Cooking, Post Abyssea

Cooking Guide 1-100 Post Abyssea

By Elizara

...This has been my main craft for quite some time now. A friend of mine (Kikkyo of Fenrir, formerly Nymphadora of Unicorn) reminded me things have had some major seismic shifts in this craft as well...

...So it's time for a new guide, since no one has updated the old ones.

With me, what attracted me to this craft when I was a bitty little newbie was at the time, I wanted to make my own juice/food for whm. It's actually pretty cheap to level if you play your cards right. Also now a days, it can be highly profitable if you find a good niche. I managed to afford a novia with some smart farming + cooking. Just mind if you do that, undercutting is very rampant, so please don't add to the problem and undercut by a lot. Also you will want to sell stuff on mules as well; you can end up with lots of merch to sell. And a word of warning; it can take quite a while/a lot of running around to gather your mats, so keep that in mind.

FARMING IN GENERAL:

There are places in this guide where I'll say “Farm this” or “Farm that”. The sad truth is now a days you may find yourself farming a lot because there's less stuff on the ah (like Honey) than when I started. If your server is different with X mat, then go buy it if you're not like me and got more gil than time. If you do the farming method, get thf up to 49 at least; TH2 helps a LOT. (Of course, if you take it to 95, it's even better, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone do that unless you like THF.) If you don't have the time or inclination to farm; you got a lot of homework to do, sirrah. There are ways around it to a certain extent, but if you have to go that route, do your research. I've tried to pick things that are common drops to make it simpler and to give alternates when I can that require minimum farming.

Crystals can also cost a lot, so I highly recommend if you have {sky}and if you really got time to burn, go farm clusters. But of course, same thing applies; if time is more important to you than gil..go ahead and buy them.

NPC mats:

I highly recommend you memorize where npcs are that sell common mats, like sandy flour. It will save you time looking stuff up. Best place to look up where to find things tho until you do is wiki/gamerescape or ffrecipe.

Sub/Supplementary crafts to level:

There are three main crafts to level for cooking besides cooking, tho you don't have to take most of them to 60 if you don't want to. Mind, these are not all subcrafts; sometimes it's just to make X mat for X synth. I recommend you level alchemy to 60 (for holy water and there's a really oddball synth that takes alchemy; you won't be skilling on it but you'll need the holy water for skills late in reaching 100 if you don't want to mess with sweet rice cakes. Believe me, you don't wanna.), woodworking to 21 (It's used for a really odd skillup synth and so you don't have to depend on the conquest to get maple sugar) and bonecraft to 28 (For gelatin; do this unless you know a very nice and patient boneworker.). Optional is to also level clothcraft for one REALLY odd synth that is signable, but you don't need to for this guide. It is something to consider though. Another to consider is fishing; Fishing and Cooking go together like peanut butter and jelly, so keep that in mind! By the way, you do NOT need to do synergy to make a profit in cooking, so don't worry about it.

Guild Points: I highly recommend you start soon as you get novice. Some of the higher GP items can be a pain in the freaking tail to get, tho most of the time, I can tell you right now; you'll be buying your gp items from NPCs most of the time. When you don't; you'll be fishing for mats/getting mats weird places, etc which can get quite annoying. I didn't get the furniture(I mostly do my mh for looks, not mogenhancements), but I recommend you get Patissier, Noodle Kneading, Raw Fish Handling, Chef's Hat, Chef's Apron, and the Chef's Ring (good for if you make tacos or coeurl subs) for sure. The final key item is not really useful and can be ignored. (AoE melee food?! No thank you.)

Also there are very few foods that you can sign. They must be notstacky and not juice. It isn't really useful to sign food, but if you're like me, you'd do it for friends on occasion for presents/laughs. (I've done a couple signed Lebkuchen Houses for a couple friends to make them smile after one of them got a terrible Christmas present from SE (don't ask), and I did someone a signed chocolate cake.) For the most part however; why sign what someone's going to eat?

References: Dasher's Cooking Guide Wiki in General for their recipe list

http://www.ffrecipe.com/ Cooking Guide By Crawlerbasher

Also thanks to Kikkyo/Nympahadora of Fenrir; I wouldn't be doing this if she hadn't warned me.

Final warning: Never follow any guide blindly. This guide was based on the Quetzalcoatl/Fenrir markets as of September 27, 2011. Markets are fluid and always changing; also your server's market could be different. So be sure to do your research, always. ^^

Enough beating around the bush.. Allez cuisine! (Ok, channeling the Iron Chef here!)

0-3 Carrot Broth – Water Crystal,  San d'Orian Carrot x 4  = Does not sell, npc it unless you're low leveling bst.

3-6 Grilled Hare -Fire Crystal, Dried Marjoram, Hare Meat = Go and farm up a few stacks of hare meat if there's not a lot of hare meat on the ah. Dried Marjoram is available from Zukheim region merchants or from either the sandy grocery store or Ensasa's Catalyst Shop, depending on conquest ranks. Check the AH for how well this sells; if it hardly does, it's a npc dump. Pretty much a bridge synth here, you can skip if you're comfortable with a huge level gap.

6-10 Orange Juice – Water Crystal, Sarutara Orange X4 = Doesn't get simpler than this. Go to Windy Waters with a bunch of water crystals, go the the saru gate. Turn around, there's a taru in the grass that sells the oranges. (He can be hard to see). NPC results or use for low leveling a mage job.

Turn in a salmon sub sandwich for your test, then keep on cookin' ^^.

10-11 Sliced Sardine – Wind Crystal, Bastore Sardine = Lazy fishermen will buy this, so it's profit. Get out your pole and catch the sardines yourself.

11-20 Selbina Butter – Ice Crystal, Selbina Milk, Rock Salt = Save for later synths or sell on the ah. It sells VERY slowly in my experience but will sell.

Make a Pea Soup for your test, then off you go again.

20-22 Baked Popotes – Fire Crystal, Popoto, Selbina Butter = No one wants this so it's a npc dump. You can skip this if you want; it's pretty much a bridge synth.

22-25 (caps at 29, if you wanna keep at it that long and are not inclined to level mages) Insect Ball X99 – Earth Crystal, Millioncorn, Little Worm, Distilled Water = Use to catch ya some moat carps or sell. Depends on how much ya like fishin'.

25-30 Pineapple Juice –Water Crystal, Kazham Pineapple X2 = Use on a mage job. Can't say how well this sells since that's what I did. ^^

ALTERNATE: 25-29 Pet Food Gamma – Fire Crystal, Bird Egg, Dhalmel Meat, Distilled Water, Horo Flour = If you don't like leveling mage jobs, either do this or take Insect Balls to 29.

Make a Vegetable Gruel for your test, then let's go.

30-33 Trout Balls x99 – Earth Crystal, Distilled Water, Rye Flour, Shining Trout = Pretty much a bridge synth here; fair warning, the trout might make you cuss up a storm because it's kinda hard to get on the ah. You will proly end up catching it.

ALTERNATE: 30-34 Black Bread – Fire Crystal, Distilled Water, Rye Flour = If you can't find the blasted trout, this is a good alternative and rather cheap. NPC dump pretty much though.

33-39 Pet Food Delta – Earth Crystal, Rye Flour, Distilled Water, Bird Egg, Land Crab Meat = Check the AH before you npc this, be nice to bsts. ^^

Turn in a Meat Mithkabob at or before 40 for your guild test.

39-42 Pie Dough – Water Crystal, San'doria Flour, Rock Salt, Selbina Butter = Save on a mule. You'll prolly end up making a lot of pie later, so you'll come back to this. If you're comfortable with a huge level gap, you can start this at 30 with synth support.

42- 47 Cinna-cookie – Fire Crystal, Lizard Egg, Maple Sugar, Sandy Flour, Cinnamon, Distilled Water = I did pickled herrings at this stage, but the herring is a @#$%^ to get, especially now a days. Sell to NPC or use on a low level mage job. Go get your THF or /thf on and go farm the eggs in CN (watch out for xpers!) and cook it up.

47-50 Apple Pie – Fire Crystal, Bird Egg, Faerie Apple, Cinnamon, Maple Sugar, Pie Dough = If you saved the pie dough, you're in business. Just go running with this, it should sell OK on ah. Save one for your guild test. This also could be a spot where you'll want woodworking for that sugar, it all depends on the conquest.

Turn in a apple pie for your guild test and let'er buck.

50-56 Mulsum – Ice Crystal, Distilled Water, Grape Juice = Smart mages who cure people love this for bcs. Go to your fav place to maul bees and bring wind crystals. Use a wind crystal on 4 beehive chips; will give you some honey(which will speed your farming time); you should hq that like mad now. Go to Jueno after and sit by the NPC who sells grape juice and just synth it up and AH it. Sells a bit slowly now, but it will sell.

ALTERNATES: 50-55 Egg Soup – Fire Crystal, Rock Salt, Lizard Egg, Distilled Water = Go to CN (Again, watch out for xpers!) and farm up a bunch of lizard eggs. Then head to Whitegate so you can get the rest of the mats conveniently, then cook it up and npc it. This isn't a insane loss to npc, so if musulm is not selling this could be a alternate.

ANOTHER: 50-55 Beaugreen Sautee- Fire Crystal, Beaugreens, Selbina Butter = This is what I actually did. NPC dump, doesn't sell, and I pretty much hated it. But if you're powering, this may be the way to go.

56-60 Yagudo Drink – Dark Crystal, Buburimu Grape x3, Yagudo Cherry = Nice seller. Go farm the dark crystals in Xarc or {sky} if dark crystals are expensive. In any case, find the vendor for Kolshushu for whoever's got it, park in front of it, and go to it. Save one for your guild test.

ALTERNATE: 56-61 Stone Cheese – Dark Crystal, Selbina Milk, Rock Salt = If dark crystals aren't a insane price (They are on quetz), or you farm your crystals, this could be a decent skillup. Dump to NPC, it doesn't sell and is only used in a couple pasta dishes anyway.

If you were doing yagudo drinks, take one out and turn it in for the guild test. (Otherwise, make one!) Then, let's mosey on.

60-64 Melon Pie – Fire Crystal, Bird Egg, Cinnamon, Pie Dough, Thundermelon = Mages love this. It's a slow seller, but will sell.

ALTERNATE: 60-65 Pumpkin Soup – Fire Crystal, Ogre Pumpkin, Sage, Selbina Milk, Rock Salt, Distilled Water = Wish I knew about this one skilling up. If you don't pay too much for fire crystals, it's a profit to sell to npcs.

ANOTHER: 65-67 Raisin Bread – Fire Crystal, San 'doria Grape, San 'doria Flour, Selbina Butter, Maple Sugar, Rock Salt, Distilled Water = Break even selling this to npcs if fire crystals aren't insane or you farm your crystals. Save one for your guild test.

67-72 Pear Au Lait – Water Crystal, Derfland Pear, Honey, Selbina Milk = More bee mauling/synthing beehive chips into honey. NPC this but let your melee friends know you're making it; I had a Cydori (A certain dragoon I know) buy some off me for a bc!

ALTERNATE:65-70 San d'orian Tea – Fire Crystal, Maple Sugar, Distilled Water, Sage, Win. Tea Leaves – This is what I did. Sells VERY slowly, so might end up being a npc dump. Cheap to make however; Just cap on this, then finish up with the au lait.

Turn in a raisin bread when you hit 70 and get cookin' ^^

This is also where it can start getting a biiit tricky. ^^

72-77 Navarin – Fire Crystal, Black Pepper, Distilled Water, Giant Sheep Meat, Mithran Tomato, Olive Oil, Popato, Rock Salt, Wild Onion = Go farm or grow a lot of wild onions. The rest can be bought from npc's. This sells really slowly as I recall, you may end up npc dumping it out of annoyance.

77-80 Shallops Tropicale – Fire Crystal, Bay Leaves, Kazham Pineapple, Rock Salt, Selbina Butter, Shall Shell X2 = Go buy the shall shells at the Fishing Guild by Bikibi Bay. Sells slowly now a days, so you may end up npc dumping it again in frustration. I had a certain PLD friend who loved me for making these though.

Go ahead and cheat a little; Buy the whitefish stew you need for the guild test from Timber Timbers when you hit level 80 and turn it in, then push on, push on.

80-85 Yellow Curry – Fire Crystal, Coeurl Meat, Wild Onion, Selbina Milk, Curry Powder, Distilled Water, Popato, Turmeric = Bun this by synthing it with yet another fire crystal, sandy flour, olive oil, and a bird egg. The buns sell like, well, hotcakes and generally for a good profit. Don't undercut too much! Oh and go farm the coeurl meat and wild onions. :)

ALTERNATE: 80-85 Pumpkin Pie – Fire Crystal, Bird Egg, Cinnamon, Distilled Water, Maple Sugar, Ogre Pumpkin, Pie Dough, Selbina Milk = If you hate farming, this is the way to go. It sold pretty well when I skilled on it (Yellow curry buns did not exist) but sadly now a days it's a possible NPC dump. (Like you only see it up once every three weeks on Quetz.)

85-90 Rolanberry Pie – Fire Crystal, Bird Egg, Gelatin, Maple Sugar, Pie Dough, Rolanberry, San 'doria Flour, Selbina Milk = This is NO FREAKING JOKE for any low level mage jobs; I mean 50 mp then? Sells slowly but does sell. And I hope to bleep you don't get a +1. Best to make your own gelatin here if you can. (Farm or buy the giant femurs, depending on time, the rest is NPC. Just make sure you got bonecraft leveled.)

ALTERNATE: 85-91 Tavnazian Salad – Wind Crystal, Apple Vinegar, Bastore Bream, Beaugreens, Flint Caviar, Frost Turnip, Grimmorite, Noble Lady, San D'orian Carrot = Prepare for the AH waiting game unless you got a fisherman friend or you fish. For some reason, probably because fishermen NPC fish, the fish are hard to come by. I did this because of my paly friend (she was fond of notstackys because she kept forgetting to eat), but it sells well if you taco it. (Need a earth crystal, salsa, and two tortillas per salad to taco it) If you plan on tacoing this I hope you have the Chef's Ring; the HQ version will not taco, does not sell, and will cause you to cuss a lot if you don't have a friend like I had who will gobble that up.

ANOTHER: 85-91 Shadowy Broth - Dragon Meat, Nopales, Agaricus Mushroom = New jug that Square just added. The nopales must be harvested in Fort Karugo-Narugo; mushrooms must be farmed in past areas and as I recall, they don't stack. Also working with dragon meat early..hoo boy. A note about that. I STRONGLY suggest you go farm almonds from rats or Aht Urghan birds and cook up some Kitron Macarons to use.(reduces breaks at the price of less hqs; some say it also helps with skills tho I wouldn't swear to that part.) I swear that helps at least save you some money in the long run tho Kitrons are pricer than they used to be. ^^ It's a very high profit though. Oh and save any holy water you get from harvesting for the final stretch.

Turn in a Seafood Stew for your last test and let's rock it. You're almost a Iron Chef yourself, keep it up!

90-95 Rice Dumpling – Fire Crystal, Bamboo Stick, Coral Fungus, Dhalmel Meat, Distilled Water, Maple Sugar, Rock Salt, Sticky Rice = You prolly should grow the fungus and plan for this. Is NO joke for any low level melee jobs up to Qufim and sells decently last I checked. Has a lowish level woodworking sub (15 woodworking. Yeah it's weird), but if you leveled woodworking for maple sugar, you should have more than enough.

95-97 Dawn Mulsum – Ice Crystal, Holy Water, Distilled Water, Grape Juice, White Honey = Square gave us cooks a little present with a bow with this. You prolly will have to farm that white honey since no one kills the Aht Urghan bees. (at least on quetz, they don't.) The regular honey recipe does work for white honey with Pephredo Hive Chips from those bees, however. (4 chips, one wind crystal) This doesn't stack, tho it sells well. I recommend you sell this on your mules because otherwise it's very bag cloggy. ^^ Oh and you should make your own holy water for this. (Believe me tho, this is better than the traditional method of sweet rice cakes at this level. Those never sold, and don't even talk to me about fresh mugwort ><)

97-100 Red Curry – Fire Crystal, Kazham Peppers, Curry Powder, Coriander, Dragon Meat, San d'Orian Carrot, Mithran Tomato, Distilled Water = Bun this like you did the yellow curry. Sells decent as buns. Now a days the red curry is actually decent to make up since the meat drops in aby. It will take you a while to grab the singles tho but not as long as it used to. ^^ Don't forget to use kitron macarons! Oh and don't expect to get up and rush though this part. That dragon meat isn't cheap (tho it's cheaper than in the old bad days when it only came off HNM dragons; It used to be like 100k a slice, ouch..) and either option here is not things you can power though unless you're really loaded with gil; TAKE YOUR TIME, don't do more than one synthstack at once, and let the buns sell before you do another batch. Your wallet will thank you.

ALTERNATE: 97-100 Cursed Soup - Water Crystal, Kitron, Persikos, Water, Honey, Royal Jelly = I DO NOT recommend this, but it is a possibility at this level. Red Curry/Buns are a much better use of your time and gil, imo. No nice way to get Royal Jelly unless you have high thief to be honest (THAT bad a drop in my experience tho Your Results May Vary); and it can take all day to farm up enough to get though a synthstack even with TH7, which can be..maddening. Also since no one grows ore anymore (Why? When it isn't a big profit and it drops from Aby?) so you'll proly be throwing lots of gil down a hole, 100k or so at a time. (no one buys cursed soup really) Not to mention the time you'll waste farming the jelly when you could be doing something..more profitable with that time.

Congrats, ye new Iron Chef. Now get cooking!