Frozen Flame: A Complete Guide to Cooking Recipes

Frozen Flame has a surprisingly robust cooking system, which allows players to stock up on tasty food to give themselves helpful buffs. You’ll discover new cooking recipes as you experiment with different ingredients, but aside from a quick tutorial, the game leaves you on your own to figure out how all of this works.

But that’s where I come in. I spent several hours tinkering with the game’s cooking system, so I’m putting together a robust guide to explain how all of this works.

Build a bonfire

Okay, to get started on this ambitious cooking project, you’re going to have to build yourself a bonfire. This can be found in your crafting menu (not the build menu). This requires:

• Branches x4
• Stone x4

Before you cook anything, you need to add fuel to the fire. You can do so by holding the interact button on the fire while you have a log in your inventory. This will ignite the fire. Just be careful, because if you’re standing on top of the fire, you will take burn damage.

Now that you’ve lit up your fire, you can interact with it to open up the cook menu.

You’ll see that there are two slots for ingredients. You actually don’t need to fill both slots; as long as there’s one ingredient in a slot, you can start cooking. Every recipe has a certain wait time, so once you’ve selected the “Cook” option (by pressing A on an Xbox controller or R on your keyboard), you now just need to wait until it’s done. When the time is up, you can pick up the cooked item and be on your merry little way. Or you can do more cooking if you’d like.

What can be used as an ingredient?

Ingredients fall into categories, and I’ve been able to find six categories of ingredients. Each category has its own buff associated with it. Here they are:

• Meat (Bleed Resistance)
• Fish (Movement Speed)
• Fruit (Physical Resistance)
• Herbs (Physical Resistance)
• Mushrooms (Stamina)
• Insects (Lightning Resistance)

Every ingredient you find will be filed into one of these categories. Items within categories can be used interchangeably, so if a recipe requires fruit, you can use Luminous Apples or Sugar Boarberries and get the same result. Or, if you need an insect, you can use a Summer Tree Beetle or a Sun Glowbug.

Basically, every ingredient can be cooked on its own to produce a cooked item. You can also cook two of an ingredient to produce a different item, or combine one with one of the other ingredients. I actually made myself a grid to make sure I tried every possible combo. That’s how much of a nerd I am.

And no, unlike The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which has a fairly similar cooking mechanic, none of these combos lead to “dud” recipes. All of them create something useful.

Once you’ve successfully cooked an item, it will show up in your cookbook, which can be accessed from the bonfire. Recipes with a gray background are ones you can currently cook with ingredients you have on hand — recipes with a red background are ones you can’t cook because you don’t currently have the ingredients in your inventory.

Also, when cooking specific recipes, there’s a chance that you’ll make a “rare” version of that dish, which will be a slightly more potent version of that dish. The first time you cook a rare meal, you’ll earn the Chef achievement. It doesn’t seem like every recipe has a rare version — as far as I can tell, this only applies to recipes involving fruit — but this could also just be a matter of luck.

Here’s a complete list of recipes

This guide wouldn’t be complete without a list of every single recipe in the game, so I’ve created one.

Powdered Herbs

Bitter powder that significantly improves the body’s ability to regenerate wounds.

• Cook time: 15 seconds
• Ingredients: Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5

Fruit Dessert

A light dessert made from fresh fruits. The variety of taste evokes memories of a carefree summer.

• Cook time: 5 seconds
• Ingredients: Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Health Regeneration: 1

Fried Insect Meat

After being cooked this meat has become surprisingly tender and nutritious, although not quite appetizing in appearance.

• Cook time: 20 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5

Fried Fish

Fish roasted on coals. A bite and the tender, brackish meat melts in your mouth.

• Cook time: 20 seconds
• Ingredients: Fish
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Movement Speed: 5

Fried Meat

Meat fried to a crisp. The smell alone makes the stomach growl. Meat restores health and makes it stronger.

• Cook time: 20 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5

Fried Mushrooms

A scattering of crunchy mushrooms with a rich taste. Once you eat one, it will be hard to stop.

• Cook time: 15 seconds
• Ingredients: Mushroom
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 25
  • Stamina: 5

Fruit Pie

Not only hearty and healthy, but also delicious pastries.

• Cook time: 15 seconds
• Ingredients: Fruit + Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Health Regeneration: 2

Baked Insects with Fruit

Even fresh fruit juice does not interrupt the specific sour taste of insects.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect + Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5
  • Health Regeneration: 1

Beetle Salad

According to the recipe, the beetles are served while still alive, so you should hurry up — otherwise only grass will remain in the plate.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5

Meat and Fruit Skewer

Fruit refreshes the bored meat taste and adds a sweet touch.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat + Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Health Regeneration: 1

Insect Porridge

Sour porridge from the insides of insects. When you try it, chitinous shells prick your tongue. However, the taste is amazing.

• Cook time: 45 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect + Insect
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Lightning Resistance: 5

Fried Greens

Vegetable mixture fried over a fire. Less healthy than raw, but more edible.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Herb + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 5

Mushroom Skewer

Mushrooms strung on a twig and fried over a fire.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Mushroom + Mushroom
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Stamina: 10

Steamed Mushrooms

Thermally processed mushrooms. If there were poisonous among them, now it is safe to eat them.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Mushroom + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Stamina: 5
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5

Light Salad

A Fresh vegetable mix. Easy to cook, but very healthy meal nonetheless.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Fruit + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Health Regeneration: 1

Skewer with Insects

After just one bite of fried beetle, your mouth is on fire with all possible flavors.

• Cook time: 45 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect + Meat
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5

Burning Broth

The concoction looks disgusting, but it’s edible. The poison boars like it. Yum, yum, yum.

• Cook time: 80 seconds
• Ingredients: Mushroom + Insect
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Stamina: 5
  • Lightning Resistance

Meat and Mushrooms Skewer

Skewer for those who love everything at once.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat + Mushroom
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Stamina: 5

Mushroom Platter

A mixture of wild mushrooms and fruits gives the dish that very taste of a reserved forest.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Mushroom + Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Stamina: 5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Stamina: 5
  • Health Regeneration: 1

Fish Pie

A juicy fatty pie made from several varieties of fish. For those for whom one fish is not enough.

• Cook time: 30 seconds
• Ingredients: Fish + Fish
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Movement Speed: 10

Meat and Fish Skewer

The best of both worlds: when you want to taste the meat of both terrestrial and aquatic creatures at once.

• Cook time: 45 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat + Fish
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Movement Speed: 5

Fish with Beetle Sauce

The tart nutrient substance on the fish one crawled, chirped and buzzed.

• Cook time: 45 seconds
• Ingredients: Insect + Fish
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Movement Speed: 5
  • Lightning Resistance: 2.5

Meat Skewer

Pieces of meat, strung on a twig and fried to a delicious crust.

• Cook time: 45 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat + Meat
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 5

Steamed Meat

Tender meat boiled with vegetables.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Meat + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Bleed Resistance: 2.5
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5

Fish Salad

Steamed fish with lettuce is an ideal lunch for a healthy food lover.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Fish + Herb
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Movement Speed: 5

Fish Stuffed with Mushrooms

The tender meat of the fish has managed to be saturated with the aroma and taste of mushrooms — it melts right in your mouth.

• Cook time: 65 second
• Ingredients: Fish + Mushroom
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Stamina: 5
  • Movement Speed: 5

Baked Fish with Fruit

The sweet and tart taste of the fruit complements the usually neutral fish.

• Cook time: 65 seconds
• Ingredients: Fish + Fruit
• Effects:
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Physical Resistance: 2.5
  • Movement Speed: 5
• Effects (rare):
  • Health Gain: 50
  • Movement Speed: 5
  • Health Regeneration: 1