I was recently looking for the fastest way to level up Cooking skill in New World and I discovered something surprising:
It isn’t clear how to cook fish in New World at all.
Despite the fact that the notes on the fish in your inventory tell you they can be used in cooking, figuring out where to go next after you arrive at the Kitchen and realize that they can’t be cooked like they can in other MMORPGs — at least at low levels — can be a little tricky.
However, I tried a few different things out and managed to finally discover the way to do it.
So, if you’re looking to find out how to cook fish in New World, keep reading.
Where to Cook Fish
You’ll be able to cook fish at any place you can cook anything else, for example, your campfire or a Kitchen (of any Tier) in any town.
Most people will land at the Kitchen in Windswarth when they start playing, but you’ll find them in Monarch’s Bluffs, First Light, and more.
Using a Tier 2 Kitchen or above will allow you to use the fish in a few more meals which is great for additional XP and value.
What Fish Can You Cook?
I’ve been able to cook using Pike, Perch, Hake, Sturgeon, Salmon, and a whole range of other fish too — any fish that falls in the common, uncommon and rare categories is good to go.
I’ve not managed to test every fish on the game yet but the only issue I had was with the Legendary (Tier V) Albenaja fish that I caught.
Whilst the Albenaja can be used in cooking, I’m likely still too low of a Cooking skill level (63 at the time of writing this) to do anything with it, or perhaps the Tier of the Kitchen I’m using (Tier II) isn’t high enough — or maybe it’s both. I’ll update this guide when I find out.
How to Cook Fish
The trick to cooking fish in New World is to ensure you’ve salvaged them from your inventory. Salvaging fish will give you a Fish Fillet in New World, as well as other items from time to time, and these Fish Filets can be used to cook.
Now, it’s important to note that you still won’t be able to cook yourself a nice, tasty Fish Filet. Food doesn’t work like that in Aeternum (for some reason).
Instead, what you’ll need to do is use the New World Fish Fillet as an ingredient in other fish recipes.
If you’re only at level 1 in Cooking, or if you don’t have any other items, the good news is that Fish Filets can be used as the sole ingredient when making Energizing Light Rations.
And if you’ve got a lot of Filets, you can rack up significant amounts of XP in just a few clicks.
If you salvage larger fish then you’ll be able to get more filets too, and with better fish you can also get better quality items like Firm Fish Filets that can be used to cook fish in better meals.
You can even use Firm Fish Filet and regular New World Fish Filet in the same recipe to make Energizing Travel Rations at Cooking level 2 and above.
I hope you’ve found this useful!
All of this has made me hungry. I’m going to cook some fish for myself now…I’ll just have to remember that I won’t have to salvage it first.
