This book is designed for turtles and strictly forbids their consumption. My roadmap includes adding the rest of the chapters, as well as including a list of all known recipes. - signed, Jet.
Greetings, fellow reader! Welcome to the mighty invention that is The Turtle Cook Book! The book is divided in three chapters and will be developed as time goes on, but only if some interest persists. Have fun exploring the wonderful world of cooking, my dear friends!
Chapter 1
The Basics:
Anyone can train to be a cook, no matter how many other professions they've devoted themselves to. The only thing you will need is to be at least level 5. After that, every cook starts his way at one of the guards! That's right! None except them remembers the wearabouts of our ancient art. In case you can't find a guard in your immediate vicinity, here's a short list of all of the people that can teach you Apprentice Cooking, at least that I know of:
For Horde:
Aska Mistrunner in Thunder Bluff
Eunice Burch in Undercity
Zamja in Orgrimmar
For Alliance:
Alegorn in Darnassus
Daryl Riknussun in Ironforge
Stephen Ryback in Stormwind City
Crystal Boughman in Redridge Mountains
and
Gremlock Pilsnor and Cook Ghilm, both in Dun Morogh
Some Quick Facts about our art are, in order of prevalence:
Alliance cousine is better.
Since we all enjoy a [Freshly Baked Bread] and only the Horde enjoys [Roast Raptor], this cook book will focus
primarily on the Alliance side of cooking, while still noting all culturally relevant Horde dishes.
Troll recipes are for the hardest of stomachs.
There's [An Exotic Cookbook] of ancient troll origin, that's titled with the clever name of "How To Serve Man".
The book explicitly depicts how to consume human flesh. For scientific, cultural and historic purposes, here's a
short excerpt, punctuation added:
"Get one or eight man,
Hit man hard,
Hit man more,
Put man in fire,
Eat man."
Truly a magnificent species, the trolls. As one can see, not all cookbooks are to be used. Another that might require some attention is a cookbook called [The Arcanist's Cookbook]. Unless you are a mage, I suggest you don't try cooking anything that's shown on the inside of that book. Thankfully, as a prevention the tome is magically sealed. Mages are the crowned masters of cooking, making food out of thin air. The cooking community doesn't perceive them as chefs though, as our art stretches beyond imagination.
A cookbook that could come in handy, is The Official Cookbook. It's designed by Blizzard for outside food references.
Travel to find.
Most recipes and ingredients are found throughout Azeroth and although meat and fish are the main ingredients in cooking, you'll discover that all kinds of items can be used to create food. Keep your eyes open for the white items and try to store and preserve them.
Cooking and Fishing go hand in hand.
There was once a great gourmet that served the crown of Lordaeron. It was later discovered that the kingdom's greatest chef - Old Teamster was actually an orc went rogue. The discovery was made when the gourmet was found dead by peasants, his body swimming in the waters of Brightwater Lake. Looks like someone didn't like this guy. The curious thing about this story was, that even if Old Teamster knew of the dangers of going outside the kitchen, he still knew part of his responsibility lied in acquiring fresh fish for the crown. It has been rumored that [Old Teamster's Skull] still floats in the waters of Brightwater Lake. Creepy!
Heat is required.
If you can't keep a [Flint and Tinder] and a stack of [Simple Wood], along with your [Portable Meeting Stone], [Turtle Box], [Slow Riding Turtle] and [Heartstone], at all times, I suggest you keep your eyes sharp for all camps and towns that may have a cooking fire.
How to look the part:
Weapons:
[Hacking Cleaver] - Axe - BoE, 0.01% World Drop, clean texture
[Meat Cleaver] - Axe - 0.1% World drop, bloodied texture
[Butcher's Cleaver] - Axe - BoP, 10% drop off Razorclaw, a level 22 elite boss in the SFK, bloodied texture
[Glutton's Cleaver] - Axe - BoP, 50% drop off Glutton, a level 40 elite boss in the RFD, bloodied texture
[Cookie's Tenderizer] - Mace - BoP, 65% drop off Cookie <The Ship's Cook>, a level 20 elite boss in the Deadmines
[Cleaver] - Axe - Sold by Weapons Merchants for 44 silver, clean texture
Various trophy fish.
Chest:
[White Woolen Dress] - Crafted by Tailoring
Shirt:
[Formal White Shirt]- Crafted by Tailoring
Starting out:
So, I convinced you to start exploring our wonderful world, that's great! I assume you've trained and prepared. To being your journey you would need a few recipes for beginners. There are some routes you can take here, each of which will be explained below.
The Fisherman route:
This is the go-to vanilla route for a beginner's cooking adventures. It starts off at the nearest fishing outpost to your starting zone. The thing you will be looking for, except a [Fishing Pole], will be [Recipe: Slitherskin Mackerel], both of which can be acquired at one of the Fishing Supplies vendors. Those I personally suggest you visit are:
For Horde:
Martine Tramblay near Undercity - Also sells [Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish], which I suggest you buy and train.
Zansoa in Sen'Jin Village
For Alliance:
Nessa Shadowsong in Rut'Teran Village
Tansy Puddlefizz in Ironforge - Also sells [Recipe: Mithril Head Trout] and [Recipe: Rockscale Cod], but I suggest you don't buy any of them yet.
While there, if you have the place to store it, you can also get [Recipe: Rainbow Fin Albacore], which you can use once you get to level 50 Cooking. The total amount you would need to spent will be around 5 silver. I suggest you don't buy any of the [Shiny Bauble] stuff, as we are, before all, cooks, not fishermen. As for training, you should visit the nearest capital's guards to give you directions. After that, now that you have everything ready, for catching the said [Raw Slitherskin Mackerel] you would need to travel to Rut'Teran Village and fish off the coast. Who said cooking is easy? The recipe goes yellow at 45 cooking skill, turns green at 65 and finally, grey at 85, so It's definitely worthwhile. The amount of time needed to catch this many fish might be anywhere between an hour and two hours. It has been tested that even with [Shiny Bauble], the time required does not decrease.
If this route seems hard for you, but you still want to test your fishing skills, there are other Fishing Supplies vendors that sell [Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish], which provide their own unique path of fishing, but their drop rate is usually shared with many other fish, so investing time fishing out those might prove more painful than expected. I won't cover this offshoot of The Fishermen starting technique, but definitely buy and train [Recipe: Brilliant Smallfish], if you come across it - it's a cheap and easy dish. So, in conclusion, The Fisherman route provides 75 skill in both Cooking and Fishing, in less than two hours.
In summary, route goes as follows:
Fishing Supplies-> Fishing Trainer-> Rut'Teran Village-> Cooking Fire-> Cooking Trainer-> Cooking Fire
Requirements:
Level 5, 2 hours and 7 silver
Rewards:
About 75 skill in both Cooking and Fishing
The Cook's Helper route:
This route is the default route for unexperienced cooks. It's not that it's bad, it's that it's not as effective. The time required to be spent is more than usual, but provides a healthy alternative for future chefs who are not into fishing. This method explores one of the three starting recipes you get when you first train your Apprentice Cooking skill - those being the [Herb Based Egg], the [Roasted Bear Meat] and the [Charred Wolf Meat]. While those recipes are nutritious, they don't hold much value, except for initial training. To put it simply - they aren't as tasty as a well cooked [Slitherskin Mackerel]. The mistake most beginner cooks do is that they go around the world in hopes to find two or three pieces of meat to level up some skill. This is wrong. The way to achieve this route is to plan your journey ahead. If you go this way, then you should consider your tracks to make-up for the loss of time and Fishing skill. One thing that's good about this route is that it can easily be modified around your adventures - you may be in Dun Morogh - don't forget to to stack up on some Bear Meat! Maybe this tip will help you look more carefully through your own personal recipes, before deciding weather or not to attack a certain mob. The drop rate of [Stringy Wolf Meat] is personally considered best, as the mob is easy and abundant. The mob you are looking for will be a Mangy Wolf, level 5 or, worst case scenario, a Gray Forest Wolf, level 8. Keep the extra [Stringy Wolf Meat] as your Cooking Trainer can teach you the easy recipe of [Spiced Wolf Meat], at 10 Cooking skill, which requires just some [Mild Spices], that can be found in all Cooking vendors. It's important to first gather as much resources as possible, and then see how much skill you can make out of them, to avoid meandering about. From there on it's advisable to get to 75 skill as you find appropriate, as the next chapter will cover Journeyman Cooking. While this is primarily considered an Alliance way of Cooking, the Horde can utilize it too, looking for their appropriate mobs to farm - Wiry Swoops in Mulgore for example, among others. Or, if they feel brave enough, venture into Elwynn Forest, through the one and only relatively safe way:
Ratchet ->Booty Bay ->Duskwood-> Elwynn Forest
There is one fool-proof way to do this route, and it goes as follows:
Elwynn Forest-> Cooking Fire-> Cooking Trainer -> Cooking Fire-> Cooking Trainer-> Get to 75 skill
Requirements:
Level 5, 2 hours and 2 silver
Rewards:
About 50 skill in Cooking
The Santa's Helper route:
This cheesy route is available only through the holiday season. The reasoning behind it's inclusion lies in it's relation to the holiday season's quest given by the Greatfather himself - Treats for Greatfather Winter. Level 10 is required. Both Greatfather Winter for the Alliance, and his Horde equivalent, Great-father Winter, can be found together on GM Island and you can consult your invitation to easily get to there. In case you, for some reason, have lost the invitation, the Winters can be found in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, respectively. In brief, the old man wants you to prepare a holiday dish for him, including his favorite [Gingerbread Cookie] and some [Ice Cold Milk], bought from vendors around all of Azeroth for about 1 silver. [Recipe: Gingerbread Cookie] can be bought from the goblin vendors of Smokywood Pastures in every main capital, only during the holiday season, for 25 copper. To prepare it you would need 5 [Small Egg] and 5 [Holiday Spices]. The [Holiday Spices] can be bought from, you guessed it, the Smokywood Pastures vendors, for 10 copper each. The only thing that seems to be hanging to make this easy is the [Small Egg]. The route for obtaining it can be used for The Cook's Helper route, in case the holiday season is over, as that route provides a healthy alternative to the [Gingerbread Cookie] - the [Herb Based Egg], which also requires [Small Egg]. So - to get said [Small Egg], you need to travel to:
For Horde:
Mulgore, and be on the hunt for a Wiry Swoop, level 5
For Alliance:
Teldrassil and look for a Strigid Owl, level 5
The drop rate is not great, so going this route is recommended only if you want to fulfil Greatfather Winter's quest and get your [Smokywood Pastures Gift Pack]. Save any extra [Small Egg] to be used for making [Egg Nog] - another holiday dish, requiring 35 skill, a [Small Egg], an [Ice Cold Milk], [Holiday Spirits], sold by the same Smokywood Pastures vendors, and the already familiar [Holiday Spices]. [Recipe: Egg Nog] can be obtained from the Smokywood Pastures vendors for about 2 silver. From there on it's advisable to get to 75 skill as you find appropriate, as the next chapter will cover Journeyman Cooking. As this route is harder than the other two, it's recommended only to already experienced cooks.
The one and only, elaborate way to do this route goes as follows:
Great-father Winter/Greatfather Winter-> Smokywood Pastures-> Mulgore/Teldrassil-> Smokywood Pastures-> Cooking Fire-> Great-father Winter/Greatfather Winter-> Smokywood Pastures-> Cooking Fire-> Cooking Trainer-> Get to 75 skill
Requirements:
Level 10, 4 hours and 15 silver
Rewards:
About 50 skill in Cooking
To be continued. - signed, Jet.
