Chapter i.
Bring the cards, memos and messages
Photograph the box of index cards, forward the voice memos, paste the steps from the family chat. Mixed languages and margins welcome.
A family cookbook, kept by AI, in their words
The recipes, in their words, saved for good.
Photograph the stained card. Forward the voice memo of her walking through the dal. Paste the half-remembered steps from the group chat. Kitchenlore turns it into a real heirloom: structured, illustrated, and still in her words.
Free for five recipes · Private by default · Export anytime
Nana’s. Don’t lose this one.
Ch. 1kitchentlore.com
Ch. 2Rescue a recipe
Bring a card. Watch it come back as a page.
Pick a card from the box or upload a photo of your own. No account needed. Kitchenlore reads it, structures it, keeps the asides word for word, and marks anything it cannot read instead of guessing.
The original
The recipe, reborn
The typeset page assembles here, beside the original.
- Amounts and steps, structured.
- Their asides, quoted exactly, in their hand.
- Anything smudged marked [hard to read], never guessed.
Ch. 3How it works
Three steps, the way a book gets made.
Chapter ii.
Kitchenlore structures, and keeps their words
Amounts and steps are set in order. The asides stay exactly as written or said. Anything unreadable is marked for the family, never guessed.
Chapter iii.
The family book grows, and prints
Each recipe becomes an illustrated spread in a shared book. Invite the family to read, add and fill gaps. Print it when it is ready.
Ch. 4From the shelf
Six families. One way of keeping.
Spreads from real-looking books, set the way Kitchenlore sets every recipe: the dish drawn, the steps typeset, their words in their hand.
The Lindqvist bookSweets
In Nana Ruth's words
“Take out when they still look soft. Better the 2nd day.”
Nana Ruth, 1962p. 14
About 3 dozen
Molasses Crinkles
- 3/4 c.shortening
- 1 c.brown sugar
- 1egg
- 1/4 c.molasses
- 2 1/4 c.flour
- 2 tsp.baking soda
- 01Cream the shortening and sugar, then beat in the egg and molasses.
- 02Stir in the dry things. Chill one hour.
- 03Roll walnut-sized balls, dip the tops in sugar. Bake at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes.
01 / 06p. 15
The Mehta bookMains
In Dadi's words
“Dal patli mat banana!”
Dadi, 1978p. 31
Serves 4
Toor Dal with Ghee Tadka
- 1 katoritoor dal
- 3 katoriwater
- 1/2 tsphaldi
- 2 chammachghee
- 1 tspjeera
- 1 pinchhing
- 01Wash the dal three times. Pressure cook with water, haldi and salt for four whistles.
- 02Heat ghee, crackle the jeera and hing, add onion, tomato, ginger and garlic.
- 03Pour the tadka into the dal, boil five minutes, finish with dhaniya.
02 / 06p. 32
The Brekke bookSoups
In Grandma Dot's words
“Cream last. Don't let it boil after!”
Grandma Dot, 1985p. 22
Serves 6, double for Christmas Eve
Wild Rice Soup
- 1/2 c.wild rice
- 6 Tbsp.butter
- 1onion, chopped
- 1/2 c.flour
- 4 c.chicken broth
- 1 c.half and half
- 01Simmer the rice in two cups of water until it pops open, about 45 minutes.
- 02Melt butter, soften the vegetables, stir in the flour, add broth slowly.
- 03Add rice and chicken. Pour in the cream last and keep it below a boil.
03 / 06p. 23
The Halvorsen bookBreads
In Mormor Ingrid's words
“Crush the cardamom yourself, the jar kind is dust.”
Mormor Ingrid, 1951p. 8
Two loaves
Cardamom Braid
- 2 c.warm milk
- 1 pkg.yeast
- 3/4 c.sugar
- 1 Tbsp.cardamom, crushed
- 7 c.flour
- 1/2 c.butter, soft
- 01Proof the yeast in the milk with a spoon of the sugar.
- 02Work in the rest, knead until it feels like an earlobe, rise once.
- 03Braid in threes, brush with egg, scatter pearl sugar, bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.
04 / 06p. 9
The Ortega bookSides
In Abuelo Ernesto's words
“Char them until they look ruined. That is the flavor.”
Abuelo Ernesto, 1974p. 47
About 2 cups
Salsa Roja
- 6Roma tomatoes
- 2chiles de árbol
- 1/4white onion
- 2 clovesgarlic
- 1 tsp.salt
- 1lime
- 01Char the tomatoes, onion and garlic on a dry comal.
- 02Toast the chiles for a few seconds only.
- 03Grind everything in the molcajete with the salt, finish with lime.
05 / 06p. 48
The Pruitt bookFestival food
In Aunt June's words
“Lard and butter, half and half. Do not tell your mother.”
Aunt June, 1969p. 52
One 9 inch pie
Sour Cherry Pie
- 4 c.sour cherries, pitted
- 1 c.sugar
- 1/4 c.cornstarch
- 2 1/2 c.flour
- 1/2 c.lard
- 1/2 c.cold butter
- 01Toss the cherries with sugar and cornstarch, let them sit.
- 02Cut the fats into the flour, bring together with ice water, chill.
- 03Fill, weave the lattice, bake at 425°F then 375°F until it bubbles in the middle.
06 / 06p. 53
Ch. 5Index
What is in the book.
- p. 12
Reads handwriting and old cards
Cursive, ballpoint, faded pencil, two languages on one card. Photographed on a phone, read line by line.
- p. 19
Transcribes voice memos
Forward the memo of her walking through the dal. Every word transcribed, the recipe structured beside it.
- p. 26
Keeps their exact words
Asides, warnings and jokes quoted exactly, checked against the original, set in the hand they deserve.
- p. 33
A drawing for every recipe
Ink and watercolor spot illustrations in one consistent hand, so the book looks like a book.
- p. 40
A shared family book
Invite cousins to read or to add. Anyone can fill a smudged spot from memory, signed with their name.
- p. 47
A print-ready edition
Typeset in the same serif with the same illustrations, 6 by 9 with bleed, ready for any printer.
Ch. 6A note on the method
Cook’s note
Built AI-native, because nothing else could read her card.
For fifty years the recipe box had no good answer. Scanning kept the picture but not the recipe. Typing it out lost the voice. Kitchenlore exists because modern models can finally do what a careful grandchild does at the kitchen table: read the cursive, hear the memo, sort the amounts from the steps, and leave her words alone.
We are model-agnostic on purpose. Reading a card, transcribing a memo and structuring a recipe are routed across leading vision, speech and language models, and every result passes the same checks before it reaches your book: a strict recipe schema, and a quote test that throws out any “in her words” line that is not in the original.
Ch. 7 · A promise
Their words, never invented.
Kitchenlore keeps what your family actually said and wrote. It does not write new memories, polish a quote, or fill a smudge with a likely guess. Unclear handwriting is marked [hard to read] for the family to fill. The recipes are yours, private by default, exportable anytime, and deleted for real when you say so.
Read our care page“Grandma Dot’s card had my mom’s red pen all over it. Kitchenlore kept both of them. My daughter can read the whole argument now.”
“Forty voice memos of my nani, half in Gujarati. It kept every ‘beta, not like that’ exactly as she said it. I cried at the dhokla.”
Ch. 8Pricing
Start the book free. Keep every recipe for $9.
One family book and five recipes are free, forever. Keeper is for the person who keeps the recipes. Heirloom is for the book that gets printed.
Prices in USD. Cancel anytime, keep your book.
Ex libris · 01
Free
Start the book.
$0forever
.
- 5 recipes, kept in their words
- One family book
- Cards and pasted text
- Library illustrations
- Export as Markdown and a reading PDF
Ex libris · most families
Keeper
For the one who keeps the recipes.
$9per month
.
- Unlimited recipes
- Voice memos, transcribed
- Invite the whole family
- A new illustration drawn for every recipe
- Everything in Free
Ex libris · 03
Heirloom
For the book that gets printed.
$19per month
.
- Multiple family books
- Print-ready PDF edition, 6 x 9 with bleed
- Priority reading and support
- Everything in Keeper
Ch. 9Questions families ask
Asked at the kitchen table.
Will Kitchenlore change her words?
No. Ingredients and steps are arranged into a clear recipe, but the person's own asides are quoted exactly as written or said, and every quote is checked against the original. If a quote is not in the source, word for word, it is dropped. Nothing is ever invented.
What happens with a smudge, a stain, or a word nobody can read?
It is marked [hard to read], right where it sits, and left for the family. Anyone you invite can fill it in from memory, and the fill is signed with their name, so the book shows what the card said and what the family remembered.
Does it read cursive, faded pencil, or another language?
Yes, within reason. Kitchenlore reads handwriting in many hands and languages, including cards that mix them, like Hindi and English on one card. It keeps the original language rather than translating.
Can I send a voice memo of my grandmother explaining a dish?
Yes, on Keeper and Heirloom. The memo is transcribed word for word, then structured into a recipe, and the transcript stays beside it so you can always hear and read exactly what she said.
Who can see our recipes?
Only you, until you invite someone. Books are private by default. Invitations are per book, with view or contribute roles, and you can remove anyone at any time.
Can we print it?
Yes. Every plan exports a reading PDF and Markdown. Heirloom adds the print-ready edition: a 6 by 9 inch book with bleed, a title page, a table of contents and chapter openers, ready for any print-on-demand service.
What if we stop paying?
You keep everything. The book stays readable and exportable on the free plan; you just cannot add past five recipes until you upgrade again. Deleting your account deletes the recipes and the originals for real, not a soft delete.
Which AI models do you use?
Kitchenlore is model-agnostic. Reading, listening and structuring are routed across leading vision, speech and language models, and we switch when a better one appears. Your recipes are never used to train anyone's models.
The box of cards is still in the cupboard. Start with one.
Save the first recipe →