Forums » Elder Scrolls

Does anyone cook in Skyrim?

    • 394 posts
    July 6, 2015 5:23 PM EDT
    Apart from purist no-magic RPing I can't see much use for it when you've got potions. Does anyone do it and why?
    • 1483 posts
    July 6, 2015 5:29 PM EDT

    Vegetable Soup, Venison Stew, Beef Stew give you the ability to use power attacks without worrying about stamina for 12 minutes (real time).

    Elsweyr Fondue is comparable to potions with its power (25% regenerate magicka, +100 fortify magicka) and lasts for much longer (12 minutes).

    More importantly, they can be stacked with potions 

    • 394 posts
    July 6, 2015 5:32 PM EDT
    Ah - m!akes sense thanks!
    • 133 posts
    July 6, 2015 5:43 PM EDT
    Sometimes for role play. Ya can't beat a good old vegetable stew in front of a warm fire. Especially in the cold tundra of skyrim.

    Cozy.
    • 113 posts
    July 6, 2015 5:57 PM EDT

    Dude, I want to learn some of these recipes!

    Horker Meatloaf just looks so damned good. 

    Like a chunk of baked bacon. 

    Dude.. APPLE CABBAGE STEW!!

    Who they hell even eats that stuff by the way? 

    • 98 posts
    July 6, 2015 7:32 PM EDT

    As someone else mentioned I do occassionally with some characters for roleplay, sleeping as well some nights or when I believe my character would be tired. Bet it would be a lot more fun with mods though... sadly I play on PS3. 

    • 3 posts
    July 6, 2015 7:58 PM EDT
    I use mods so cooking is vital. I need to eat, drink and sleep regularly. Also, with Frostfall, soups and stews help slow exposure. The vanilla effects can help early on or in a pinch.
  • Tom
    • 624 posts
    July 6, 2015 8:33 PM EDT

    All the time. It's why I hoard salt like I had to pay a Legion's salary.

    Role playing demands it, since no one realistically eats raw rabbit haunch, venison, fish, or chicken unless absolutely necessary.

    I only play mages, so Elsewyre Fondue is the only buffing consumable I even bother with. Potions don't last long enough for me to justify their use while roleplaying. A half a pound glass vial of expensive liquid to carry around for days/weeks/months through all manner of rugged terrain and situations where it could break, only to last for 30-60 seconds and give me a mild boost? Not worth it.

    A half pound piece of food I can eat normally, get nutritional value from, and with an effect better than most potions that lasts twelve whole minutes? A bowl of cheese, magic sugar, and booze? Always worth it. Get a nice bit of crunchy bread to spread that shit over and munch away before I do anything dangerous while swigging even more booze? As good a last meal as any other.

    Beef Stew an Vegetable Stew are the same, but less useful to me.

    • 51 posts
    July 7, 2015 4:25 AM EDT
    I cook when I play a random character but don't want to play the game for combat or questing.When i just want to play skyrim for exploring or roleplaying as a normal citizen of skyrim (farmer,chef,adventurer,miner etc)
    • 295 posts
    July 7, 2015 4:56 AM EDT

    I have a needs mod, so I have to cook, because eating raw food would kill my character. The Requiem overhaul also makes properly prepared food worth your while, though in the narrative, my character is not the one who does the cooking. He's terrible at it. 

    • 367 posts
    July 7, 2015 7:06 AM EDT

    Only RP and screen shots. Werewolves generally eat their prey raw anyway. RP wise Sotek cooks. (Aela's terrible at cooking)

    • 28 posts
    July 7, 2015 10:05 AM EDT

    I actually like to cook, because vegetable soup is very useful (infinite shield bashing), also I love to sell some of my meals for profit, ore use in battle for stamina and healing.

    • 28 posts
    July 7, 2015 10:05 AM EDT

    I actually like to cook, because vegetable soup is very useful (infinite shield bashing), also I love to sell some of my meals for profit, ore use in battle for stamina and healing.

    • 28 posts
    July 7, 2015 10:07 AM EDT

    No, neither orcs, khajiti or breton, also in reqium wood elfs are canibals (as strange as this sounds, it's lore friendly)

    • 145 posts
    July 7, 2015 10:27 AM EDT
    I don't that much, because I feel like my characters would all be terrible at it! :P
    • 694 posts
    July 7, 2015 10:40 AM EDT

    Precisely what I tend to make as well. I usually try not to carry a crazy amount of soup and potions, so I make it in bulk and will swing through and pick it up when I'm running low or after a particularly gnarly dungeon. 

    I keep potions in a barrel and food in another.

    Ingredients are pretty easy to find too. I just get annoyed when I find a SLICED wheel of Eidar cheese instead of a WHOLE wheel. Heavy, only restores 15 points of health... basically useless.

    • 77 posts
    July 7, 2015 2:35 PM EDT

    I have experimented with the cooking element for my first two characters (Melindora and Vani), but only my arrowsworn Danvir currently takes it seriously, mainly for RP'ing which I didn't do much of with the first two.

    Generally he knocks up a vegetable soup or apple cabbage stew at Dragonsreach when he's in Whiterun, then stores them in earthenware flasks to eat while he is travelling.

    • 295 posts
    July 7, 2015 5:53 PM EDT
    No, Beast races, Bosmers, and Orcs have a trait called strong stomach that allows them to consume raw food. Werewolves can as well. Other races need to cook.
    • 168 posts
    July 7, 2015 9:08 PM EDT

    I do, mostly for RP.

    • 184 posts
    July 8, 2015 5:21 AM EDT

    I use Realistic Needs and Diseases but I never cook. I just steal, buy or take. 

    • 20 posts
    July 8, 2015 8:36 AM EDT

    I do occasionally, and then immediately forget that I'm lugging around like 10 Beef Stews or whatever.  

    It's the same problem I have with potions and scrolls - remembering to use them.  Except it's worse with food, since I'm really not used to looking in the "Food" section of the UI.  

    I do wish that the food was somewhat more balanced.  What's the justification for one type of food to restore 10 points of Health and a slightly different type of food to restore 1 Health and Stamina per second for 720 seconds?  Some recipes seem useless while others seem decent - just doesn't make sense. 

    • 394 posts
    July 8, 2015 1:00 PM EDT

    Some great replies here: I've learnt a lot; thanks. And I've started cooking (in Skyrim - I do it for myself anyway irl).

    Also: I really need to upgrade my PC so I can play modded Skyrim!

    • 184 posts
    July 8, 2015 1:02 PM EDT

    Oh man, you seriously do. I have so many mods now and I couldn't imagine my game without them. Rumarin from Interesting NPCs is quite possibly the best thing in my game. 

    • 224 posts
    July 19, 2015 2:33 AM EDT

    I do it, but only because I use mods, what increases the Alchemy abilities,  Realistic needs and diseases and SXP - Skyrim Experience Mod, the last mod adds experience points to anything you do, and one thing is eating (lol)

    • 1595 posts
    April 29, 2016 3:50 AM EDT

    I used the Ritual Stone's daily power.

    Recently I went through a deep and immersive playthrough the like of which I haven't experienced for a year or more and cooking was a big part of that. I haven't really explored the Hearthfire side of this, but I forgot what an "I win" food some of those stews you can make are. Stun-locking a Frost Troll while on the path to High Hrothgar reminded me just how great the meals are. Especially if you have rp'ed the crap out of it in the run up to preparation. The hunt, the kill, the finding of a camp and place to cook outside... Magic moments on their own but much better when the pay off is so sweet later.