Master the Art of Cooking in Tales of the Shire: Tips to Create Delicious Dishes and Unlock Flavor Bonuses
Cooking in Tales of the Shire is a fun and detailed process that lets you create tasty dishes and earn flavor bonuses. Whether you’re chopping, mixing, frying, or seasoning, mastering cooking will make you a top chef and the most popular Hobbit in Bywater.
- How to start cooking and choose recipes
- Ingredient selection and deliciousness stars
- Texture adjustments with cooking stations
- Unlocking new stations and missions
- How to earn flavor bonuses
Getting Started with Cooking in Tales of the Shire
To cook, just enter your kitchen and select “start cooking.” Pick any recipe you’ve unlocked, as long as you have the ingredients. You can gather fish, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seasonings by fishing, foraging, and gardening. Other ingredients like meat, flour, barley, and milk need to be bought from shops. Unlock more recipes by organizing Shared Meals with Townsfolk and satisfying their cravings or favorite flavors.
Choosing Ingredients and Maximizing Deliciousness
Recipes may ask for specific ingredients (like rhubarb) or general types (like vegetables). When given a type, you can use any item from your inventory. Try to pick ingredients with a high deliciousness score — the better the ingredients, the better the dish. Each star on ingredients contributes roughly a quarter to a half of a deliciousness star on the final dish, with up to three stars possible.
Preparing Ingredients and Adjusting Texture
You start with a chopping board and frying pan. Some ingredients can be added directly (like oats or milk), while others need chopping. Frying is optional but can improve tenderness. Keep an eye on the texture chart in the lower right corner. Moving the dish icon closer to the star adds extra deliciousness points.
For texture:
- Crispy vs. tender: Use the frying pan to make ingredients more tender (move right) or the mixing bowl to make them crispier (move left).
- Smooth vs. chunky: Chop more for smoother texture (move up), or less for chunkier (move down).
Unlocking and Using Cooking Stations
As you level up your cooking, you unlock new stations that let you fine-tune ingredient flavors and textures. Some ingredients can go through multiple stations. For example, a penny bun might be chopped and then fried to increase tenderness and deliciousness.
Stations you’ll unlock:
- Chopping board: Chop briefly for chunkier or longer for smoother textures.
- Frying pan: Tenderizes ingredients.
- Mixing bowl (level 2): Makes ingredients crispier.
- Saucepan (level 3): Also tenderizes.
- Pickling jar (level 4): Adds crispiness.
- Pestle and mortar (level 5): Smooths ingredients.
How to Earn Flavor Bonuses
To get an extra deliciousness star, create a dish with exactly two flavors. Ingredients come with flavor types like bitter, sour, sweet, or spicy. Some ingredients, like flour, have no flavor and don’t affect this bonus.
You can also change an ingredient’s flavor by using cooking stations and adding seasonings. For instance, frying a penny bun in butter can make it sweet, helping you claim the flavor bonus.
