Cooking Guide 1-375

Since the beginning of WoW, Cooking has been one of the most skills any player could develop. It allows you to build a fire and prepare food and drink from the materials you loot from certain mobs. These refreshments can restore your health and mana, and at higher levels, certain foods can provide a Well Fed buff if you continue eating, uniquely increasing your stats.

Because Cooking is a secondary profession, all players, regardless of class or factions, should level it through 375. The benefits are myriad, and there is the potential to make profit from selling rarer buff foods on the Auction House to those without the recipe or skills. Either way, Cooking is an invaluable addition to everyone’s spellbooks.

Training Cooking

Vanilla

Unlike most other professions, Blizzard has kept the various quests and items necessary to level up your cooking in the game, so training the various stages of Cooking will take you all over the map.

Apprentice and Journeyman can both be learned from Cooking Trainers in any major city, but once it’s time to become an Expert, all players will need to find the Expert Cookbook. It’s sold to Alliance players by Shandrina north of the lake near Talondeep Path in Ashenvale, Wulan at Shadowprey Village in Desolace.

Next, to become an Artisan, all players will have to complete the quest Clamlette Surprise, started by Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan. To begin that, however, Horde players will need to take To Gadgetzan You Go! offered by Zamja in Orgrimmar, and Alliance players must take I Know a Guy from Daryl Riknussun in Ironforge. Once you meet Dirge, you’ll need to make the Clamlette Surprises, which require:

• 12x Giant Egg
• 10x Zesty Clam Meat
• 20x Alterac Swiss

Once you turn those in, Dirge will train you in Artisan Cooking.

TBC

In Outland, you’ll need to purchase the Master Cookbook in order to learn the next tier of recipes. It’s sold to the Alliance by Gaston in Honor Hold, and the Horde can purchase it from Baxter in Thrallmar. All players can also purchase the book from Naka at Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh.

Required Materials

While leveling Cooking in the Old World, the Alliance and Horde will have to prepare different recipes to power level. Because of that, the materials are broken down by faction in the Vanilla portion of each section in the guide.

Both factions are offered various choices on how to most effectively cap, and to note that the * symbol denotes that an item, or the min/max number of an item required will be affected by your choices.

Vanilla

• Alliance
  • 40x Simple Flour
  • 65x Mild Spices
  • 35x Bear Meat
  • 10x Crawler Meat
  • 15x Crawler Claw
  • 60x Lean Wolf Flank
  • 30x Stormwind Seasoning Herbs
  • 45x Raptor Egg
  • 70x Hot Spices
  • 25x Raptor Flesh
  • 50x White Spider Meat
  • 50x Tender Wolf Meat or Giant Egg
  • 65x – 115x* Soothing Spices
  • 10x Raw Nightfin Snapper and Refreshing Spring Water OR Raw Sunscale Salmon OR Runn Tum Tuber
  • 15x Sandworm Meat
• Horde
  • 40x Simple Flour
  • 40x – 75x Mild Spices
  • 35x* – 50x Bear Meat
  • 35x Stringy Wolf Meat*
  • 35x Dig Rat
  • 50x Lion Meat
  • 75x Hot Spices
  • 25x Raptor Flesh
  • 50x White Spider Meat
  • 50x Tender Wolf Meat or Giant Egg
  • 65x – 115x* Soothing Spices
  • 10x Raw Nightfin Snapper and Refreshing Spring Water OR Raw Sunscale Salmon OR Runn Tum Tuber
  • 15x Sandworm Meat

TBC

• 25x Ravager Flesh
• 25x Clefthoof Meat or Warped Flesh
• 25x Spicy Crawdad
  OR
• 40x – 60x Serpent Flesh or Raptor Ribs

Leveling Cooking

Generally speaking, power-leveling Cooking and Fishing at the same time is the easiest way to get them both to 375. That being said, if you do not want to or have already capped your Fishing, the following is a power-leveling guide for only Cooking. In the section after this, there is a brief explanation on leveling Cooking and Fishing together.

1-300

Alliance

1 – 40: Spice Bread

• Combine Simple Flour and Mild Spices to make Spice Bread.

To continue, you’ll have to purchase Recipe: Smoked Bear Meat from Drac Roughcut at Thelsamar in Loch Modan.

40 – 75: Smoked Bear Meat

• Use Bear Meat to prepare Smoked Bear Meat.

Once you reach 75, return to your trainer and learn Journeyman.

This is also a convenient moment to get Recipe: Cooked Crab Claw, Recipe: Seasoned Wolf Kabob, and Recipe: Curiously Tasty Omelet from Kendor Kabonka in Stormwind, all of which you’ll need to reach Expert.

75 – 85: Crab Cake

• Combine Crawler Meat and Mild Spices to cook Crab Cakes.

85 – 100: Cooked Crab Claw

• Prepare Crawler Claw with Mild Spices to make Cooked Crab Claws.

100 – 130: Seasoned Wolf Kabob

• Season Lean Wolf Flank with Stormwind Seasoning Herbs to prepare Seasoned Wolf Kabobs.

130 – 150: Curiously Tasty Omelet

• Use Raptor Egg and Hot Spices to make Curiously Tasty Omelet.

After you’ve prepared enough Omelets, you can go purchase the Expert Cookbook from Shandrina, just north of the lake near Talondeep Path in Ashenvale.

150 – 175: Curiously Tasty Omelet

• Continue using Raptor Egg and Hot Spices to make Curiously Tasty Omelet.

175 – 200: Roast Raptor

• Roast Raptor Flesh using Hot Spices to make Roast Raptor.

200 – 225: Spider Sausage

• Prepare White Spider Meat to make Spider Sausage.

When you’ve finished cooking your sausages, it’s time to begin your Artisan quest. Return to Ironforge and take the quest I Know a Guy from Daryl Riknussun. This will lead you to Dirge Quikcleave and allow you to continue leveling.

You’ll also need to gather a few more recipes in order to reach 300. First is Recipe: Tender Wolf Steak, which can be bought directly from Dirge or Innkeeper Fizzgrimble in Gadgetzan. Alternatively, you can grab Recipe: Monster Omelet from either Himmik at Everlook in Winterspring or Malygen just south of Felpaw Village in Felwood.

Next, you’ll need Recipe: Nightfin Soup or Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon, both which can be purchased from Gikkix at Steamwheedle Port. The last option is Recipe: Runn Tum Tuber Surprise, which is a guaranteed drop from Pusillin in Dire Maul and can be used if your Fishing is not a high enough level to catch either fish.

The final recipe is for Smoked Desert Dumplings and is learned through a quest chain beginning with Desert Recipe from Calandrath at Cenarion Hold in Silithus.

225 – 275: Tender Wolf Steak or Monster Omelet 

• Use either Tender Wolf Meat and Soothing Spices or Giant Egg and Soothing Spices to make Steaks or Omelets.

275 – 285: Nightfin Soup OR Poached Sunscale Salmon OR Runn Tum Tuber Surprise

• Prepare any of: Raw Nightfin Snapper and Refreshing Spring Water OR
• Raw Sunscale Salmon OR
• Runn Tum Tuber and Soothing Spices

285 – 300: Smoked Desert Dumplings

• Cook Sandworm Meat and Soothing Spices to create Smoked Desert Dumplings.

Horde

1 – 40: Spice Bread

• Combine Simple Flour and Mild Spices to make Spice Bread.

Recipe: Smoked Bear Meat sold by Andrew Hilbert at the Sepulcher in Silverpine Forest will be the easiest way for you to continue, but until you reach skill level 75, you have the option of preparing Spiced Wolf Meat as well.

40 – 75: Smoked Bear Meat or Spiced Wolf Meat

• Use Bear Meat or Stringy Wolf Meat and Mild Spices to make your preferred dish.

Once you reach 75, return to your trainer and learn Journeyman.

75 – 90: Smoked Bear Meat

• Smoke Bear Meat to make Smoked Bear Meat.

To get Recipe: Dig Rat Stew, you’ll need to finish the quest Dig Rat Stew from Grub at Crossroads in the Barrens. To finish this, you’ll have to bring him 8x Dig Rat.

While you’re in Crossroads, it’s also a convenient time to purchase Recipe: Hot Lion Chops from Zargh, which you will need later. If you choose to leave, the recipe can also be purchased from Vendor-Tron 1000 in Desolace, who also sells Recipe: Roast Raptor which will also be necessary later.

90 – 125: Dig Rat Stew

• Boil Dig Rat to make Dig Rat Stew.

After you’re done making the stew, you’ll be ready to read the Expert Cookbook. This is also a good time to purchase Recipe: Hot Lion Chops and Recipe: Roast Raptor, if you have not done so already.

In addition to the vendors above, Recipe: Roast Raptor is sold by Keena at Hammerfall in Arathi Highlands, Ogg’marr at Brackenwall Village in Dustwallow Marsh, and Nerrist at Grom’Gol Base Camp in Stranglethorn Vale.

125 – 175: Hot Lion Chops 

• Cook Lion Meat with Hot Spices to create Hot Lion Chops.

175 – 200: Roast Raptor

• Roast Raptor Flesh using Hot Spices to make Roast Raptor.

200 – 225: Spider Sausage

• Prepare White Spider Meat to make Spider Sausage.

When you’ve finished cooking your sausages, it’s time to begin your Artisan quest. Return to Orgrimmar and take the quest To Gadgetzan You Go! offered by Zamja. This will lead you to Dirge Quikcleave and allow you to continue leveling.

You’ll also need to gather a few more recipes in order to reach 300. First is Recipe: Tender Wolf Steak, which can be bought directly from Dirge or Innkeeper Fizzgrimble in Gadgetzan. Alternatively, you can grab Recipe: Monster Omelet from either Himmik at Everlook in Winterspring or Bale in Felwood.

Next, you’ll need Recipe: Nightfin Soup or Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon, both which can be purchased from Gikkix at Steamwheedle Port. The last option is Recipe: Runn Tum Tuber Surprise, which is a guaranteed drop from Pusillin in Dire Maul and can be used if your Fishing is not a high enough level to catch either fish.

The final recipe is for Smoked Desert Dumplings and is learned through a quest chain beginning with Desert Recipe from Calandrath at Cenarion Hold in Silithus.

225 – 275: Tender Wolf Steak or Monster Omelet 

• Use either Tender Wolf Meat and Soothing Spices or Giant Egg and Soothing Spices to make Steaks or Omelets.

275 – 285: Nightfin Soup OR Poached Sunscale Salmon OR Runn Tum Tuber Surprise

• Prepare any of: Raw Nightfin Snapper and Refreshing Spring Water OR
•  Raw Sunscale Salmon OR
• Runn Tum Tuber and Soothing Spices

285 – 300: Smoked Desert Dumplings

• Cook Sandworm Meat and Soothing Spices to create Smoked Desert Dumplings.

300-375

Once you’ve passed through the Dark Portal, your first step should be purchasing the Master Cookbook in your faction’s first questing area. Next, you’ll need to buy Recipe: Ravager Dog, which will be sold to the Alliance by Sid Limbardi in Honor Hold and to the Horde by Cookie One-Eye in Thrallmar

300 – 325: Ravager Dog

• Cook Ravager Flesh to make Ravager Dogs.

For the next step, you have a choice between two recipes: Recipe: Roasted Clefthoof and Recipe: Warp Burger. Both are sold to the Horde by Nula the Butcher Garadar in Nagrand, and they’re sold to the Alliance by Uriku at Telaar in Nagrand. Whichever you choose will require you to farm 25 of your meat.

325 – 350: Roasted Clefthoof or Warp Burger

• Use Clefthoof Meat or Warped Flesh to prepare either dish.

From here, getting to 375 is a bit tricky. There are three main options: Spicy Crawdad, Crunchy Serpent, and Mok’Nathal Shortribs. The Crawdads are the most optimal option, as it requires a skill level of 350 to learn and will guarantee skill-ups. The Recipe: Spicy Crawdad is sold to the Horde by Rungor at Stonebreaker Hold, Terokkar Forest and to the Alliance by Innkeeper Biribi at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar Forest. The issue, however, is that Furious Crawdad — the necessary fish — has an extremely low catch rate from the pools in Terokkar Forest, making farming for them incredibly time intensive. If your Fishing skill is over 325, it might be worthwhile to try making them, or if you can purchase the raw crawdads off of the AH.

Otherwise, Crunchy Serpent and Mok’Nathal Shortribs are each viable options. The recipes for both are sold to both factions by Xerintha Ravenoak at Evergrove in Blade’s Edge Mountains. From there, the choice is really just which meat to farm. The caveat about these, though, is that they’ll turn green at 365, meaning you could have to prepare 40+ to hit 375.

350 – 375: Spicy Crawdad OR Crunchy Serpent OR Mok’Nathal Shortribs

• Cook Furious Crawdad OR
• Serpent Flesh OR
• Raptor Ribs

And you’ve capped! Congratulations. Keep reading to find out about Cooking Dailies as well as the various buff foods available in Outlands.

Leveling Cooking with Fishing

Leveling Cooking and Fishing at the same time has some distinct advantages and several notable disadvantages. The major drawback to leveling them together is the intense time commitment. While you have to travel fairly extensively to purchase solely Cooking recipes and cookbooks, the movement required to complete additional Fishing quests and buy far-flung recipes is significantly more than Cooking alone. That being said, the primary advantage is that by the time you’ve finished, you’ll have two out of your three secondary professions capped, and you’ll be able to begin both of the profession dailies at the same time.

Power-leveling Cooking and Fishing follows this route:

• 1 – 55: Brilliant Smallfish
  • Raw Brilliant Smallfish
  • Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish sold by Fishing and Cooking Supply vendors in Stormwind, Ironforge, Darnassus, Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Mulgore, and Tirisfal Glades
• 65 – 110 or 120: Longjaw Mud Snapper
  • Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper
  • Recipe: Longjaw Mud Snapper sold by the same Cooking and Fishing Supplies vendors as Brilliant Smallfish recipe.
• 110 or 120 – 175: Bristle Whisker Catfish
  • Raw Bristle Whisker Catfish
  • Recipe: Bristle Whisker Catfish sold by Kilxx to all players.
    • Alliance:
      • Catherine Leland, Stormwind
      • Lindea Rabonne, Southshore, Hillsbrad Foothills
    • Horde:
      • Sewa Mistrunner, Thunder Bluff
      • Naal Mistrunner, Thunder Bluff
      • Ronald Burch, Undercity
      • Derak Nightfall, Alterac Mountains
• 175 – 225: Mithril Head Trout
  • Raw Mithril Head Trout
  • Recipe: Mithril Head Trout sold by Kelsey Yance in Booty Bay to all
    • Alliance:
      • Tansy Puddlefizz, Ironforge
      • Stuart Fleming, Menethil Harbor, Wetlands
      • Lindea Rabonne, Southshore, Hillsbrad Foothills
      • Heldan Galesong, Darkshore
    • Horde:
      • Lizbeth Cromwell, Undercity
      • Shankys, Orgrimmar
      • Wulan, Shadowprey Village, Desolace
      • Wik’tar, Ashenvale
  • 225 – 260: Filet of Redgill
    • Raw Redgill
    • Recipe: Filet of Redgill sold by Kelsey Yance in Booty Bay to all
  • 260 – 280: Nightfin Soup or Poached Sunscale Salmon
    • Raw Nightfin Snapper and Refreshing Spring Water or Raw Sunscale Salmon
    • Recipe: Nightfin Soup and Recipe: Poached Sunscale Salmon are both sold by Gikkix at Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris.
  • 280 – 315: Lobster Stew or Mightfish Steak
    • Darkclaw Lobster or Large Raw Mightfish, Hot Spices, and Soothing Spices
    • Recipe: Mightfish Steak is sold to the Alliance by Vivianna in Feathermoon Stronghold, Ferals and by Sheendra Tallgrass in Camp Mojache, Feralas to the Horde.
  • 315 – 340: Blackened Sporefish
    • Zangarian Sporefish
    • Recipe: Blackened Sporefish is sold to all players by Juno Dufrain in Cenarion Refuge, Zangarmarsh.
  • 340 – 360: Golden Fish Sticks
    • Golden Darter
    • Recipe: Golden Fish Sticks is sold to the Horde by Rungor at Stonebreaker Hold, Terokkar Forest and Innkeeper Biribi at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar Forest sells to the Alliance.
  • 360 – 375: Hot Buttered Trout or Fisherman’s Feast
    • Enormous Barbed Gill Trout or Huge Spotted Feltail, Goldenbark Apple, and Soothing Spices

Cooking Dailies and The Rokk

In this expansion, Blizzard has added 4 different Cooking daily quests, offered by The Rokk in Shattrath. To take them, it’s required that you are level capped and that your Cooking skill is at least 275. As rewards for each, you’ll earn either a Crate of Meat or a Barrel of Fish, both of which contain the materials for various Outland Cooking recipes. They also have a small chance to contain several rare recipes, including:

• Crate of Meat
  • Recipe: Spicy Hot Talbuk
  • Recipe: Kibler’s Bits
  • Recipe: Stormchops
  • Recipe: Delicious Chocolate Cake
• Barrel of Fish
  • Recipe: Broiled Bloodfin
  • Recipe: Skullfish Soup
  • Recipe: Kibler’s Bits
  • Recipe: Stormchops
  • Recipe: Delicious Chocolate Cake

The recommended strategy for collecting recipes the fastest is to choose Crate of Meat until you have all the recipes that it contains, and then you can switch to the Barrel of Fish. This is done because the Crate can contain the materials you need for a quest the next day or in the near future.

The quests themselves are:

• Manalicious
  • Requires you to collect 15x Mana Berry from the Eco-domes in Netherstorm.
• Revenge is Tasty
  • Cook 1x Kaliri Stew which requires:
    • 3x Warp Burger
    • 1x Giant Kaliri Wing
      • Dropped from Monstrous Kaliri around Skettis in Terokkar Forest
• Soup for the Soul
  • Cook 1x Spiritual Soup which requires:
    • 4x Roasted Clefthoof
• Super Hot Stew
  • Cook 1x Demon Broiled Surprise which requires:
    • 3x Mok’Nathal Shortribs
    • 2x Crunchy Serpent

Buff Food and Endgame Recipes

Like in Vanilla, all players are able to create food that will give you various Well Fed buffs when eaten for longer than 10 seconds. These will increase different combinations of stats depending on what meal you’ve prepared, and this food is still essential to all endgame content. The TBC buff foods that require at least 325 Cooking are:

• Spicy Crawdad – Requires 350 (30 Stamina, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Rungor (H) at Stonebreaker Hold, Terokkar Forest and Innkeeper Biribi (A) at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar Forest
• Crunchy Serpent – Requires 335 (Spell Damage, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Xerintha Ravenoak at Evergrove in Blade’s Edge Mountains
• Mok’Nathal Shortribs – Requires 335 (20 Stamina, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Xerintha Ravenoak at Evergrove in Blade’s Edge Mountains
• Skullfish Soup – Requires 325 (Spell Critical Strike, Spirit)
  • Contained in Barrel of Fish from Cooking Dailies
• Spicy Hot Talbuk – Requires 325 (Hit Rating, Spirit)
  • Contained in Crate of Meat from Cooking Dailies
• Golden Fish Sticks – Requires 325 (Healing, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Rungor (H) at Stonebreaker Hold, Terokkar Forest and Innkeeper Biribi (A) at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar Forest
• Roasted Clefthoof – Requires 325 (Strength, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Nula the Butcher (H) in Garadar, Nagrand and Uriku (A) at Telaar, Nagrand
• Talbuk Steak – Requires 325 (20 Stamina, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Nula the Butcher (H) in Garadar, Nagrand and Uriku (A) at Telaar, Nagrand
• Warp Burger – Requires 325 (Agility, Spirit)
  • Recipe is sold by Nula the Butcher (H) in Garadar, Nagrand; Innkeeper Grilka (H) at Stonebreaker Hold, Terokkar Forest; Uriku (A) at Telaar, Nagrand; and Supply Officer Mills at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar Forest

Finally, one of the most important people to visit as your Cooking reaches 375 is Kylene at the World’s End Tavern in Shattrath’s Lower City. She’ll be able to teach you several recipes, most notably the ones for Fisherman’s Feast, one of the more important buff foods in TBC, and Hot Buttered Trout, one of the strongest consumables. Both require a Cooking skill of 350, but after you learn how to make them, you’ll have truly mastered Cooking!