diff --git a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
index 808d07d..fc277a5 100644
--- a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
+++ b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
@@ -299,12 +299,20 @@ automatic** (D-021).
   recorded twice. Files written for a transaction that rolls back are
   removed by the caller (`RemovePhotoFiles`).
 - Grounding (`recipes.Grounder`) ties these together.
-  `Ground(ctx, dishName, query)` searches for the top 5 candidates; if one
-  is already a stored `source_url`, the first such is returned without
-  fetching anything. Otherwise it ranks them and tries each ranked recipe
-  best first: download its photo, run `normalize_recipe`, then store the
-  photo, recipe, ingredients and steps in **one transaction** (an existing
-  `source_url` is updated in place). It returns `Grounded{recipe_id,
+  `Ground(ctx, dishName, query)` searches for the top 5 candidates and ranks
+  them all, stored and new alike: a candidate whose `source_url` is already
+  stored is scored on its stored recipe (title, ingredients, steps, times,
+  photo source) and its page is never refetched; every other candidate is
+  fetched and extracted. Ranking alone decides between them. It then tries
+  each ranked candidate best first. A stored one is returned as it is, so a
+  stored recipe is reused only when it ranks above every new candidate that
+  grounds. A new one is grounded in this order: (1) `DownloadPhoto` —
+  the download and validation step of photo caching — (2)
+  `normalize_recipe`, then (3) one **transaction** that runs `CachePhoto`
+  (scales and writes the photo files and records the `photos` row) and
+  stores the recipe, ingredients and steps (an existing `source_url` is
+  updated in place); files written for a rolled-back transaction are
+  removed. It returns `Grounded{recipe_id,
   photo_id, method, minutes_total, difficulty, source_url, site_name}`. A
   candidate whose photo fails or whose model output is unusable
   (`llm.ErrBadOutput`) is passed over; when none grounds, the error is a
diff --git a/internal/recipes/ground.go b/internal/recipes/ground.go
index 59b304e..bb52b71 100644
--- a/internal/recipes/ground.go
+++ b/internal/recipes/ground.go
@@ -319,6 +319,11 @@ func (g *Grounder) storedRecipe(ctx context.Context, sourceURL string) (storedRe
 // ground downloads r's photo, normalizes it and stores it as sourceURL's
 // recipe. A problem with this recipe is returned as reason, so the caller
 // can try another; err is a failure that is not the recipe's.
+//
+// The order is fixed: the photo is downloaded and validated first, so a
+// recipe without a usable photo never costs a normalize_recipe call; then
+// normalize_recipe runs; then save records the photo (CachePhoto) and the
+// recipe in one transaction.
 func (g *Grounder) ground(ctx context.Context, sourceURL string, r Recipe) (gr Grounded, reason, err error) {
 	photo, err := g.photos.DownloadPhoto(ctx, r.ImageURL)
 	if err != nil {