Guaranteeing a Critical Cook

Cooking during a Blood Moon (between 11:30 PM and 12:15 AM in-game) guarantees a critical cook, which adds bonus hearts, duration, or effect level to every meal. A regular Hearty Durian dish heals 4 hearts; a critical cook version heals 4 hearts plus bonus yellow hearts. Always cook your best ingredients during Blood Moons.

Never mix ingredients with different effects — combining a Mighty Banana (attack up) with an Armored Carp (defense up) cancels both effects and produces bland food. Keep your cooking batches pure: all attack, all defense, all speed, etc. The only exception is Hearty ingredients, which always produce full-recovery meals regardless of what else is in the pot.

Adding more ingredients of the same effect type extends duration, not potency. One Mighty Banana gives Attack Up for 0:50. Five Mighty Bananas give Attack Up Level 3 for 4:10. To boost duration without changing the effect, add neutral filler ingredients like Hylian Rice or Tabantha Wheat — they add 30 seconds each.

Effect potency is determined by the total "points" of effect ingredients. Each ingredient contributes 1-3 points depending on rarity. You need 7+ points for Level 3 effects. For example, Mighty Thistle gives 1 point while Mighty Banana gives 2 points — use the higher-value ingredients to reach max level with fewer slots.