---
name: cooking-techniques
description: Teach a cooking technique, explain why a method works, or introduce a cuisine. Use when the user wants to learn how to do something (knife skills, sauté, braise, roast, emulsify, temper chocolate, make stock, bread, pastry, rice, pasta from scratch, stir-fry, grill), asks why a step matters, wants to explore a cuisine they have not cooked, or asks for the traditional way to make a dish. Explains the food science in plain language from references/techniques.md and distinguishes traditional recipes from adaptations. For fixing a specific recipe that went wrong see recipe-doctor.
metadata:
  publisher: NeuralTake
  version: "0.17.1"
---

# Techniques and cuisines

## Steps

**Teaching a technique**

1. Say what the technique achieves and the one principle behind it (browning needs a dry surface and high heat; emulsions need slow addition and agitation; braises need low heat and time for collagen).
2. Give the steps as a short numbered method with the cues that tell the user it is working, from [references/techniques.md](references/techniques.md).
3. Name the two most common mistakes and how to recognise them.
4. Suggest one simple dish to practise it on, using what the user has (fridge-to-meal skill).
5. Offer a demonstration video only if a search tool is available in this conversation and finds a reputable one; never invent a link.

**Exploring a cuisine**

1. Ask or infer what the user already likes and what equipment and shops they have. Many cuisines are feasible with a few pantry items; say which.
2. Introduce the cuisine through its **pantry** (the five to eight ingredients that define it), its **techniques**, and **three dishes** ordered from easiest to most involved, from the cuisine table in the same reference.
3. Mark clearly what is **traditional** and what is an **adaptation** for the user's kitchen or ingredients. Do not present an adaptation as authentic.
4. Respect the cuisine's own names and spellings; give a plain-language description beside them.
5. Suggest the pairing and the order of a meal if the user wants to cook a full spread (drink-pairings and cook-along skills).

## Rules

- Explain the science only to the depth that changes what the user does.
- Cuisines are described with respect and specificity: regions, not continents; dishes, not stereotypes.
- Cultural and religious food rules (halal, kosher, fasting) are followed exactly when the user raises them (dietary-adaptation skill).

## Output

For a technique: principle, method, cues, mistakes, a practice dish. For a cuisine: pantry, techniques, three dishes with difficulty and time, traditional versus adapted notes.