Pay-to-play Cooking training

This is a guide which aims to assist players in training Cooking in pay-to-play by using the most effective methods and techniques available. This guide may not always be up to date, so it is advised to check prices on the Grand Exchange before purchasing large quantities of ingredients.

Note: It is highly recommended to obtain the cooking gauntlets from the quest Family Crest before you continue cooking as this will greatly reduce the amount of fish you burn from here on out. To see the cooking level needed to stop burning any type of fish, please see Cooking/Burn level.

Level advancement
Again, it is highly recommended that players looking to train Cooking obtain the cooking gauntlets from the Family Crest quest as soon as possible to greatly reduce the amount of food that one would burn without them.

Levels 1-15 (Shrimp)
At this level, fish shrimp in Draynor or buy raw shrimp from the Grand Exchange. Cooking shrimp successfully grants you 30 cooking experience.
 * Successfully Cooked Shrimp Required: 81
 * Experience required: 2,411
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 35k
 * Time spent: 5 minutes

Levels 15-25 (Trout)
After level 15 is obtained, buy raw trout in the Grand Exchange. These are also easily obtainable with the Fishing skill. Also note if you are short on cash you can pick up raw trout in Barbarian Village where people are powertraining. Cooking trout successfully grants you 70 cooking experience.
 * Successfully Cooked Trout Required: 78
 * Experience required: 5,431
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 85k
 * Time spent: 3:30 minutes

Levels 25-35 (Salmon)
At this level switch to salmon, which can be obtained in the same manner as the previous step. Cooking salmon successfully grants you 90 cooking experience. Cooking dropped salmons and trouts from the power fishers at Barbarian Village can provide you 60,000 experience per hour.
 * Successfully Cooked Salmon Required: 162
 * Experience required: 9,043
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 110k
 * Time spent: 5 minutes

Levels 35-50 (Tuna)
It is advisable at this level to start buying your items in the Grand Exchange rather than obtaining them yourself. However, if you wish to fish your own ingredients then you should do so at Catherby, which has a bank very close to the fishing spots. Cooking tuna successfully grants you 100 cooking experience.
 * Successfully Cooked Tuna Required: 790
 * Experience required: 78,927
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 120k
 * Time spent: 40 minutes

Levels 50-75 (Lobster)
A good place to fish for lobsters is Catherby. Alternatively, you can buy your own raw lobsters from the Grand Exchange, which will save you a lot of time that you can use to make back the money you spent.

Note that it may also be possible, depending on Grand Exchange prices, to profit from cooking lobsters. Also, some players may wish to wait until 74 cooking before cooking lobsters, as that is the level required to stop burning lobsters (64 when using cooking gauntlets); however, this is not recommended unless you're fishing your own ingredients. Successfully cooking lobster grants you 120 cooking experience.
 * Successfully Cooked Lobsters Required: 9,243
 * Experience required: 1,109,088
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 160k
 * Time spent: 8 hours 15 minutes

Levels 75-80/90 (Swordfish)
As stated above, it is recommended to buy your own fish, but for less wealthy players and ironmen you can obtain your swordfish the same way as you would for tuna.
 * Successfully Cooked Swordfish Required: Level 80 - 5,541
 * Successfully Cooked Swordfish Required: Level 90 - 29,543
 * Experience required: 4,135,911
 * Experience per Swordfish: 140
 * Experience per inventory (28): 3,920

Players may wish to wait until level 76 with cooking gauntlets and Hosidius House stove, or 81 with just cooking gauntlets, or 86 with neither to cook swordfish as you stop burning at these levels. Successfully cooking swordfish grants you 140 cooking experience. Another popular location to train cooking is on the Lumbridge Cooking range at levels 81 onwards using Cooking Gauntlets so as to not burn any. Using the bank chest in the basement after starting Recipe for Disaster, it is a highly convenient location to train quickly if you lack favor.
 * If 75-80:
 * Total raw :
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * If 75-90
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 170k
 * Time spent: 24 hours 20 minutes
 * Time per Inventory: 91.5 seconds
 * Experience per hour: 157k (optimal)
 * Time required
 * Level 94: 36 hours and 39 minutes
 * Level 99: 69 hours and 3 minutes

Levels 80/90-99 (Shark)
Either buy raw sharks from other players, or fish for your own to cook. Buying them is more advisable for faster levels, as fishing them is very slow but may be an alternative for poorer players.

It is highly recommended to start right away at level 80 to cook sharks as you will only burn 11-12% at Rogue's Den. From level 80 and onwards, you will burn less than 1% of the sharks that you cook if you use the Hosidius kitchen and cooking gauntlets. Players may wish to wait for level 94 (with cooking gauntlets) before starting to cook sharks, in order not to burn any. At level 91, players will only burn about 3-5%; however, when cooking in the Hosidius kitchen with cooking gauntlets, you won't burn any sharks at level 88.

Successfully cooking shark grants you 210 experience.
 * Successfully Cooked Sharks Required: From Level 80 - 52,612
 * Successfully Cooked Sharks Required: From Level 90 - 36,610
 * Experience required: 7,688,099
 * If 80-99:
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * If 90-99:
 * Total raw:
 * Total cooked (if none burned):
 * Experience per hour: 260k at level 85+
 * Time spent: 30 hours 45 minutes

Levels 70-99 Alternative Method (Bake Pie)
The Bake Pie spell in the lunar spellbook offers even faster experience than jugs of wine if you can get the raw pies pre-assembled. This requires completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest. You also earn magic experience with this method.
 * Experience per hour (Admiral pie): 390k
 * Experience per hour (Wild pie): 445k
 * Experience per hour (Summer pie): 490k
 * Magic experience per hour: 100k

Levels 80-99 Alternative method (Cooked karambwan)
Completion of the quest Tai Bwo Wannai Trio is required to succesfully cook Karambwan.

Cooking Karambwan at level 80 straight up to level 99 will not only give you huge amounts of experience but will also bring in profit. The difference between Cooked Karambwan and Raw Karambwan in terms of cost is around 30%. Depending on your burn rate you may experience lower profit.

Levels 90-99 Alternative method (Jug of wine)
Making jugs of wine is one of the fastest cooking experience methods in the game, but it can also be expensive and thus the time to get enough money to train using jugs of wine should be taken into account. If a player does not have enough money, it is best to stick to cooking fish to level up.

To begin making jugs of wine, buy a jug of water and grapes. Use these two items on each other to make unfermented wines. Once you stop making all your wines the wines will ferment and become a jug of wine. If done correctly you can gain massive experience drops. Successfully making a jug of wine grants you 200 experience.
 * Jugs of Wine required: 38,441
 * Experience required: 7,688,099
 * Experience per hour: 436,800
 * Time spent: 17.6 hours
 * Cost (Assuming all items are bought): ~10,686,598 gp

Cooking experience rewards from quests

 * 300 - Cook's Assistant (-)


 * 500 - Rag and Bone Man (-)


 * 1,470 - Big Chompy Bird Hunting (30)


 * 1,525 - Gertrude's Cat (-)


 * 2,825 - Heroes Quest (53)


 * 5,000 - Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf (22)


 * 5,000 - Tai Bwo Wannai Trio (30)


 * 28,000 - Recipe for Disaster (70)

Total: 44,620 Experience.

Cooking Gauntlets
Cooking gauntlets are a pair of gloves received as a reward from the Family Crest quest. They can be worn to significantly decrease the likelihood of burning fish. Unlocking these gauntlets is strongly recommended as early as possible.

Suggested Cooking locations
Some places are more suited for cooking than others. Here are a few.
 * The myth guild has a stove and a bank right next to the stove diagonally making it better than the rogues den due to it being a stove and not a fire, this makes it a direct upgrade to the rogues den
 * With the addition of the Shift Drop feature, players are now able to drop all of their cooked inventory in a matter of seconds. This means that a cooking range in a player owned house is a viable method for training cooking since you can have your butler bring raw items to you instantly as well as instantly shift dropping all the items so no time is wasted/need to bank. This is better than the Rogue's Den method since it is a cooking range so you can cook more than fish and meat and access to your bank is still one click away with a butler just like the banker at Rogue's Den. This arguably makes Player Owned Houses one of the most effective and efficient places to train your cooking to 99 on par with Rogue's Den, the Hosidius House and the Cooking Guild. The only problem is you have to pay the butler every 8 trips he/she makes making this method of training moderately expensive, especially if you're going to be making a loss already on the food you cook.
 * Port Khazard docks have a bank chest that is 8 steps away from a fire that never extinguishes.
 * There is a clay oven 11 spaces away from the bank in Nardah. Players can use the Desert Amulet to teleport here once a day for free.
 * Players who have 100% favor in the Hosidius House can use the clay oven to the south-east of the Mess Hall. The oven is 8 tiles away from a bank chest and decreases the chances of burning your food by 5%. Therefore you won't burn any sharks from level 88 Cooking when using the cooking gauntlets. This leads to higher experience per hour and profit, thus it is highly recommended this location is unlocked as early as possible.
 * The Rogues' Den fires are located at the start of the Rogues' Den, just below the Burthorpe pub. This place is one of the most effective and efficient places to obtain 99 cooking. The banker (Emerald Benedict) is just a step away from the fire and never moves, allowing players to cut down on time spent walking. The fire is everlasting, so there is no need to worry about relighting it, saving inventory space. On the downside, Rogues' den only has a fire as the means to cook, so it is only usable for cooking fish or meat.
 * Edgeville Bank is a popular place to train cooking. It is also a popular place to train firemaking, which means that there will be plenty of fires around to cook on. Edgeville also has the closest range from a bank in F2P world.
 * The Catherby range is just east of the Catherby bank. This place is frequented often, giving lots of chances for interaction. There are a couple of fishing spots nearby, giving players opportunities to fish and cook at the same time. However, it is a short walk from the bank to the range, and in the long term, the loss in time and xp per hour is significant.
 * Lumbridge is a good place to cook if you have started Recipe for Disaster. The Culinaromancer's Chest in the cellar can act as a bank and a food store, which can be used in conjunction with the range in the kitchen, which has a lower burn rate than most ranges. If you haven't started Recipe for Disaster but still want to use the range, you can join a PvP server where a bank chest is right outside the door, but this risks being pked by other players. Also, the Lumbridge Home Teleport spell can take players there almost immediately, which is good if you have just gathered special ingredients.
 * The fishing spot near Barbarian Village is a good place to cook trout and salmon: players often drop their raw catch for others to pick up and cook and there is a persistent fire nearby. This is ideal if you want to level up quickly and are not concerned with making money.
 * The Tree Gnome Stronghold is useful because you can make Gnome Cocktails, Gnome Foods, and various other dishes thanks to Hudo and Heckel Funch who supply you with plenty of cooking ingredients. There is easy access to a bank and a minigame as well.
 * Mor Ul Rek has many vents scattered throughout where it is possible to cook food on, as they act like a range. One of these is conveniently located right next to the bank.
 * Players who have completed the Hard Varrock Diary will have access to the Cooking Guild's cooking range, which is directly in front of a bank booth. For those that do not have acess to the Hosidius House clay oven, it is the best avaliable option for cooking. It enables a cooking efficiency that is on par with that of the Rogues' Den while also allowing players to cook foods that require a cooking range instead of a fire. Additionally, using a cooking range itself (instead of a fire) will allow for greater cooking success. That said, the increase of cooking success is significantly less than the Hosidius house. For example, at level 80, the burn rate of raw karambwan is 10% at the Hosidius House versus 14% at the Cooking Guild.