Features

Everything Skillet can do, explained clearly.

Table of Contents

• Recipe Development
• Version Control
• Cook Logging
• AI Tools
• Culinary Skills
• Culinary Journeys
• Menu Planning
• Recipe Images
• Sharing
• Units & Measurement
• Organization & Search

Recipe Development

Every recipe in Skillet is a structured project, not a flat document. A recipe contains:

• Ingredients — each with a name, quantity, unit, and optional group (e.g., "For the dressing")
• Steps — ordered instructions, each a discrete action
• Notes — freeform space for tips, history, source credit, or anything else
• Metadata — servings, prep time, cook time, cuisine tags, difficulty

You can create recipes from scratch, generate them with AI, or import them from text. Every recipe starts as a draft and becomes a living document through versions and cook logs.

Version Control

This is what makes Skillet different from every other recipe app.

When you edit a recipe and save, Skillet creates a new version. The previous version is preserved exactly as it was. Your version timeline shows:

• Side-by-side diffs — see what changed between any two versions at the ingredient, step, and note level
• Version notes — annotate why you made a change ("Reduced sugar by 25%," "Added a bloom step for the spices")
• Timestamps — know exactly when each iteration happened
• Rollback — return to any earlier version with one click

This is especially powerful for:

• Iterating on a dish over weeks or months
• Keeping seasonal variations of the same recipe
• Experimenting with techniques without losing what already worked
• Tracking changes after a cook log reveals something worth adjusting

Your recipe's history tells the story of how you learned to make it well.

Cook Logging

After you cook a recipe, log the session. Cook logs capture:

• Overall rating — a quick assessment of how it turned out
• Session notes — free-text observations about the cook
• Step-level annotations — attach notes to individual steps with observations from the kitchen ("Step 3 took longer than expected," "Added extra garlic here")
• Adjustments — record what you changed on the fly

Cook logs accumulate over time into a practical record. When you open a recipe you've cooked twelve times, you can see exactly how your approach evolved and what made the biggest difference.

AI Tools

Skillet uses AI as a creative assistant — not an authority. Here's what it can do:

Generate

Describe a dish in natural language and AI produces a fully structured recipe draft. Be as vague or specific as you want:

• "A simple pasta with cherry tomatoes and basil"
• "Korean-style braised short ribs, 4 servings, pressure cooker method"
• "Something with the chicken thighs, lemons, and olives I have on hand"

Refine

Select an existing recipe and ask AI for targeted improvements:

• Simplify the technique for a weeknight
• Suggest a substitution for an ingredient
• Adjust seasoning balance
• Adapt for different equipment (Dutch oven → slow cooker)

Import

Paste in recipe text from anywhere — a blog post, a scanned cookbook page, handwritten notes, a family email. AI parses it into Skillet's structured format with ingredients, steps, and metadata extracted.

Not every import is perfect, but it gets you 80-90% of the way. Clean up the rest and save.

Important Caveats

AI output is a draft. It can contain errors in measurements, timing, temperature, and technique. It does not reliably account for food safety, allergens, or dietary restrictions. Always review before cooking. See our full AI Policy.

Culinary Skills

Skills let you track specific cooking techniques and build proficiency through practice:

1. Choose a technique — knife skills, emulsification, bread scoring, wok hei, tempering chocolate
2. Get a practice guide — AI generates a focused brief with exercises and benchmarks
3. Log attempts — record outcomes with ratings and notes
4. Track mastery — watch your progress develop from first attempt to confident execution

Skills are deliberately focused. Each one is a single technique, practiced deliberately.

Culinary Journeys

Journeys are structured, multi-step learning paths through a cuisine or method:

• A journey might walk you through the fundamentals of French bistro cooking, Japanese home cooking, or bread baking
• Each step centers on a recipe that teaches a specific technique
• Steps build on each other — later recipes assume skills from earlier ones
• Progress is tracked as you complete each step

Journeys turn scattered recipe experimentation into deliberate, coherent learning.

Menu Planning

Plan meals and events with structured menu composition:

• Organize by course — Starter, Main, Side, Dessert, Drink
• Link to recipes — connect menu items directly to recipes in your workspace
• Scale servings — adjust a full menu for 4 guests or 40
• Track prep state — mark items as planned, prepping, ready, or served

Recipe Images

Every recipe can have a cover image. Sources include:

• Your uploads — photos from your own kitchen
• Stock libraries — search Unsplash and Pexels for professional food photography
• Curated suggestions — Skillet scores and surfaces relevant images based on the recipe

Images are stored securely and associated with specific recipe versions.

Sharing

Share recipes with others via private, revocable links:

• Generate a share token for any recipe or specific version
• No account required — recipients view the shared recipe in a clean read-only view
• You control access — revoke a share token at any time to remove access
• Version-specific sharing — share a particular iteration, not just the latest

The default for everything in Skillet is private. Sharing is always opt-in and deliberate.

Units & Measurement

Skillet supports both Imperial and Metric systems:

• Set your preferred system in Settings
• Optionally display a secondary unit alongside your primary (e.g., "200g / 7 oz")
• Recipes track their detected unit system
• Conversions are handled automatically where possible

Organization & Search

As your recipe collection grows, Skillet helps you find things:

• Full-text search across recipe titles, ingredients, and notes
• Filter by tags — cuisine, difficulty, cooking method
• Sort by date, name, or most recently cooked
• Status tracking — see which recipes are drafts and which are active