Mutfaksim — simulate before you cook.

What is Mutfaksim?

Mutfaksim is a recipe and cooking knowledge platform that calls itself a "kitchen lab." The core idea: toss the ingredients in the bowl, set the heat and time, and see what will happen before you turn on the stove. Which reaction starts, where the texture is heading and where things go wrong are all explained along the way. The site's claim is clear too: every answer that can carry a number is given with one (frying oil at 170–190 °C, 2% salt in dough, pH 4.6 for safe pickling, and so on).

Mutfaksim is a personal project developed by Emre Yakut, one of Globya's co-founders. You can use the site at mutfaksim.com.

Starting point

Recipe sites usually tell you "what to do" but don't answer "why." Mutfaksim tries the opposite: it explains the mechanism of a dish, the effect of heat and time, and the job each ingredient does in the kitchen. For us, it was also an exercise in designing a large content and data project from start to finish: hundreds of ingredients, techniques and recipes, and a calculation engine that ties them together.

What's on the site?

• What should I cook: "What should I cook today" (check off what's in your fridge and see how close you are to which recipes), "What am I in the mood for," "Who am I cooking for" (different needs such as babies, children and athletes) and scenarios.
• Recipes: all recipes, dishes, an "Actually easy" collection and diets.
• Cooking knowledge: ingredients, techniques and a sources-and-method page.
• Workshop: a simulation screen where you toss ingredients in the bowl, set the heat and time, and see the result.
• Table: presentation topics such as plate composition, tablecloths and napkins, light and color.
• Membership: recipes, techniques and the daily suggestion are open to everyone; the unlimited workshop, weekly plan, pantry tracking and shopping list come with membership.
• Turkish and English versions, and on-site search with keyboard shortcuts.

Key solutions

Simulation engine

The workshop screen predicts how ingredients change under heat and time based on measured reactions. The site clearly states that these outputs are estimates based on scientific models and don't guarantee exact results. It also notes that health and nutrition content is no substitute for medical advice.

Large, interconnected content

The sitemap holds more than 1,100 URLs (September 2026), with the two languages linked by hreflang. Ingredient, technique and recipe pages link to each other and carry visitors from topic to topic. The site states that all images were produced for this project.

Search engines and AI

Pages carry Organization, Person, WebSite (including site search), WebPage, ImageObject and BreadcrumbList schema. The site has a detailed llms.txt file for AI tools, and robots.txt explains which combination pages aren't crawled and why.

Transparent cookie language

The cookie notice explains in plain words why measurement cookies are used, and states that they aren't used for advertising or shared with third parties; the "I don't want this" option carries equal weight.

Analysis table

What we learned from this project

• Data gives content depth. Backing recipe pages with numbers and mechanisms is the way to stand out from an ordinary recipe site.
• Interaction increases time on site. When visitors try something, they remember it better than what they read.
• A disclaimer is part of trust. The line between an estimate and advice has to be drawn clearly.

The content architecture and data-driven page generation in this project are a testing ground for methods we also use in client projects. Related services: custom software, SEO and GEO, corporate website. Other personal projects: ArenaSim and Fly4cast.