You can use your cooking skill to prepare the fish you catch into tasty meals. You can't sell the food that you cook, but you can eat it to restore your Hit Points.
To increase your cooking skill through the 8 skill levels, you will have to practice with the recipes you collect in the game. You will start your journey with a recipe (unless you are playing as the Father) and all other recipes can be collected by purchasing them from General Stores, or given as gifts when you clear errand events. There are 22 different cooking recipes.
When you successfully cook a dish you will earn skill points. The higher the recipe difficulty rank, the more skill points you can earn. You will increase your cooking skill when you reach certain point values. The recipes are categorized from an easy Rank 4 to highly difficult Rank 1.
| Cooking Skill |
Points | Rank 4 success |
Rank 3 success |
Rank 2 success |
Rank 1 success |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amateur | 0 | 10% | 05% | 01% | 00% |
| Mediocre | 16 | 15% | 10% | 05% | 01% |
| Passable | 48 | 25% | 15% | 10% | 05% |
| Decent | 96 | 40% | 25% | 15% | 10% |
| Skilled | 192 | 65% | 40% | 25% | 15% |
| Professional | 384 | 80% | 65% | 40% | 25% |
| Master | 768 | 90% | 80% | 65% | 40% |
| World Class | 1536 | 100% | 90% | 80% | 65% |
Data information provided by the KOEI River King Ps2 strategy guide
Each of the recipes only require you to catch the fish needed for cooking the meal. You don't have to collect anything else. Your success with cooking will be determined by the recipe's difficulty and your own cooking skill. Even at the highest cooking skill level you can't create a Rank 1 dish 100% of the time.
| Recipe | Rank | Skill Points |
Location | Price | HP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Butter Grilled Iwana |
4 | +1 | Mountain (GS) Field (GS) Rapids (GS) Sister starting recipe |
700 G | 5 |
 Smelt Tempura |
4 | +1 | Mountain (GS) Field (GS) Mother starting recipe |
600 G | 5 |
 Rainbow Trout Meuniere |
4 | +1 | Stream (GS) Mountain (GS) |
300 G | 5 |
Sweet Stewed Honmoroko |
4 | +2 | Mountain (GS) | 700 G | 5 |
Catfish Miso Soup |
3 | +2 | Field (GS) | 700 G | 5 |
Fried Kajika |
3 | +2 | Mountain (GS) Brother starting recipe |
600 G | 10 |
Salt Grilled Ayu |
3 | +2 | Stream (GS) Mountain (GS) Your New Rival errand, Stream |
800 G | 15 |
Goby Tempura |
3 | +3 | Requires Haze fish Field (GS) |
400 G | 10 |
Stewed Motsugo |
3 | +3 | Field (GS) Swamp (GS) |
800 G | 10 |
Raw Carp |
3 | +3 | Field (GS) Swamp (GS) |
650 G | 15 |
Salt Grilled Salmon |
3 | +4 | Mountain (GS) | 700 G | 15 |
Grilled Eel |
2 | +3 | Swamp (GS) | 1200 G | 15 |
Loach Stew |
2 | +3 | Help the Science Class errand, Field Field (GS) |
1000 G | 20 |
Butter Grilled Large Iwana |
2 | +4 | Bottled Recipe Owner errand, Stream | n/a | 20 |
Amago Saute |
2 | +5 | Stream (GS) The Two Brothers errand, Field |
900 G | 20 |
Boiled Prawn |
2 | +5 | Black Bass Infestation errand, Mountain The Great Duel event, Stream |
n/a | 20 |
Big Catfish Miso Soup |
2 | +6 | Feed The Fisherman errand, Rapids | n/a | 30 |
Raw King Carp |
1 | +7 | Mamoon the Curry Chef errand, Stream | n/a | 40 |
| Suppon Juice | 1 | +8 | Cooking Festival Finals errand, Rapids | n/a | 45 |
Grilled Big Eel |
1 | +8 | Naoko's Rival Ayu errand, Swamp | n/a | 35 |
 Monster Catfish Miso Soup |
1 | +8 | Master Chef Confidence, Swamp | n/a | 45 |
 Blackened Newt |
1 | +10 | The Great Duel errand, Stream | n/a | 25 |