cooking-for-engineers

name	cooking-for-engineers
description	Use when formatting, converting, summarizing, or writing out any cooking recipe — especially when the user mentions Cooking for Engineers, tabular recipe notation, recipe summary table, recipe infographic, or wants a recipe as a compact table.

Cooking for Engineers Recipe Format (Tabular Recipe Notation)

Overview

Render a recipe as a single 2-D table (Michael Chu's format from cookingforengineers.com): ingredients down the left, actions in columns to the right. Time flows left to right — an action right of another happens after it. An action cell vertically spans exactly the rows of the ingredients (or intermediate results) it acts on.

When NOT to use

Recipes that discard part of an ingredient or reintroduce reserved portions later don't fit the notation. Format the main flow as a table and note the exception in one line below it (part 2 of the response shape).

Output contract

The response consists of exactly these parts, in order:

1. A fenced code block containing a single ASCII table. The first character of the response is the opening fence.
2. Only if the recipe reserves an ingredient and reintroduces it later: one line below the block noting what the notation can't show.

Table rules:

1. Title row: first row is one cell spanning the full width — recipe name, yield, and pan/equipment size.
2. Ingredient column: leftmost column, one ingredient per row, in order of first use. Format: quantity, then name, then prep state in parentheses — 150 g sugar, 75 g butter (melted).
3. Units are grams whenever the ingredient can be weighed — convert volumes using the table below. Discrete items stay counts (1 egg, 3 ripe bananas). Round to clean numbers (±5% is fine).
4. Action cells: each action spans the rows of everything it acts on. Actions in the same column are order-independent (parallelizable). Cell text sits on the top line of its span.
5. No empty cells: every cell stretches rightward until that row's next action. A late-joining ingredient's name cell stretches right to meet its first action.
6. Final cell: the last column is one cell spanning all ingredient rows — the finishing step, including oven temp in °F and °C and time. Fold preheat and pan-prep notes into this cell (or into the action cell where they're needed), never outside the table.

Building it

1. Convert all quantities to grams (reference below).
2. List ingredients in order of first use.
3. Turn the instructions into a merge tree: each action consumes ingredients and/or earlier results. Place each action one column right of the latest thing it consumes.
4. Draw the table with stretched cells per the contract.
5. Verify: read each row left to right — it must be that ingredient's complete story. Every + junction must align vertically; all lines the same length.

Gram conversions (per US cup unless noted)

Ingredient	g/cup	Ingredient	g/cup
all-purpose flour	120	butter	227 (14/tbsp)
granulated sugar	200	milk, water	240
brown sugar (packed)	220	vegetable oil	218 (13.5/tbsp)
powdered sugar	120	honey, syrup	340
cocoa powder	84	rolled oats	90
chopped nuts	120	rice (uncooked)	200

Per teaspoon: salt 6 g, baking soda 5 g, baking powder 4 g, vanilla extract 4 g, ground spices 2 g.

Example

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Banana Bread (one loaf, 8x4 in pan)                                                         |
+------------------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+--------------------------+
| 3 ripe bananas         | mash   | stir   | mix   | mix   | mix   | pour into buttered       |
+------------------------+--------+        |       |       |       |                          |
| 75 g butter (melted)            |        |       |       |       | loaf pan; bake at        |
+---------------------------------+--------+       |       |       |                          |
| 150 g sugar                              |       |       |       | 350°F (175°C) for        |
+------------------------------------------+       |       |       |                          |
| 1 egg (beaten)                           |       |       |       | 60 min; cool before      |
+------------------------------------------+       |       |       |                          |
| 4 g vanilla extract                      |       |       |       | slicing                  |
+------------------------------------------+-------+       |       |                          |
| 5 g baking soda                                  |       |       |                          |
+--------------------------------------------------+       |       |                          |
| 1 g salt                                         |       |       |                          |
+--------------------------------------------------+-------+       |                          |
| 180 g flour                                              |       |                          |
+----------------------------------------------------------+-------+--------------------------+

Reading row 1: mash bananas → stir in butter → mix in sugar/egg/vanilla → mix in soda/salt → mix in flour → pour and bake. Each "mix" spans exactly the rows it combines.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Lead-in text, verification notes, or step walkthrough around the table	Response = fence, table, fence, optional exception line
Empty filler cells left of a late ingredient's action	Stretch the ingredient cell rightward to its first action
Preheat/pan notes as text outside the table	Fold into the final cell
Prose walkthrough of the steps after the table	The table stands alone
1 egg (50 g) or 3 bananas → 350 g	Discrete items stay counts; grams only for weighed ingredients
Misaligned + junctions	All lines equal length; junctions in identical character columns
One action spanning ingredients it doesn't touch	Span exactly the consumed rows