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The amount of health restored is quite low compared to the hassle of getting the ingredients. Is cooking tied in any way to a skill so the health benefits become better later on?

Finally, is it possible to add poison to cooked food?

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One of the benefits I see to food is the small benefits, such as a the bonuses to stamina/health regeneration that some foods give. – Domocus Nov 16 '11 at 15:54
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See uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Cooking . There is only one recipe (apple cabbage stew) that results in a gain in sell value. – Raven Dreamer♦ Nov 16 '11 at 15:58

8 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

There is one worthwhile cooking/food item: Elsweyr Fondue provides a massive Magicka boost with an absurdly long duration.

Other cooking items are primarily just low level health and stamina consumables and can easily be ignored unless you're serious about role playing. Other than that, it's just another crafting mechanic that DLC and modders can easily hook into, so we might see more useful stuff in the future.

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Or a hardcore mode! fingers crossed – Raven Dreamer♦ Nov 16 '11 at 15:58
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wow, that fondue provides quite a good benefit! – spartacus Nov 16 '11 at 17:12
@RavenDreamer: I think you typo'd an extra 'e' before that exclamation point. – LessPop_MoreFizz Nov 16 '11 at 17:34
What does the recipe for Elsweyr Fondue consist of? Can you learn other recipies or are they added by mixing ingredients, similar to alchemy? – Avien Dec 21 '11 at 20:38
All recipes are known from the start. Elsweyr Fondue is made with Ale, Moon Sugar, and an Eidar Cheese Wheel. – LessPop_MoreFizz Dec 21 '11 at 20:41
up vote 0 down vote

Yes, you can cook the food to get some better food. You just need to have enough food to make better food.

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up vote 12 down vote

Quoting Cooking is Overpowered on YouTube:

Cooking in Skyrim is not at all the worthless skill it is made out to be. The benefits of stamina regeneration are huge, while the value of fondue to a caster is more than you might realize.

Summary:

Apparently power attacks only require one point to be activated, which makes the long lasting Stamina Soups more useful than they appear to be. While under the effect of the soup, you can chain power attacks for twelve minutes.

Eslweyr Fondue increases your Magicka by 100 points, also for a duration of 720 seconds (12 minutes). This "saves you 10 levels worth of points that you do not have to invest in Magicka".

Well, that is if you can be bothered making the food in the first place. Personally I couldn't be bothered hunting for Eldar Cheese Wheels when I am already overwhelmed with Smithing, Enchanting and Alchemy. But when those skills are maxed this could be fun to play with :)

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That's a great point about the stamina regen – spartacus Dec 21 '11 at 12:04
I wonder how a Regenerate Stamina enchanted jewelry would compare. I found a 40% faster stamina regeneration necklace around level 35. EDIT: Cap seems to be 50%. Perhaps higher values can be reached through the Alchemy/Enchanting loop, which would give the same effect as the Soup? – faB Dec 21 '11 at 18:11
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actually the cap for enchanting on it goes up to 37%, rather silly when the max you can find on an item goes up to 50% – spartacus Dec 21 '11 at 18:13
Ack. Oh well :/ I've gotta do some real testing because I might be wearing this 40% necklace with little to no benefits. – faB Dec 21 '11 at 18:14
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It seems Stamina Regeneration doesn't work during combat. That's too bad I was hoping to combine this with Wind Walker perk. – faB Dec 21 '11 at 21:41
up vote 0 down vote

I think it is useless but it is a very cheap way to refill little health and little stamina. Maybe it depends on the game level but the food is a bit unbalanced, i.e. could be more expensive. IMO it is a feature that makes the game unique compared to a simulation.

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up vote 2 down vote

Food helps restore your stats like life, stamina, or magicka. Cooked food provides more substantial benefit compared to raw ingredients. For example vegetable soup helps restore health and stamina 1 point for 720 seconds.

Home cooked meal helps restore all three stats health, stamina and magicka for a certain amount of time.

Earlier in the game I was relying on home cooked meal, but as my character progressed I rely mostly on potions, spells or enchanted gear.

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up vote 5 down vote

There is no cooking skill, however there are a few benefits of cooking over Alchemy:

  • ingredients are more plentiful, and there are less options
  • the ingredients by themselves will heal you (for a much smaller amount) even without cooking
  • several foods (my favorite being Apple Cabbage Stew) restores both health and stamina still with the same simple ingredients
  • the effects of food and ingredients don't have to be discovered, they are always known
  • cooking can't fail and cause you to lose ingredients
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up vote 1 down vote

There is no skill tied into cooking. It is helpful in the beginning when the player may not have many health potions as it upgrades food quality. At later levels, though, potions are very affordable and cooking is not required.

It is not possible to add poison to food.

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up vote 0 down vote

I've not seen it level anything up.

The only benefit is that you get some "healing pots" that are heavier than normal pots...

to me it seems that food is a but useless in the game... it's weighs a lot and doesn't level you up...

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