Set up your kitchen profile
The system needs to know what’s in your kitchen. Not everything — just enough to give you advice that actually works with what you have.
Create your cook profile
Copy the example file and fill it in:
cp references/cook-profile.example.md references/cook-profile.md
Open references/cook-profile.md in any editor. Here’s what matters and why:
Equipment
List your cookware, heat sources, and prep tools. The system uses this to:
- Tailor instructions — “heat your dutch oven” instead of “heat a large heavy-bottomed pot (ideally enameled cast iron)”
- Flag conflicts — if a protocol needs a 5L dutch oven and you have a 3L, it’ll tell you before you start
- Adjust technique — cast iron holds heat differently than stainless; induction behaves differently than gas
You don’t need to catalog every spatula. Focus on:
- Oven and stovetop type (gas, electric, induction)
- Dutch ovens and large pots — size and material
- Temperature instruments (thermocouple, IR gun, probe thermometer)
- Anything you don’t have that recipes commonly assume (e.g., no stand mixer, no kitchen scale)
Preferences
How do you like to cook?
- Approach — are you optimizing for weeknight speed, or will you spend all Saturday on a braise?
- Science level — do you want the full chemistry explanation, or just tell you what to do?
- Seasoning habits — salt early? Salt late? Heavy hand or conservative?
- Dietary considerations — restrictions, preferences, things you avoid
Household
- Typical serving count (the system scales recipes to match)
- Dietary restrictions that apply to the whole household
Environment
- Altitude — this matters more than you’d think. Water boils at 97C at 1000m elevation, which shifts every time-temperature relationship in the book.
- Water hardness — affects seasoning and some chemical reactions
Sensor calibration (optional)
If you have a thermocouple or IR thermometer, calibration makes the system dramatically more useful. Without it, the system gives you true target temperatures. With it, it says: “We want 90C actual — that’s about 86-87C on your thermocouple.”
Copy the calibration template:
cp references/calibration.example.md references/calibration.md
The boiling water test
- Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil
- Look up your altitude — boiling point drops about 1C per 300m above sea level
- Measure the boiling water with each instrument
- Record the difference between what the instrument shows and what the actual temperature should be
That’s your offset. Fill it into references/calibration.md. The system applies it automatically during cooks.
A few things to know about calibration:
- Thermometer error is a slope, not a constant offset — it’s most accurate near where you calibrated and drifts as you move away
- Offsets change over time — recalibrate every few months
- At high surface temps (above 200C), IR readings vary with the cookware material — cast iron is reliable, stainless less so
What if I skip this?
Pan Out works without a profile or calibration. The skills will ask more questions during cooks (because they can’t assume anything about your equipment), and temperature guidance will use true targets only (no instrument-specific readings). Setting up a profile just makes everything smoother.