Cooking

Cooking is the unglamorous backbone of every combat session — raw fish from Fishing become Sharks that heal 200 HP each. Without Cooking, Tideward's combat AFK math falls apart by the third hour: your food runs out, your Vitality bar empties, your character dies to enemies it could otherwise outlast indefinitely. Most experienced players keep Cooking within 5 levels of Fishing at all times.

How Cooking works

Cook raw food on a fire (active Kindling fire works) or a range (cooking station in any town). Each cook attempt rolls success against the food's Cooking level requirement vs your Cooking level. Failure burns the food (still gives small XP, no edible result). Higher levels reduce burn rate; eventually you stop burning entirely for any given food.

Food quality scales with raw fish tier — Trout (level 15) heals 80 HP, Shark (level 80) heals 200, Anglerfish (level 84) heals 220. Higher Cooking is what unlocks the ability to cook those high-tier raws without burning.

Beyond fish, Cooking handles meat (from drops), bread (from Farming wheat), pies (multi-ingredient), and the rare special meals (cooking quest rewards) that grant temporary stat boosts. A capped Cooking character feeds a high-tier combat character indefinitely.

Tips for training Cooking

1. Cook on a range, not a fire — ranges have lower burn rates at the same level. Saves food across the long term.
2. The "cook everything" auto-action processes your full inventory in one set. Set it and walk away.
3. Some special foods (sweet potatoes, mushroom pies) give small temporary stat boosts. Worth cooking for boss prep.
4. Cooking gauntlets reduce burn rate further. Cheap to obtain, big quality-of-life win.
5. Most players underbank food. A 1,000-Shark stack covers a 24-hour AFK session even against tough enemies.

Skills that pair with Cooking

The 23 trades aren't isolated. Cooking works best alongside these:

Frequently asked about Cooking

How do I stop burning fish?

Train Cooking to the level the recipe stops burning at. Each food has a "no burn" level — for Sharks it's around 96 with cooking gauntlets, around 99 without.

Does cooked food expire?

No. Cooked food sits in your bank indefinitely. Stockpile what you can; food never goes to waste.

Can I cook overnight?

Yes — set "cook everything" on your raw inventory before AFK and the game processes the stack. Most players cook between gathering sessions rather than overnight, since the cook time per item is fast.