This guide will help you get your cooking maxed out, note that after level 400 you must use the daily cooking quests.
Approx Quantity of items needed:
- 60 Simple Flour
- 100 Mild Spices
- 40 Soothing Spices
- 50+ Hot Spices
- 10 Boar Meat
- 50 Clam Meat
- 50 Refreshing Spring Water
- 20 Crawler Meat
- 20 Crawler Claw
- 50 Raptor Eggs
- 60 Mystery Meat(+Skin of Dwarven Stout) and/or Red Wolf Meat(+Hot Spices)
- 12 Giant Eggs
- 20 Alterac Swiss
- 10 Zesty Clam Meat
- 25 Tender Wolf Meat
- 40 Bear Flanks
- 25 Sandworm Meat
- 40 Ravager Flesh
- 40 Talbuk Venison
- 80 Chunk o’Mammoth
To start, Train your Cooking Skill in Stormwind, Old Town.
Spice Bread 1-40
Buy mats from supplier.
Roasted Boar Meat 40-50 (Approx 10 Boar Meat)
Travel to the Maclure Vineyard and Stonefield Farms in Elwynn Forest and maul a bunch of Stonetusk boars until you have what you need. Then go back to Stormwind and train.
From Kendor Kabonka upstairs, purchase Recipe: Cooked Crab Claw and Recipe: Curiously Tasty Omelet.
Boiled Clams & Cooked Crab Claw & Crab Cake 50-130 (Approx 50 Clam Meat, 20 Crawler Meat, 20 Crawler Claw)
Clam Meat can be looted from Small Barnacled Clams. Go to the Longshore in Westfall, directly west from the Jangolode Mine. Here you will find a constant spawn of Sea Crawler crabs which drop clams. For the later cooking levels, you’ll also need Crawler Meat and Crawler Claws…which these crabs also conveniently drop.
Obtain and use an Expert Cookbook and make sure you’re caught up on your cooking recipes from your trainer.
Curiously Tasty Omelet 130-175 (Approx 50 Raptor Eggs)
Raptor Eggs drop from raptors. You’ll find that the best drop rates and respawn rates for eggs come from the Whelgar’s Excavation site and the cave at Raptor Ridge in the Wetlands.
Hop on the boat to Theramore and get the Recipe: Mystery Stew. Fly to Feathermoon Stronghold in Feralas and get the Recipe: Hot Wolf Ribs.
Mystery Stew & Hot Wolf Ribs 175-225 (Approx 60 total of Mystery Meat and/or Red Wolf Meat)
Fly to Gadgetzan in Tanaris then travel southward into the Abyssal Sands. In this area are three large skeletons and among the skeletons you’ll find Hyena, Scorpids and Rocs. Kill everything. You will need 12 Giant Eggs for your upcoming cooking quest.
When you reach 225 cooking skill, go get the quest Clamlette Surprise. You need 20 Alterac Swiss from the vendor in Caverns of Time, 10 Zesty Clam Meat from turtles on the Tanaris shoreline and Giant Eggs that you should already have from killing birds.
Tender Wolf Steak 225-250 (Approx 25 Tender Wolf Meat)
You should have a good stock of Tender Wolf Meat but if you need more, go back to the skeletons in the Abyssal Sands and kill hyenas for more.
Fly to Talonbranch Glade in Felwood. From Malygen, purchase Recipe: Juicy Bear Burger.
Juicy Bear Burger 250-285 (Approx 40 Bear Flank)
Any of the Bears in Felwood will drop the Bear Flanks you need.
Head down to Silithus. Complete the whole cooking questline that starts with Desert Recipe. You’ll need 10 Sandworm Meat for your quest but you can continue collecting more to cook later.
Smoked Desert Dumplings 285-300 (Approx 15 Sandworm Meat)
Any of the Worms in Silithus will drop the meat you need.
Travel to Honor Hold in Hellfire Peninsula, Outlands. From Gaston the Chef in the Inn, purchase the Master Cookbook and use it to raise your skill level and train your recipes. From Sid Limbardi the Innkeeper, purchase the Recipe: Ravager Dog.
Ravager Dogs 300-330 (Approx 40 Ravager Flesh)
Go to Razorthorn Trail and/or Razorthorn Rise and/or Razorthorn Shelf in Hellfire Peninsula. The respawn and drop rates are decent so it shouldn’t take long to get the meat you need.
Talbuk Steak 330-350 (Approx 40 Talbuk Venison)
Talbuks can be found anywhere in Nagrand. You’ll find groups of them around trees mostly in the north and eastern parts of the zone.
Make your way to Northrend and find a cooking trainer to train up on all your recipes and get the next level of cooking. Purchase the Recipe: Mammoth Meal from Derek Odds in Dalaran.
Mammoth Meal 350-400 (Approx 80 Chunk o’Mammoth)
Mammoths between Dun Nifflem and Brunnhildar Village in Storm Peaks have a fast respawn and a good drop rate. You may only be able to see them if you’ve unlocked the Sons of Hodir daily quests. You can also find plenty of Mammoths in Dragonblight and in Borean Tundra although the respawn is not as dandy.
From this point on, you need to do the Cooking Daily Quest for Dalaran Cooking Awards to purchase recipes and spices to increase your skill. It’s a hard and tedious grind so good luck to you!
View the WotLK Cooking Dailies Guide to finish maxing your cooking.