Link needs sustenance, just as Zelders do. He is capable of living off the raw fat of the land, hunting and gathering as he goes, enjoying a variety of mushrooms, fruits, milk, and honey. (Link can also consume raw poultry, fish, and meat, but we had an aversion to this, which we realize makes zero sense since he’s a video game character and it’s not us chewing on a raw bird thigh, but there it is.)
Cooking ingredients, however, increases their benefits. One raw apple restores a half a heart; that same apple, thrown into an open fire, yields three-quarters of a heart. In some cases, cooking an ingredient unlocks special properties that won’t manifest if eaten raw. For example, a raw swift carrot restores half a heart, but that same carrot, properly cooked into a dish, gives Link a quick boost of speed.
Using a pot over a fire, Link can create savory dishes that combine fruits, herbs, mushrooms, meat, fish, grains, nuts, and poultry. Why, he can whip up an omelette, apple pie, or a seafood paella!
Incidentally, sometimes the fire under a cookpot may have been doused by rain. If you’ve opened the Myahm Agana shrine near Hateno Village, which you likely have if you’ve played longer than a day or two, head up the hill from the shrine to where a construction crew is working on the future site of Link’s Home. Before the bridge to Link’s abode, there’s an open fire where you can roast individual items like apples; over the bridge to the left of the house, there’s a cookpot. The fire under the pot and the open fire are never extinguished, no matter the whether or time of day.
Unlike Zelders, and appropriately so given his tender age, Link does not indulge in adult beverages. He does drink potions, however, which are brewed with monster parts, lizards, and bugs. Ugh. But these elixirs are life-saving when our hero needs to be stealthy, guard against cold, or prevent himself from going up in flames.
Then there’s Dubious Food. Now, we’d argue that anything cooked with a lizard or a cricket is ipso facto dubious, but in fact, those can be used to create the aforementioned elixirs. It’s when you get too creative, and mix raw gourmet meat with a Lizalfos horn, for example, that you run into trouble and generate Dubious Food. Reportedly, it doesn’t hurt you–then again, any special properties you would have gained from a Hearty Lizard or a Stealthfin Trout are wasted when you stew them together.
Which brings us to a final note: You can’t combine two or more special properties in a meal and get both or all of the expected results. If you add a Stamella Shroom to a Mighty Bass, you won’t generate a meal with more energy and attack power; you’ll simply have lost the potential effects of each ingredient. Instead, try wearing armor with a particular effect (fireproof, for example) and then eating a meal that provides you with another buff, like electric resistance, that you need.
Just as there is no single way to travel Hyrule, there’s no single cookbook. Sometimes, different ingredients yield the same dish. Occasionally, you might add a fairy to hover over the cook pot. Experiment to see what works for you. Below is a selection of possibilities –by no means exhaustive, nor even the best in haute Hyrule cuisine, but dictated by Demelza’s determination to make it look like a menu.
Starters
Enduring Fried Wild Greens
Five endura carrots cooked in a pot over a hot flame (not an open fire).
Restores up to 15 hearts and yields two temporary stamina wheels.
Chef’s note: Endura carrots can be found in selected locations in Hyrule, but especially near Great Fairies.
Tough Pumpkin Stew
Combine fortified pumpkin, fresh milk, Tabantha wheat, and goat butter. Simmer gently.
Replenishes four hearts and provides a low-level defense boost. A favorite in Kakariko Village.
Hasty Simmered Fruit
Combine five fleet lotus seeds in a pot.
Provides a high-level movement speed boost. (Pay no attention to the dish’s title, which should be Toasted Nuts or the like; it’s what Nintendo calls it.)
Snails
Your choice of either hearty bluefish snail or sneaky river snail. Cooked in a pot to either restore health or provide a stealthy boost.
Not that this is a particularly creative dish, but what’s a fancy menu without snails?
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Drop raw eggs in the hot water springs of Elden province for a quick snack.
Chef’s note: You will need to be equipped with Fireproof Armor to make this treat.
Hearty Truffle Skewer
Cook five hearty truffles in a pot.
Restores Link’s existing heart containers and provides five temporary ones.
Mains
Spicy Meat and Seafood Fry
Your choice of meat or poultry, one Hyrule bass, and spicy peppers.
Temporarily protects Link from cold.
(Recipe reprinted with permission of Old Man.)
Chilly Steamed Fish
Sauté three chillfin trout and two cold safflina.
Grants mid-level heat resistance and replenishes several hearts.
Hearty Salmon Meunière
Sauté hearty salmon in a cookpot with goat butter and Tabantha wheat.
Refills Link’s heart containers and adds extra temporary hearts.
Spicy Meat and Mushroom Skewer
Two sunshrooms and three pieces of raw meat or poultry.
Replenishes several hearts and provides temporary low-level cold resistance.
Mighty Meat (or Poultry) Skewer
Three mighty bananas and two pieces raw meat or poultry.
Replenishes several hearts and provides temporary mid-level attack boost.
Prime Poultry Curry
Add Goron spice to one piece of raw bird thigh and Hylian rice.
Restores five hearts.
Tough Vegetable Risotto
Fortified pumpkin, Hylian rice, goat butter, and rock salt
Replenishes three hearts and grants a low-level defense boost.
Desserts
Hearty Simmered Fruit
Combine five hearty durians in a cookpot.
Fills existing heart containers and provides an additional 20 temporary hearts!
Chef’s note: Hearty durians can be found near the Faron Tower, in the Bronas Forest.
Apple Pie
Tabantha wheat, goat butter, cane sugar, and apple.
Replenishes up to five hearts, depending on final ingredients.
(Reprinted without permission from Misa’s recipe book, but after all, it was out there for all to see.)
Hasty Carrot Cake
Swift carrot,* Tabantha wheat, goat butter, and cane sugar.
Gives Link a temporary speed boost.
- * Endura carrot may be substituted for a stamina-restoring dessert.
Electro Steamed Fruit
Cook three voltfruit with two electric safflina. Enjoy during thunderstorms or when dancing with Electric Wizzerobes.
Grants mid-level electricity resistance and restores a number of hearts.
Energizing Honey Crepe
Fresh milk, bird egg, Tabantha wheat, cane sugar, and courser bee honey.
Refills up to ten hearts and a portion of stamina wheel.
Chef’s note: Exercise caution in obtaining courser bee honey. It might be safer to have a stamella mushroom appetizer and skip dessert.
Fruit Cake
One apple, one wildberry, Tabantha wheat, and cane sugar.
Refills five heart containers.
After Dinner Potions
Mighty Elixir
Three mighty bananas, one bladed rhino beetle, and one Moblin fang (or other monster part).
Yields temporary high-level mighty effect, boosting attack power with all weapons; also restores three hearts.
Fireproof Elixir
One fireproof lizard and four red chu chu jellies.
Yields temporary fireproof effect, preventing kitchen disasters and enabling travel to Death Mountain.
Energizing Elixir
Four restless crickets and Moblin fang (or other monster parts of your choosing).
Restores one stamina wheel.
Our fish is responsibly caught from sustainable sources, including Hyrule coastal waters and freshwater ponds and lakes in West Necluda and the Lanayru region.
Note: Recipe yields are not necessarily typical. Your results may vary, depending upon amount and variations of ingredients as well as kitchen conditions, such as cooking under a blood moon or with fairy oversight.