About the author.
Catalin Cucu
Catalin Cucu is a chef with 25 years in professional kitchens, based in Salzburg, Austria. After decades of watching chefs scale recipes on scraps of paper, cost plates by feeling, and Google the basics between services, he built DigitalKnife — the kitchen toolkit he wished existed. Every tool in it comes from a real problem on a real line. When he's not building, he's cooking; when he's not cooking, he's photographing what other chefs cook. Every article on this blog is drafted with modern tools and finished the old way: by a chef who checks the numbers.
Latest articles
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September 19, 2026 · 4 min read
Wild Mushroom Season in Europe — A Buyer's Calendar
When wild mushrooms actually reach European kitchens: morel, chanterelle, porcini, black trumpet, hedgehog and more, with available and peak months. Written for chefs buying them, not foragers picking them.
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September 19, 2026 · 4 min read
What Every Chef Should Have on Their Phone
Not for service — for prep. The six things chefs actually look up during mise en place: hydrocolloid ratios, conversions, yield, sous vide temps, allergens, and sharing a recipe properly.
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September 19, 2026 · 4 min read
When European Vegetables Are in Season — A Chef's Calendar
A seasonal vegetable calendar for European kitchens: 35 vegetables with both their available months and their peak months, and what the gap between the two means when you're writing a menu.
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July 24, 2026 · 3 min read
What Is Yield Percentage — and Why Is Your Real Cost per Kilo Higher?
Yield percentage explained by a chef: the EP vs AP formula, real yield numbers for fish, meat and vegetables, and how to calculate your true cost per usable kilo.
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July 24, 2026 · 4 min read
What Are the 14 EU Allergens Every Kitchen Must Declare?
The 14 mandatory allergens under EU Regulation 1169/2011, explained for working kitchens — with the letter codes, where each allergen hides, and how the US, Canada and Japan differ.
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July 24, 2026 · 4 min read
How Do You Scale a Recipe — Without Ruining It?
Recipe scaling explained by a chef: the conversion factor, how to scale from the ingredient you actually have, how to hit a target batch weight — and what refuses to scale linearly.
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July 24, 2026 · 3 min read
How Do You Calculate Food Cost Percentage?
The food cost percentage formula explained by a chef — with a worked example, target ranges, and how to price a dish from its plate cost.
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July 24, 2026 · 4 min read
What Are the Best Apps for Chefs in 2026?
An honest comparison of chef software in 2026 — meez, Apicbase, ChefTec, MarketMan, Paprika and DigitalKnife — sorted by what your kitchen actually needs, from multi-site groups to solo chefs.
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