Cooking

Cooking is a new gameplay mechanic and feature in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. By using certain materials, Link can cook food to increase their effectiveness and create better food items. Food include potions such as several elixirs.

Cooking Ingredients
Cooking ingredients are materials used in cooking food. Some cooking ingredients are also potions ingredients. They can be obtained in a variety of different ways. Some ingredients such as mushrooms, herbs, and plants can be obtained while traversing Hyrule, while other ingredients can be obtained by defeating enemies. Some ingredients can be used to restore health without cooking them; however, cooking them usually increases their effectiveness to create dishes.

Cooking monster parts (such as Bokoblin Horns) with insects, reptiles, etc. yields elixirs. Cooking normally edible items results in various dishes. All other combinations (gems, ancient parts, etc.) result in a Failed Experiment or Dubious Food. Cooking over a campfire multiply by 1.5 the sum of Heart Containers each individual item restores and cooking over a pot multiply this sum by 2.

For example, an Apple restores 0.5 Heart Containers. Cooking an Apple over a campfire via a torch yields a Baked Apple which restores 0.75 Heart Container. Cooking an Apple in a pot yields a Simmered Fruit which restores 1 heart. Cooking 5 Apples in a Heart yields a Simmered Fruit which restores 5 Heart Containers. Hearty items provide yellow Heart Containers.

Hearty Ingredients
Cooking with hearty ingredients yields a dish that will fully recover your hearts and will add temporary hearts. Each hearty ingredient has a number of hearts it will add to the total, just like with regular hearts.

Spices
Adding a spice to a dish that has a timed status effect will increase the duration of the effect by a different amount depending on the spice. Adding additional copies of the same spice, or adding non-spices, will add 30 seconds to the duration for each one. Some spices will produce dubious food when cooked alone. It is interesting to note that the Acorn and Chickaloo Tree Nut only provide 1/4 of a heart when eaten alone and 1/2 of a heart when cooked, but when paired with any other ingredient, the first one you add will contribute 1 whole heart to the dish.

Timed Effect Ingredients
Some ingredients cook into dishes with timed effects, such as defense, attack, speed, stealth, etc. Each one you add will increase the duration by 2 minutes. If you add different ingredients that have the same effect, the effect will be stronger. Three ingredients yields a level 2 effect. Four ingredients yields a level 3 effect, but greatly reduces the duration.

Food Dishes
Food dishes are foods created via cooking, including potions. By combining different ingredients, Link can cook up a variety of food dishes depending on the ingredients used. Up to a maximum of five food materials can be used as base ingredients for one dish.

Link's default pouch can only simultaneously carry up to a maximum of sixty food dishes or elixirs at any given time. Duplicate food dishes that are cooked over a campfire (Baked Apple, etc.) occupy the same slot in the pouch, however, duplicate food dishes that are cooked in a pot occupy their own slots in the pouch. When cooking with Hearty items, yellow Heart Containers will stack: 5 for the Big Hearty Radish or Hearty Lizard, 4 for the Big Hearty Truffle or Hearty Durian, 3 for the Hearty Radish, and 1 for the Hearty Truffle. For example, cooking 5 Big Hearty Radishes will give Link 25 yellow Heart Containers.

The Rupee values of cooked meals are as follows:
 * 1 or 2 ingredients = 2x sell value of ingredients, rounded to nearest 10
 * 3 ingredients = 2x sell value of ingredients, plus 10%, rounded to nearest 10
 * 4 ingredients = 2x sell value of ingredients, plus 25%, rounded to nearest 10
 * 5 ingredients = 2x sell value of ingredients, plus 40%, rounded to nearest 10