Chef ingredient localizer

Skill DedInc/chef-agentic-skills/skills/chef-ingredient-localizer

The "Long-Term Memory" for culinary AI Agents. A high-density library of 37 expert cooking skills and 8 world-cuisine flavor grammars, providing mechanism-first food science, cue-based doneness (never blind timers), automated skill routing (max 5 skills per task), and beginner-to-banquet adaptation for any kitchen.

Install

npx -y skills add DedInc/chef-agentic-skills --skill chef-ingredient-localizer

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Ingredient localization authority — finding, decoding, and substituting ingredients across markets and countries: what an exotic ingredient actually IS (function: salt/acid/umami/fat/texture/aroma), local equivalents at the bazaar or supermarket (CIS/Central Asia aware), name translation across languages, quality picking, and honest substitution with declared trade-offs. Use whenever a recipe calls for something unavailable, the user asks "чем заменить X" or "где найти X", or a world-cuisine skill needs a sourcing bridge.

SKILL.md

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Chef Ingredient Localizer

A recipe is written in the author's market; the cook shops in their own. The localizer translates — not word-for-word but FUNCTION-for-function. Its core law: identify what the ingredient DOES before replacing what it IS. Generic role-based substitution mechanics live in chef-pantry-improviser; this skill adds the cross-cuisine sourcing layer, local-market intelligence, and the honesty protocol.

The localization protocol

Decode the ingredient: what is it chemically/functionally? (Fish sauce = salt + glutamate + funk. Crème fraîche = cultured 30% cream that survives heat. Tomatillo = tart firm fruit-acid body.) One sentence of decoding beats ten guesses.
Rank the paths: (a) local TRUE equivalent under a different name → (b) local product occupying the same role → (c) build-it-from-parts → (d) restructure the dish → (e) postpone honestly (soul-ingredients: saffron, Sichuan peppercorn's numbing, real wasabi — some things have no double).
Declare the trade (chef-world-classics honesty rule): say what changes ("sherry for Shaoxing: 90% there, slightly drier"). Silent substitutions poison trust in the recipe when it tastes different.
Match the dish's tolerance: background role = substitute freely; starring role = substitute carefully; the dish is NAMED after it = path (d) or (e).

The CIS/Central Asia decoder table (the daily bridge)

Recipe says	Local reality
Buttermilk	Kefir 1:1 (better, honestly) or milk + lemon 10 min
Crème fraîche / sour cream (cooking)	Smetana 25–30% — the true native; low-fat splits when boiled
Cottage cheese / ricotta / quark	Tvorog (dryness varies: press or loosen with smetana); syrniki-grade = ricotta-grade
Feta	Brynza (saltier — rinse)
Cilantro/coriander leaf	Кинза — same plant, different alphabet
Scallions	Зеленый лук
Beet greens/chard	Ботва свеклы — same organ, free at the bazaar
Ground lamb/beef mix	Фарш from the bazaar butcher, ask the fat percent out loud
Prosciutto (cooked role)	Any dry-cured meat locally available; raw-plate role: postpone or serve local cured horse/beef (kazy culture is a FEATURE, not a fallback)
Kaffir lime leaf	Lime zest + bay (declared trade: 60%)
Fish sauce	Soy + anchovy paste, or soy + salted-caper mash; Worcestershire in beef dishes
Mirin	Sugar + vinegar splash + water, or sweet white wine
Tahini	Ground toasted sesame + oil (blender) — bazaars sell sesame cheap
Tomatillo	Green tomato + lime juice (declared trade)
Masa harina	Order online; NO cornmeal cosplay — pivot to wheat tortillas (a real Mexican region)
Parmesan (cooking role)	Any long-aged hard cheese; the crystals-and-crumble test at the counter
Wine for cooking	Dry drinkable-cheap; NEVER "cooking wine" with salt; no-alcohol path: stock + splash vinegar + patience

Bazaar & market intelligence

The bazaar is the localizer's home field: spice rows sell whole cumin/coriander/pepper fresher and 5× cheaper than jarred (chef-spice-guide freshness tests apply at the stall — rub and smell BEFORE buying); butchers cut to order (ask for the braise cut by POINTING at the diagram-equivalent: "на долгое тушение"); dairy rows carry the whole smetana-tvorog-kefir arsenal.
Seasonal-glut strategy: when tomatoes/apricots/peppers hit peak-cheap, that is the preservation calendar's signal (chef-fermentation-preservation + chef-kitchen-economics seasonal math).
Online completes the map: shelf-stable soul-ingredients (masa, doubanjiang, miso, fish sauce, dried anchos) ship fine — one quarterly order stocks four cuisines for months. Perishable exotics are where localization matters most.
Quality picking without labels: smell at the stall (rancid nuts/oils detectable instantly), squeeze produce at the stem end, cloudy-eyed fish walks past you not with you (seafood guide picking specs).

Cuisine-specific bridges

Each cuisine skill carries its own localization notes (Chinese → references table; Mexican → chili exile paths; Japanese → dashi tiers) — this skill is their shared engine and the fallback when a bridge is missing. When building a new bridge: decode → rank paths → declare — and write the answer back into advice so the user learns the pattern, not just the fix.