Cooking Ideas

[Seth Tamwood (SethTheMuse)]

I had a few ideas of things we could use for 'realistic' cooking in the game that I thought would be likely to fit the way the game is thematically constructed. Most of what I've thought of has been simplistic, nothing requiring power, and relatively rustic and sufficiently old-timey that I think it would fit well, allowing you to expand what you make recipe-wise and how much of them at once, while still feeling like it's somewhat balanced.

First things first, I thought of those brick pizza ovens. Have you seen those?

Spoiler

I'd imagine it would be used for cooking larger items than can fit in the campfire, like big meals, special higher-grade baked goods like cookies/biscuits or biscuits/scones or large bread loaves, or multiple (2-6) of the small bread loaves in one go. Pop firewood in, light it with your torch, and slide your baked goods right on in there! Maybe multiple baking slots?

If it's made with bricks, those are a pain in the butt to make enough of to create things without a lot a lot of work because you need a metric buttload of clay. Making pieces to stick together into a singular item means you could make it take a LOT of bricks, and even then multiple types of the clay being required would mean someone would have to explore to find enough of all of them.

The second thing I had a thought of was a big cast iron cauldron.

Spoiler

I know there's pots already, but I thought of this one mostly as a 'more expensive, makes more of the thing in one go' type of deal again. Can make larger food items like roasts (5 or 10 meat type items and salt), stews, brewed drinks using water and berries or other fruits, and maybe even add a 'dye' type of mechanic using flowers, cut grass, and other stuff that would stain. I'd hope you'd use a different cast iron pot than the one you use for food, but I'm not one to judge.

And the last thing I've thought of thus far is drying racks.

Spoiler

The best way to work with meats when you don't have the firewood to make cooked stuff is obviously drying it. Would work for berries, fruits, vegetables, and herbs as well. Adding salt could up nutrition value, as well as extend the freshness, if the 'food spoiling' thing is going to be a thing. Sticks, logs, and flax twine to build one, a full day cycle (or longer) to dry the food out, and a lower saturation level than other foods made with the same items, maybe?

There's probably a lot more I could throw on here food-wise, but I'm kind of tired and this is getting long enough for the moment!