Minthee
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Topic 05•Insights•5 min read

Cooking History, Insights & Brigade de Cuisine

Track your cooking habits, advance through chef ranks in the Brigade de Cuisine, earn culinary medals, and maintain a guilt-free kitchen rhythm.

Minthee records every time you prepare a meal. The History & Insights screen transforms these logs from simple timestamps into a culinary journey, celebrating your dedication with prestigious chef ranks, tasting medals, and a flexible weekly rhythm that fits real-life home cooking.

1. The Cooking History Timeline

The Timeline tab keeps a permanent, private record of your kitchen sessions:

  • Chronological Grouping: Your logs are organized into intuitive periods: This Week, This Month, and Earlier.
  • Search & Filter: Quickly find past cooking logs by dish name or filter by category (Dinner, Pasta, Asian, Baking, etc.).
  • Recipe & Note Details: Tap any log row to open the dish detail view, inspect ingredients used, recipe steps, or update your 1-10 star rating.
  • Accidental Tap?: If you marked a dish as cooked by mistake, tap the delete icon on any timeline log to remove it with confirmation. All statistics and chef ranks update reactively.

2. Household Cooking Insights

Switch to the Insights tab to explore automated analytics about your kitchen habits:

  • Cooking Metrics Grid:
    • Total Meals: All-time count of home-cooked meals prepared.
    • This Month: Total meals cooked within the last 30 days.
    • This Week: Meals cooked over the past 7 days.
    • Unique Dishes: Distinct recipes from your collection that have been prepared at least once.
  • Spotlight: Forgotten Favorites:
    • Automatically surfaces highly-rated dishes (4+ stars) that you haven’t cooked in over 14 days.
    • One tap takes you straight to the recipe to slot it into tonight’s dinner or next week’s plan.
  • Most Cooked Dishes (Hall of Fame):
    • Highlights your household’s top 4 all-time favorites with their total cook count, rating, and last cooked date.
  • Cuisine & Category Breakdown:
    • Interactive distribution showing the percentage of your diet spent across different culinary categories (Italian, Mexican, Soups, Quick Meals, etc.).
  • Top Most Shopped Items:
    • Automatically identifies your most frequently purchased grocery ingredients based on shopping list check-offs.

3. The Brigade de Cuisine System

Most habit trackers borrow rigid daily streaks from language apps, demanding that you log every single day or lose your progress. In a home kitchen, that model breaks down:

  • Batch Cooking & Leftovers: If you cook a pot of beef chili on Sunday and enjoy leftovers on Monday and Tuesday, you shouldn’t feel like you “failed”.
  • Social Life & Rest: Dining out with friends or having a busy workday is part of a healthy life. Breaking a streak causes frustration and encourages fake logging.

To solve this, Minthee introduces the Brigade de Cuisine: an encouraging milestone and habit engine designed specifically for the rhythm of home cooking.

The 6 Brigade Ranks

Milestone progression path
6 Levels
01
Rank 01 0-4 meals
Commis Chef

First plate served • The culinary journey begins

<!-- Rank 2: Apprentice Cook -->
<div class="brigade-rank-card p-4 rounded-xl bg-surface-tint border border-border flex items-start gap-3">
  <div class="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-surface border border-border flex items-center justify-center shrink-0 shadow-2xs">
    <span class="font-mono font-black text-xs sm:text-sm text-primary">02</span>
  </div>
  <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
    <div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-1">
      <span class="text-[10px] uppercase font-bold tracking-wider text-text-secondary">Rank 02</span>
      <span data-i18n="brigade_meals_apprentice" class="text-[10px] font-bold px-2 py-0.5 rounded-md bg-surface text-primary border border-border">5-14 meals</span>
    </div>
    <h5 data-i18n="brigade_rank_apprentice" class="font-bold text-sm text-text-primary mt-1 truncate">Apprentice Cook</h5>
    <p data-i18n="brigade_lore_apprentice" class="text-[11px] text-text-secondary leading-tight mt-1 line-clamp-2">Sharpening the knives • Mastering the kitchen basics</p>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Rank 3: Chef de Partie -->
<div class="brigade-rank-card p-4 rounded-xl bg-surface-tint border border-border flex items-start gap-3">
  <div class="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-surface border border-border flex items-center justify-center shrink-0 shadow-2xs">
    <span class="font-mono font-black text-xs sm:text-sm text-primary">03</span>
  </div>
  <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
    <div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-1">
      <span class="text-[10px] uppercase font-bold tracking-wider text-text-secondary">Rank 03</span>
      <span data-i18n="brigade_meals_partie" class="text-[10px] font-bold px-2 py-0.5 rounded-md bg-surface text-primary border border-border">15-29 meals</span>
    </div>
    <h5 data-i18n="brigade_rank_partie" class="font-bold text-sm text-text-primary mt-1 truncate">Chef de Partie</h5>
    <p data-i18n="brigade_lore_partie" class="text-[11px] text-text-secondary leading-tight mt-1 line-clamp-2">Station master • Commanding your culinary specialty</p>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Rank 4: Sous Chef -->
<div class="brigade-rank-card p-4 rounded-xl bg-surface-tint border border-border flex items-start gap-3">
  <div class="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-surface border border-border flex items-center justify-center shrink-0 shadow-2xs">
    <span class="font-mono font-black text-xs sm:text-sm text-primary">04</span>
  </div>
  <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
    <div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-1">
      <span class="text-[10px] uppercase font-bold tracking-wider text-text-secondary">Rank 04</span>
      <span data-i18n="brigade_meals_sous" class="text-[10px] font-bold px-2 py-0.5 rounded-md bg-surface text-primary border border-border">30-59 meals</span>
    </div>
    <h5 data-i18n="brigade_rank_sous" class="font-bold text-sm text-text-primary mt-1 truncate">Sous Chef</h5>
    <p data-i18n="brigade_lore_sous" class="text-[11px] text-text-secondary leading-tight mt-1 line-clamp-2">Second in command • Orchestrating the kitchen line</p>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Rank 5: Chef de Cuisine -->
<div class="brigade-rank-card p-4 rounded-xl bg-surface-tint border border-border flex items-start gap-3">
  <div class="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-surface border border-border flex items-center justify-center shrink-0 shadow-2xs">
    <span class="font-mono font-black text-xs sm:text-sm text-primary">05</span>
  </div>
  <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
    <div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-1">
      <span class="text-[10px] uppercase font-bold tracking-wider text-text-secondary">Rank 05</span>
      <span data-i18n="brigade_meals_cuisine" class="text-[10px] font-bold px-2 py-0.5 rounded-md bg-surface text-primary border border-border">60-199 meals</span>
    </div>
    <h5 data-i18n="brigade_rank_cuisine" class="font-bold text-sm text-text-primary mt-1 truncate">Chef de Cuisine</h5>
    <p data-i18n="brigade_lore_cuisine" class="text-[11px] text-text-secondary leading-tight mt-1 line-clamp-2">Head chef • Crafting signature tasting menus</p>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- Rank 6: Executive Chef -->
<div class="brigade-rank-card p-4 rounded-xl bg-primary-tint/50 border border-primary/40 flex items-start gap-3">
  <div class="w-10 h-10 rounded-xl bg-primary text-text-on-primary border border-primary flex items-center justify-center shrink-0 shadow-2xs">
    <span class="font-mono font-black text-xs sm:text-sm">06</span>
  </div>
  <div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
    <div class="flex items-center justify-between gap-1">
      <span class="text-[10px] uppercase font-black tracking-wider text-primary">Mastery</span>
      <span data-i18n="brigade_meals_executive" class="text-[10px] font-bold px-2 py-0.5 rounded-md bg-primary text-text-on-primary shadow-2xs">200+ meals</span>
    </div>
    <h5 data-i18n="brigade_rank_executive" class="font-black text-sm text-text-primary mt-1 truncate">Executive Chef</h5>
    <p data-i18n="brigade_lore_executive" class="text-[11px] text-text-secondary leading-tight mt-1 line-clamp-2">Culinary legend • Kitchen mastery achieved</p>
  </div>
</div>

The 6 Brigade Ranks

Every meal you prepare earns progress toward your next culinary promotion:

Rank Meals Needed Culinary Lore
Commis Chef 0-4 meals First plate served • The culinary journey begins
Apprentice Cook 5-14 meals Sharpening the knives • Mastering the kitchen basics
Chef de Partie 15-29 meals Station master • Commanding your culinary specialty
Sous Chef 30-59 meals Second in command • Orchestrating the kitchen line
Chef de Cuisine 60-199 meals Head chef • Crafting signature tasting menus
Executive Chef 200+ meals Culinary legend • Kitchen mastery achieved

A smooth progress bar at the top of your Insights screen shows exactly how many meals remain until your next promotion.

Weekly Kitchen Rhythm (The Guilt-Free Simmer)

Instead of fragile 24-hour streaks, Minthee measures your Kitchen Rhythm on a weekly cadence:

  • Default Target: 3 home-cooked meals per calendar week (Monday through Sunday).
  • Accommodates Real Life: Cook on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Your leftovers and rest days are respected.
  • Simmer Flame: A dedicated flame chip displays your progress (2 / 3 meals this week).
  • Goal Reached: When you hit your weekly target, the badge lights up in vibrant sage: Weekly rhythm achieved!.

Culinary Tasting Medals (The Trophy Shelf)

Beneath your chef rank lies the Culinary Medals Shelf: a collection of 8 permanent achievements that celebrate expanding your kitchen skills:

  1. First Sizzle: Cook your very first home-prepared dish.
  2. Mise en Place: Catalog 10 or more distinct ingredients across your saved recipes.
  3. Palate Explorer: Prepare dishes across at least 3 distinct categories.
  4. Signature Special: Cook your favorite house specialty 5 or more times.
  5. Phoenix Feast: Revive a beloved recipe that has been dormant for 14+ days.
  6. Century Service: Plate 100 home-cooked meals.
  7. Weekend Gourmet: Cook on both Saturday and Sunday in the same weekend.
  8. Kitchen Maestro: Cook at least 10 unique dishes from your collection.

Interactive Tasting Dialog: Tap any medal on the trophy shelf to open its tasting card. Unlocked medals display their earned date and culinary lore; locked medals reveal a progress bar and instructions on how to earn them.

4. Kitchen Controls: Turning Off Rewards

If you prefer a strictly utilitarian, numbers-only interface without gamification, Minthee gives you complete control:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Scroll to the Appearance & Preferences section.
  3. Toggle off Culinary Rewards & Kitchen Rhythm.
  4. Return to Insights: The Chef Rank card and Trophy Shelf are immediately whisked away, leaving only the standard metrics and cuisine breakdown.
  5. You can toggle the system back on at any time without losing any earned medals or rank progress.