Canon Map — Stunspot’s Guide to Gastronomic Engineering

A practical canon for gastronomic engineering knowledge, reasoning, and AI/RAG use.

This map explains the report sequence. It is not merely a file list. The canon moves from foundational food physics into closed-loop formulation, then into dietary and ingredient-constraint layers that reuse the same control language.

The useful way to read the sequence is:

1. A-C define the operating system — food as phase-state, control-variable, and pathway engineering.
2. D-F define nutritional constraint layers — low-carb, high-protein, and energy-diluted formulation as controlled structural displacement.
3. G-J define exclusion and tolerance layers — whole-food, plant-based, allergen-free, and digestive/microbiome constraints as function-replacement systems.

The source reports are the canonical individual units and live in knowledge-packs/by-report/.

A-C — Fundamentals and Worldview

A. Strategic Formulation Modules in Food Physics

Report A establishes the base formulation doctrine. It rejects ingredient folklore in favor of deterministic food physics and biochemical control. Its central move is to treat every culinary operation as a formulation loop: define the target, identify the phase system, choose the structuring mechanism, set control variables, execute, diagnose, and adjust.

Key concepts include phase states, energy transfer, temperature, time, water activity, pH, ionic strength, shear, protein denaturation, Maillard chemistry, lipid polymorphism, hydrocolloids, emulsions, gels, and enzymatic regimes.

B. A Closed-Loop Architecture for Culinary Formulation

Report B converts the primitives from Report A into a predictive control architecture. It treats edible matrices as soft-matter systems governed by explicit physical coordinates rather than retrospective observation. The report strengthens the control-variable layer and frames culinary success as controlled navigation through reaction pathways.

Key concepts include multidimensional control space, pressure, gas solubility, phase-state frameworks, energy-transfer coupling, evaporative cooling failures, pathway maps, and structural transformation logic.

C. Experimental Protocols and the Closed-Loop Architecture

Report C turns the closed-loop architecture into experimental practice. It frames culinary work as process engineering disguised as cooking: target definition, controlled variable manipulation, measured iteration, and reproducible protocol design.

Key concepts include lab-style formulation, PID-like feedback, material-class overlays, experimental control, practicum structure, diagnostic intelligence, and predictive execution.

D-F — Constraint Layers for Specialty Dietary Needs I

D. Low-Carb and Glycemic Control

Report D treats carbohydrate restriction as a severe perturbation of a physical food system. Removing sugar and starch removes bulk, humectancy, browning, viscosity, gas retention, moisture control, and glass-state stability. The report maps low-carb and glycemic-control language into explicit formulation primitives.

Key concepts include ketogenic and diabetic-friendly operating modes, glycemic load, net carbohydrate logic, resistant starch, rare sugars, polyols, intense sweeteners, starch replacement, psyllium hydration, HPMC/xanthan synergy, sweetener-system design, and amorphous glass engineering.

E. High-Protein Systems Constraint Layer

Report E treats protein fortification as macro-density and structural-burden engineering. Raising protein concentration changes hydration demand, viscosity, denaturation risk, gelation behavior, aroma release, astringency, chalkiness, and matrix stability.

Key concepts include muscle-gain, cutting, satiety, bariatric, performance-recovery, and general protein-fortified modes; protein material classes; whey, casein, egg, collagen, soy, pea, gluten, and precision-fermented proteins; macro displacement; hydration recalibration; and substitution graphs.

F. Caloric Density Control and Energy-Diluted Matrix Engineering

Report F formalizes low-calorie and volumetric formulation as energy-density control. It treats reduced-energy food as an active reconstruction problem: water loading, air incorporation, protein-fiber scaffolding, fat reduction, flavor concentration, and sensory compensation must be engineered together.

Key concepts include energy density, water fraction, air fraction, fiber load, oral residence time, plate volume, satiety persistence, caloric burden maps, low-energy replacement mechanisms, foam stability, hydrocolloid support, and low-calorie dessert/snack lightening.

G-J — Constraint Layers for Specialty Dietary Needs II

G. Whole-Food and Processing-Constrained Formulation — A Physics-First Constraint Layer

Report G treats whole-food, paleo, primal, Whole30, clean-eating, minimally processed, and additive-averse formulation as processing-intensity constraints. It strips the lifestyle branding away and asks what physical functions must be rebuilt when refined sugars, isolated starches, industrial emulsifiers, and synthetic hydrocolloids are removed.

Key concepts include degree of processing, additive displacement, whole-food-derived viscosity, intact cellular matrices, native pectin, egg and collagen structure, tuber starches, nut/coconut behavior, natural emulsification, and reduction-driven solids concentration.

H. Plant-Based Systems and Animal-Function Displacement

Report H treats plant-based formulation as functional displacement, not 1:1 ingredient swapping. It maps the removal of animal-derived systems onto the lost behaviors of muscle tissue, egg, milkfat, casein, gelatin, collagen, and meat-derived savoriness.

Key concepts include vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, egg-free, whole-food plant-based, and flexitarian modes; animal-function displacement; plant proteins; aquafaba; seitan; tofu; mycelium; vegan cheese melt; plant milk as emulsion architecture; and meat analogue phase design.

I. Allergen-Free Substitution Systems and Physics-First Constraint Architecture

Report I formalizes allergen-free formulation as combinatorial function displacement. It treats allergen removal as the removal of high-function structural inputs, hidden aliases, cross-contact risks, and stacked exclusion vectors.

Key concepts include gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, sesame-free, shellfish/fish-free, corn-free, legume-free, coconut-free, and multi-allergen modes; hidden-source ontologies; allergen function maps; substitution compatibility; and stacked binder-loss burdens.

J. Digestive and Microbiome Modulation Systems

Report J treats digestive comfort and microbiome support as substrate-kinetics and tolerance engineering. The report avoids vague wellness language and maps gut-related constraints onto digestive burden, fermentable load, osmotic pressure, particle size, viscosity, acid burden, fat burden, culture viability, and microbial substrate delivery.

Key concepts include low-FODMAP, gut-calm, microbiome-supportive, fermentation-aware, low-residue, stool-normalizing, reflux-aware, and tolerance-oriented modes; FODMAP aliases; polyol triggers; gastric emptying; particle-size thresholds; fermentable-load density; resistant starch; and biogenic amines.

Pack-Level Map

Retrieval Notes

For AI/RAG ingestion, preserve headings and report codes. The report letters are useful routing handles. Tables should remain attached to their lead-in paragraphs where possible, because many entries are operational maps rather than decorative summaries.

When answering from this canon, prefer source-path traceability over confident paraphrase. If a dietary, allergen, microbiome, or medical-safety question is involved, treat the canon as formulation support only and require qualified validation for safety-critical use.