Cooking in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is more than just a way to restore health-it’s a vital survival skill that boosts your abilities and prepares you for the wild adventures ahead. If you’ve ever wondered, “How do I cook food in Breath of the Wild?”, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to become a culinary pro in Hyrule.
Why Cooking Matters in Breath of the Wild
In BOTW, eating raw ingredients can restore some health, but cooking transforms those ingredients into meals and elixirs that provide far greater benefits. Cooked dishes can restore multiple hearts, refill stamina, and even grant temporary buffs like cold resistance, increased stealth, or attack power. This makes cooking essential for tackling tougher enemies and extreme environments.
Step-by-Step: How to Cook Food in Breath of the Wild
1. Gather Ingredients
Before you can cook, you need ingredients. These come from hunting animals, picking fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and collecting monster parts. Some common ingredients include:
– Raw meat and poultry from animals
– Fish and seafood from rivers and lakes
– Wild fruits like apples and berries
– Vegetables such as carrots and pumpkins
– Mushrooms and herbs
– Monster parts for elixirs
2. Find a Cooking Pot
Cooking pots are usually found near stables, villages, and campsites. They hang over a fire, ready for you to toss in your ingredients. You can also cook over any open flame by dropping ingredients directly into the fire, but cooking pots give better results.
3. Start Cooking
To cook, simply approach the cooking pot and press the interaction button. This opens your inventory where you can select up to five ingredients to combine. Mix and match ingredients to discover new recipes or follow known combinations for specific effects.
Once you confirm your selection, Link will start cooking, and after a short animation, you’ll receive a meal or elixir with health restoration or special effects.
Tips for Successful Cooking
– Experiment Freely: The game encourages trial and error. Combining different ingredients can lead to surprising and useful dishes.
– Use Buff Ingredients: Add special ingredients like Goron Spice for cold resistance or Courser Bee Honey to restore stamina.
– Don’t Overcook: If you cook too many ingredients that don’t go well together, you’ll end up with a bland dish that only restores a small amount of health.
– Use Rock Salt: Adding Rock Salt to meat or seafood enhances the flavor and can improve the dish’s effectiveness.
Popular and Useful Recipes to Try
Here are some beginner-friendly recipes that are easy to make and very effective:
– Meat Skewer: Any meat cooked alone. Simple and restores health.
– Pepper Steak: Meat + Spicy Pepper. Grants cold resistance.
– Mushroom Omelet: Mushroom + Bird Egg + Goat Butter + Rock Salt. Great for health and stamina.
– Vegetable Curry: Carrot or Pumpkin + Hylian Rice + Goron Spice. Provides cold resistance and restores health.
– Hearty Dishes: Using hearty ingredients like Hearty Radish or Hearty Blueshell Snail will grant temporary extra hearts.
Alternative Cooking Methods
– Roasting: If you find a campfire but no cooking pot, you can roast ingredients by dropping them into the fire. This gives a small health boost but no buffs.
– Environmental Cooking: In hot areas like volcanoes, dropping food into the lava or fire will cook it automatically. In cold areas, some foods freeze, creating unique effects.
How to Make the Best Recipes
To make the most effective meals, combine ingredients that complement each other’s effects. For example:
– Use Goron Spice for cold resistance.
– Add Courser Bee Honey to restore stamina.
– Combine Hearty ingredients to temporarily increase your maximum hearts.
– Mix Hylian Rice with meats or seafood for filling dishes.
Cooking and Elixirs: Know the Difference
– Food: Made from edible ingredients like meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. These restore health and sometimes grant buffs.
– Elixirs: Made by cooking monster parts with critters like insects or frogs. Elixirs provide buffs such as increased stealth, speed, or resistance without restoring health.
Final Thoughts
Cooking in Breath of the Wild is a fun and rewarding way to enhance your gameplay. By gathering ingredients, experimenting with recipes, and using cooking pots, you’ll keep Link healthy and ready for any challenge Hyrule throws at you. So grab those ingredients, light that fire, and start cooking your way to victory!
Cooking food in Breath of the Wild is simple once you know the basics: gather ingredients, find a cooking pot, and experiment with combinations. Your culinary creativity will keep Link strong and ready for adventure!