A commonly overlooked feature of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is cooking, an inherent skill that all adventurers have but often ignore. However, with the Anniversary Edition's release, cooked food is gaining some deserved attention as the game's optional Survival Mode requires the Dragonborn to eat. On the other hand, those who do not wish to implement Survival mechanics into their playthrough can also find great benefits from eating cooked food in Skyrim.
While consuming any edible item in Skyrim, such as a cabbage or cheese wheel, will restore some of the player's Health or Hunger, several particular meals and recipes outshine the rest by far thanks to the significant advantages they provide. Before proceeding to this list, an honorable mention for Survival Mode users would undoubtedly be Salmon Steak. Although other common meals such as Apple Pie or Rabbit Haunch provide similar benefits, Salmon Steak is much more accessible in terms of cooking. Its ingredients, Salmon Meat and a Salt Pile, can be found in abundance across the wilderness and within towns. Restoring 220 points of Hunger in Skyrim Survival Mode, Salmon Meat is a perfect lightweight meal to carry about or easily cook.
For Stamina users like Two-Handed warriors or stealthy rogues, Vegetable Soup and Venison Stew are the best choices among other cooked foods in Skyrim. The two pots of soup essentially provide the same benefits of restoring 1 point of Stamina and Heath per second for 12 minutes. The only difference is that the Venison Stew restores a small amount of Stamina. Vegetable Soup requires Tomato x 1, Cabbage x 1, Leek x 1, and Potato x 1. Venison Stew also calls for a Leek x 1 and Potato x 1 but replaces the cabbage and tomato with (Raw) Venison x 1 and Salt Pile x 1. Both meals restore 380 Hunger and allow for infinite shield bashes or power attacks.
How to Make the Best Cooked Food in Skyrim
Mages and other spell casters in Skyrim can take advantage of the Elsweyr Fondue, a potent cooked meal that increases one's Magicka pool by 100 points and regenerates Magicka faster by 25%. To cook Elsweyr Fondue, Skyrim players will need Eidar Cheese Wheel x 1, Ale x 1, and Moon Sugar x 1. Out of these three ingredients, Moon Sugar is quite hard to come by. However, a reliable source of the rare substance would be the Khajiit Caravans in Skyrim.
Garlic Bread is the next best-cooked food in The Elder Scrolls V, as it is a portable cure-all for diseases. Still, making the bread is somewhat tricky, for Skyrim players must first own a Hearthfire house and build an oven within it. Once players have constructed an oven within their home, they have access to several unique recipes, one of which is Garlic Bread. To craft it, fans will need Garlic x 1, Bread x 1, and Butter x 1.
Lastly, the Lavender Dumpling is a great snack when fighting formidable foes with magic attacks such as dragons or mages. It restores a sliver of Health and temporarily increases Magicka by 10 points, but the dumpling's main appeal is its 10% Magic Resistance for 60 seconds. Like Garlic Bread, the Lavender Dumpling also requires a Hearthfire oven to make. The necessary ingredients are Sack of Flour x 1, Snowberries x 2, Lavender x 1, and Moon Sugar, the rare drug useful in both cooking and alchemic recipes in Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.