What is critical cooking in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?

The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is a massive game in scope and size. Players can explore a vast open world and battle the evil forces that have taken over Hyrule. However, there are moments of peace and calm. This is where players can explore the more laid-back aspects of the game, including cooking. A returning feature from The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, players can combine various ingredients to create various meals.

The process is straightforward, with players only needing to toss ingredients into a pot over a fire to cook. However, there is one hidden mechanic players may not know about, which is critical cooking.

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How does critical cooking work in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?

This is another stayover from The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. In a nutshell, there is a 10% chance for a dish to have a critical effect applied while cooking, as indicated by a unique sound effect. Critical dishes offer greater bonuses than usual, including one of the following:

• Extra Hearts (These replenish Link's health)
• Extra Temporary Heart (Indicated by a Yellow Heart rather than a normal Red Heart and can be considered to be overhealth)
• Extra effect tier (i.e., a better, more effective buff)
• Extra effect duration (ensures a buff lasts longer, like cold resistance)
• Extra stamina recovered (Stamina is used for climbing, running, and other intensive physical actions)

By default, critical cooking is random. However, there are a few ways to guarantee it. One way is to cook from late night to midnight while the Blood Moon is active. This is a periodic event where the sky turns crimson, and a blood-red moon appears. Due to its frequency, it can be annoying as Blood Moon resurrects defeated foes and strengthens them.

However, this ensures greater opportunities for critical effects in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. There are many tricky scenarios players may find themselves in when playing this sequel. Thus, it is recommended to craft as many dishes as possible during the Blood Moon and take advantage of the critical buff while it lasts.

But there are also other ways to do this. Using dragon parts can also get the job done. These can be obtained by shooting at the majestic dragons flying the skies of Hyrule. They should drop parts that can be picked up upon reaching the surface and added to recipes.

Star Fragments also guarantee the same effect. They are remnants of a Shooting Star that falls from the sky.

The third method is by using a golden apple, a rare variant of the regular apple that is golden in color. Add it to dishes to get a boost to healing too.

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The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is the latest entry in the iconic action-adventure series from Japanese developer Nintendo. It was released on May 12, 2023, worldwide. It is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch hybrid console.