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Overview
Recipes in Crimson Desert are records of cooking techniques that guide players in crafting meals. Cooked food is the primary way to heal Kliff during exploration and combat, making the cooking system one of the most important mechanics in the game. Each recipe requires specific ingredients and must be cooked at the appropriate station: a bonfire for basic grilled dishes, or a cooking tool for more advanced meals.
Recipes can be obtained by purchasing them from merchants and innkeepers, finding them on shelves inside buildings, or receiving them as quest rewards. Cooking spots with cauldrons and bonfires are common throughout the world, appearing in every settlement and at most camps. See Crafting Manuals for details on how to acquire new recipes.
Cooking Stations
There are three types of cooking stations, each supporting different recipe categories:
Open Flame / Bonfire: Found at camps, settlements, and scattered throughout the open world. Used for basic grilled dishes that require only a single ingredient.
Cooking Tool: Located at Greymane Camp and certain settlements. Supports advanced field grill and field pot recipes that combine multiple ingredients.
Cauldron: Found in towns and specific locations like the Witch's house. Used for brewing drinks and some specialty recipes.
When using a cooking tool, you can select a recipe directly from the menu or choose to Improvise, which lets you manually pick ingredients. Improvising is useful when you want to cook a basic version of a dish without the extra ingredients required by its upgraded variants.
Grilled Dishes (Open Flame)
Grilled dishes are the simplest recipes in the game. They require only a single ingredient and can be cooked at any bonfire or open flame. Grilled Meat is the most efficient early-game healing food, restoring 80 health for just 1 raw meat.
Dish | Ingredient | Health Restored | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Grilled Meat (Small) | Meat x1 | 80 | Best value; all meat types (Tough, Lean, Fine, Tender, Marbled) produce the same result |
Hearty Grilled Meat | Meat x10 | 220 | Less efficient per resource but higher single-item healing |
Grilled Vegetables | Vegetable x1 | Moderate | Available in small, medium, and large variants |
Grilled Fruit | Fruit x1 | Moderate | Fruits can be gathered from forests or purchased |
Grilled Grain | Grain x1 | Moderate | Available in small, medium, and large variants |
Grilled Fish | Fish x1 | Moderate | Available in small, medium, and large variants based on fish size |
Grilled Eggs | Egg x1 | Moderate | Eggs purchased from vendors or found in the wild |
Grilled Bird Meat | Bird Meat x1 | Moderate | Obtained by hunting birds |
Grilled Pincers | Pincers x1 | Moderate | Obtained from crabs and crustaceans |
Grilled Seafood | Seafood x1 | Moderate | Various sea creatures |
Field Grill Recipes (Cooking Tool)
Field grill recipes combine multiple ingredients into more substantial meals. These are cooked at a cooking tool and generally provide better healing or additional buffs compared to basic grilled dishes.
Recipe | Ingredients | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Grilled Meat and Fish | Meat x1, Small Fish x1 | Simple two-ingredient combination |
Fish Skewers | Vegetable x1, Fish Fillet x2 | Requires filleted fish from fishing |
Battered Vegetables | Vegetable x2, Egg x1, Cooking Oil x1 | Coated in egg batter |
Battered Fish | Fish Fillet x2, Egg x1, Cooking Oil x1 | Fried fish fillet |
Battered Meat | Meat x2, Egg x1, Cooking Oil x1 | Fried meat in egg batter |
Marinated Meat | Meat x2, Salt x1, Spices x1 | Seasoned and grilled on the field grill |
Vegetable Rice Cake | Grain x4, Fruit x2, Egg x1, Salt x2 | Substantial snack with mixed ingredients |
Chewy Rice Cakes | Grain x4, Fruit x2, Egg x2, Salt x2 | Richer variation with extra egg |
Field Pot Recipes (Cooking Tool)
Field pot recipes produce soups and porridges that typically provide the best healing and buffing effects. These require a cooking tool with a pot.
Recipe | Ingredients | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Clear Soup | Vegetable x2, Salt x1, Water x3 | Basic restorative soup |
Fish Porridge | Grain x1, Fish Fillet x2, Salt x1, Water x3 | Required for the Renee's Request quest; grain can be Beans, Barley, or Wheat |
Vegetable Porridge | Vegetable x2, Grain x1, Salt x1, Water x3 | Mixed grain and vegetable porridge |
Braised Ribs | Meat x3, Salt x1, Spices x1, Water x2 | Slow-cooked meat dish with strong healing |
Meat and Vegetable Porridge | Meat x2, Vegetable x1, Grain x1, Water x3 | Hearty stew combining meat and greens |
Fishball Soup | Fish Fillet x3, Egg x1, Salt x1, Water x3 | Fish-based soup with egg binding |
Long Horn Soup | Horn x1, Vegetable x2, Water x3 | Uses horns harvested from deer or cows |
Drinks (Cauldron)
Drinks are brewed at a cauldron and provide various buffs. They require water as a base ingredient along with other materials.
Drink | Ingredients | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Wine | Fruit x2, Sugar x1, Water x2 | Fermented fruit beverage |
Oakwood Mushroom Tea | Oakwood Mushroom x2, Water x2 | Brewed from mushrooms found in forested areas |
Mild Herbal Tea | Medicinal Herbs x2, Honey x1, Water x2 | Soothing herbal blend |
Honey Tea | Honey x2, Water x2 | Simple sweet drink |
Buff Meals
Some advanced meals grant temporary combat and gathering buffs in addition to healing. These recipes are generally learned later in the game through exploration or from specialty vendors:
Meal | Effect | Duration |
|---|---|---|
Worker's Hearty Stew | +20% Gathering Speed, +15% Rare Drop Rate | 30 minutes |
Stew | +120 Health, +10 Spirit, Fire Resistance | 30 seconds (Fire Resistance) |
Buff durations are measured in real-world time. Cook buff meals before starting a farming route or entering a challenging boss encounter for maximum benefit.
Ingredient Sources
Ingredients for cooking can be gathered from across Pywel using various life skills:
Ingredient Type | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Meat | Hunting wildlife, butcher vendors | Types: Tough, Lean, Fine, Tender, Marbled. All produce the same Grilled Meat. |
Fish / Fish Fillet | Fishing in lakes and rivers, fishmonger vendors | Clean caught fish to obtain fillets |
Vegetables | Fields, forests, merchant vendors | Taking from fields requires a Mask to avoid reputation loss |
Fruit | Trees in forests, merchants | Can also be obtained by felling trees |
Grain | Farms, merchant vendors | Includes Beans, Barley, and Wheat |
Eggs | Vendors, bird nests | Common cooking ingredient |
Staples | Merchant vendors | Salt, Sugar, Cooking Oil, Honey, Spices |
Water | Wells, water sources, merchants | Base ingredient for soups, drinks, and porridges |
Tips
Always cook raw ingredients before eating them. Cooked food restores significantly more health than raw items. For example, raw meat restores 40 health while Grilled Meat restores 80.
Stock up on Grilled Meat before boss fights. At 1 raw meat per dish and 80 health restored, it offers the best resource-to-healing ratio in the early game.
Talk to innkeepers and food vendors in every town. They sell both recipes and ingredients that are harder to find in the wild.
The butcher vendor in Hernand Town restocks daily at 0:00 game time. Check back regularly for meat supplies.
When cooking Fish Porridge for Renee's Request, use the Improvise option at the cooking tool rather than selecting the recipe directly. The recipe list may default to a higher-tier variant that requires more ingredients.
Hunting is the most reliable free source of meat. Groups of 5 or more deer can yield 15 to 20 raw meat quickly.
Recipes can be sold after reading them since the knowledge is permanently learned.