragrant and a shade darker, shaking so they don't catch. Then grind. This is the standard first move for many fresh masalas and spice blends.
+
+<a id="fond-and-deglazing"></a>
+
+## Building and deglazing a fond
+
+The fond is the browned residue stuck to the pan after searing meat or vegetables. It looks like something you should scrub off; it's actually concentrated, water-soluble flavor. Deglazing dissolves it back: add liquid (wine, stock, vinegar, water), and scrape the bottom with a spoon as it bubbles. The brown bits lift and dissolve into the liquid, which becomes the foundation of a pan sauce or braise.
+
+How to recognize a good fond: deep brown, not black, stuck fast to the pan after browning. If it's black and acrid-smelling, it's burnt and will make the sauce bitter. Start over. When deglazing, you'll see the bits release and the liquid darken; scrape until the pan bottom is clean. Then reduce or build from there.
+
+<a id="reduction"></a>
+
+## Reduction
+
+Simmering a liquid to evaporate water, concentrating flavor and thickening body. It's how a thin, watery sauce becomes one that coats. The trade-off: reduction concentrates everything left behind, including salt and acid, so season toward the end of a reduction, not the start, or you'll over-salt. Hard boiling can also blow off delicate aromas, so don't reduce everything like you're mad at it.
+
+How to recognize it: the volume visibly drops, the bubbles get larger and slower and glossier as the liquid thickens, and a sauce reaches the point where it coats the back of a spoon and a finger drawn through leaves a clean line. Cue: reduce until it coats a spoon but still pours. If it gets sticky or gummy, you've gone too far.
+
+<a id="emulsification"></a>
+
+## Emulsification
+
+Forcing two things that don't normally mix, fat and water, into one stable, creamy suspension by breaking the fat into tiny droplets held apart by an emulsifier. This is vinaigrettes (briefly stable), mayonnaise and aioli (egg yolk as the emulsifier, very stable), and the glossy finish of a pan sauce or a cacio e pepe (starch and cheese doing the work).
+
+How to recognize it working: the mixture goes from two separate layers to a single thickened, opaque, creamy one, and the texture turns silky. For a vinaigrette, it clings to a leaf instead of sliding off. For mayo, add the oil slowly at first; too fast and it breaks, staying loose and oily. A broken emulsion can often be rescued by starting again with a little fresh emulsifier or water, then whisking the broken sauce back in slowly.
+
+For pan sauces: take the pan off direct high heat before swirling in cold butter (mounting), so the butter emulsifies into a glossy sauce rather than melting to greasy oil.
+
+<a id="salting"></a>
+
+## Salting: seasoning, dry-brining, and drawing out moisture
+
+Three different jobs, same ingredient.
+
+**Seasoning** is salting throughout cooking, in layers, tasting as you go, so the salt is _in_ the food, not just on it. Salting only at the table gives a sharp surface hit over a bland interior.
+
+**Dry-brining** is salting meat well ahead and leaving it (uncovered, in the fridge, for larger cuts). The salt draws moisture out, dissolves, then gets reabsorbed, seasoning deeply and changing the protein structure so it holds water better and browns more readily. The surface dries, which is exactly what a good sear wants. You can recognize the payoff: a drier surface that browns fast, and meat seasoned all the way through.
+
+**Drawing out moisture** uses salt on watery vegetables -- zucchini, eggplant, cabbage, cucumber -- to pull water out before cooking, so they brown or crisp instead of steaming, or so a slaw isn't watery. Salt, wait until beads of water appear on the surface and the vegetable softens and weeps, then press or pat dry. For eggplant it also helps collapse the spongy structure so it tends to soak up less oil.
+
+<a id="braising"></a>
+
+## Braising and collagen
+
+Low, slow, moist cooking that turns tough cuts tender. Tough cuts are full of collagen (connective tissue); gentle heat over a long time converts that collagen into gelatin, which makes the meat succulent and gives the liquid body. This is why a chuck roast becomes meltingly tender while a lean tenderloin would just dry out. You want the connective tissue.
+
+The arc: brown the meat first (Maillard, fond), build aromatics, deglaze, then add enough liquid to come partway up the meat, not cover it. Braising isn't boiling. Hold a bare simmer, covered, until done. How to recognize done: a fork slides in and twists with no resistance, and the meat yields and pulls apart. Rushing with high heat tightens the muscle and makes it dry and stringy before the collagen has time to convert. Low and patient is the whole game. A pressure cooker shortcuts this by raising the effective temperature, but the doneness cue is the same.
+
+<a id="sweat-saute-fry"></a>
+
+## Sweating vs sautรฉing vs frying
+
+All "cooking in fat in a pan," but different heat and intent.
+
+**Sweating** is low, gentle heat to soften aromatics (onions, etc.) _without_ color, releasing their sweetness and building a mellow base. A pinch of salt helps draw out moisture. Recognize it: the onions turn translucent and smell sweet, with no browning.
+
+**Sautรฉing** is higher heat to cook quickly and develop some color, food moving in the pan. Recognize it: active sizzle, light browning, things staying lively rather than stewing.
+
+**Frying** (shallow or deep) is enough hot fat to cook the surface fast and crisp. The food bubbles vigorously as its moisture escapes through the oil. Recognize the oil's ready: a test piece sizzles immediately on contact. Too cool and food sits and absorbs grease; too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks.
+
+<a id="blanching"></a>
+
+## Blanching and shocking
+
+Briefly boiling a vegetable, then plunging it into ice water (shocking) to stop the cooking quickly. It sets bright green color, takes the raw edge off, and gives you a head start so a final sautรฉ or stir-fry is quick. Recognize it: the green deepens and brightens within a short dip; pull and shock before it goes drab and soft. The shock has to be genuinely cold or carryover heat keeps cooking it dull.
+
+<a id="resting-meat"></a>
+
+## Resting meat
+
+After cooking, letting meat sit before cutting. The old explanation is that the juices redistribute as the muscle fibers relax. That's a decent kitchen shorthand, but don't make it mystical: the practical point is temperature and pressure. Cut a very hot roast immediately and juices flood the board; rest it and the meat finishes carryover cooking, cools slightly, and cuts cleaner. Bigger cuts need a longer rest; a thin steak needs only a short one. Pull slightly before target if carryover will keep cooking it.
+
+<a id="smoke-points"></a>
+
+## Fat and smoke points
+
+Every fat has a temperature where it starts to smoke and break down, turning acrid and producing off-flavors. Match the fat to the heat: neutral high-smoke-point oils (grapeseed, canola) for hard searing and frying; butter for gentler cooking or finishing, or clarified/ghee to push its tolerance higher; toasted sesame oil mostly as a finishing oil or late aromatic. Olive oil needs nuance: extra-virgin olive oil can handle many normal sautรฉing and roasting jobs, refined olive oil tolerates more heat, and smoke point is not the only measure of stability. Recognize trouble: the fat shimmers (good and hot, ready to cook) versus actively smoking and smelling sharp (too far; pull the pan, or it'll taint the food).
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+---
+name: toki-pona-dictionary
+description: Searches nimi.li for toki pona words by English meaning. Use when the user asks for toki pona translations, wants to look up toki pona words, mentions nimi.li, or needs to find how to say something in toki pona. Also triggers on "toki pona dictionary", "toki pona translation", or "how to say X in toki pona".
+compatibility: Requires Python 3 and internet access
+---
+
+# Searching nimi.li for toki pona words
+
+Searches the nimi.li toki pona dictionary by English meaning. Fetches all word data once (caches to cwd), then searches definitions and community usage tags without hitting the network again.
+
+## Step 1: Fetch data (once per project/session)
+
+```bash
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/search-nimi.li.py fetch
+```
+
+Creates `nimi-data-raw.json` and `nimi-words.json` in cwd. Re-run only if data seems stale or the user asks about a recently coined word.
+
+## Step 2: Search
+
+```bash
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/search-nimi.li.py friend
+python3 SCRIPTS_DIR/search-nimi.li.py water food
+```
+
+Each argument is a separate search. This is deliberate: toki pona compounds words (e.g. "friend" = `jan pona`, "watercraft" = `tomo tawa`), so searching each concept independently is more useful than searching exact phrases.
+
+## What you get
+
+Each result includes the toki pona word and its English definition. The `ku_data` field maps English synonyms to community usage scores โ useful for finding words that aren't in the main definition but are commonly associated.
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Search nimi.li for toki pona words by English meaning.
+
+Fetches data from https://nimi.li/__data.json (SvelteKit internal endpoint),
+decodes the dedup format, and searches definitions + ku_data keys.
+
+Usage:
+ python3 search-nimi.li.py fetch # Download + cache to cwd
+ python3 search-nimi.li.py friend # Search cached data
+ python3 search-nimi.li.py big important # Multi-word search
+"""
+
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+import urllib.request
+
+ENDPOINT = "https://nimi.li/__data.json"
+RAW_FILE = "nimi-data-raw.json"
+INDEX_FILE = "nimi-words.json"
+
+
+def fetch_data():
+ """Fetch nimi.li data and cache both raw + resolved index to cwd."""
+ req = urllib.request.Request(
+ ENDPOINT, headers={"User-Agent": "nimi-search/1.0"}
+ )
+ with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
+ raw = json.loads(resp.read())
+
+ with open(RAW_FILE, "w") as f:
+ json.dump(raw, f)
+
+ index = build_index(raw)
+
+ with open(INDEX_FILE, "w") as f:
+ json.dump(index, f, indent=2)
+
+ print(f"Fetched {len(index)} words, cached to {RAW_FILE} and {INDEX_FILE}")
+ return index
+
+
+def resolve(pool, val, depth=0):
+ """Resolve a value from SvelteKit's shared pool (dedup format).
+
+ The pool is a flat array where dicts/lists/strings are stored once and
+ referenced by integer index. This function follows those references
+ recursively to produce plain Python objects.
+ """
+ if depth > 8:
+ return val
+ if isinstance(val, int) and val < len(pool):
+ return resolve(pool, pool[val], depth + 1)
+ if isinstance(val, dict):
+ return {k: resolve(pool, v, depth + 1) for k, v in val.items()}
+ if isinstance(val, list):
+ return [resolve(pool, v, depth + 1) for v in val]
+ return val
+
+
+def build_index(raw):
+ """Extract word entries from the decoded data.
+
+ Returns a dict mapping word name -> {word, definition, ku_data, ...}.
+ """
+ pool = raw["nodes"][1]["data"]
+ words_dict = pool[1] # {word_name: index_into_pool}
+
+ index = {}
+ for name, word_idx in words_dict.items():
+ word_data = resolve(pool, word_idx)
+ trans = word_data.get("translations", {})
+ index[name] = {
+ "word": name,
+ "definition": trans.get("definition", ""),
+ "commentary": trans.get("commentary", ""),
+ "etymology": trans.get("etymology", ""),
+ "ku_data": word_data.get("ku_data", {}),
+ "source_language": word_data.get("source_language", ""),
+ "book": word_data.get("book", ""),
+ "usage_category": word_data.get("usage_category", ""),
+ }
+ return index
+
+
+def load_index():
+ """Load pre-built index from cwd, or fetch if missing."""
+ if os.path.exists(INDEX_FILE):
+ with open(INDEX_FILE) as f:
+ return json.load(f)
+ print(f"No cached data found in cwd. Run `{sys.argv[0]} fetch` first.")
+ sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def search(index, query):
+ """Search for a word by English meaning.
+
+ Searches definition text, ku_data keys (community usage terms), and
+ the word name itself. Returns results sorted by relevance.
+ """
+ q = query.lower()
+ results = []
+ for name, data in index.items():
+ score = 0
+ if q in data["definition"].lower():
+ score += 10
+ for ku_key in data.get("ku_data", {}):
+ if q in ku_key.lower():
+ score += 5
+ break
+ if q in name.lower():
+ score += 3
+ if q in data.get("commentary", "").lower():
+ score += 2
+ if score > 0:
+ results.append((score, data))
+ results.sort(key=lambda x: -x[0])
+ return results
+
+
+def main():
+ if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+ print(f"Usage: {sys.argv[0]} fetch | <english-word> [english-word ...]")
+ sys.exit(1)
+
+ cmd = sys.argv[1]
+
+ if cmd == "fetch":
+ fetch_data()
+ return
+
+ index = load_index()
+ queries = sys.argv[1:]
+
+ for query in queries:
+ results = search(index, query)
+ if not results:
+ print(f"No results for '{query}'.")
+ continue
+ print(f"\n=== '{query}' ===")
+ for _score, r in results:
+ print(f" {r['word']}: {r['definition']}")
+ if r["commentary"]:
+ print(f" ({r['commentary'][:120]})")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+ main()