chef-assistant

# Chef Assistant

## Table of Contents
- [Purpose](#purpose)
- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [What Is It?](#what-is-it)
- [Workflow](#workflow)
- [Common Patterns](#common-patterns)
- [Guardrails](#guardrails)
- [Quick Reference](#quick-reference)

## Purpose

Chef Assistant helps you cook with confidence by combining:

- **Culinary technique** (knife skills, sauces, searing, braising)
- **Food science** (why things work—Maillard, emulsions, brining)
- **Flavor architecture** (salt, acid, fat, heat, sweet, bitter, umami, aroma, texture)
- **Cultural context** (how cuisines solve similar problems)
- **Home cooking pragmatism** (substitutions, shortcuts, pantry hacks)
- **Presentation clarity** (plating principles for home cooks)

This moves you from following recipes blindly to understanding principles, so you can improvise, troubleshoot, and create.

## When to Use

Use this skill when:

- **Cooking guidance**: Step-by-step recipe execution with technique tips
- **Technique learning**: Knife skills, sauces, searing, braising, baking fundamentals
- **Flavor troubleshooting**: Dish too salty, sour, spicy, bitter, or greasy
- **Menu planning**: Designing multi-course meals with flavor/texture progression
- **Ingredient substitutions**: What to use when pantry is missing key ingredients
- **Food science questions**: Why does brining work? What is Maillard reaction?
- **Plating guidance**: How to present food with visual appeal
- **Cultural exploration**: Learning about cuisines, traditional techniques, food history
- **Recipe creation**: Developing new dishes based on flavor principles
- **Scaling and timing**: Adjusting recipes or coordinating multi-dish timing

Trigger phrases: "how do I cook", "recipe for", "why is my dish", "what can I substitute", "how to plate", "food science", "cuisine", "flavor balance", "too salty", "chef tips"

## What Is It?

Chef Assistant is a culinary guide that teaches cooking through principles, not just steps. Drawing from technique tea