In World of Warcraft, there are 3 secondary skills that are free. Cooking is one of them. It’s usually best to skill up fishing and cooking at the same time because you can use the fish you catch to increase you skill in cooking. However, fishing takes a long time so you might decide to focus on increasing your cooking skills first.
You will find cooking trainers throughout the game. There is a cooking trainer in Orgrimmar who can teach you the basics. Purchase flint, tinder and wood from Trak’gen so you will be able to make a campfire and cook wherever you want. Remember that you need a cooking fire to cook, so if you can’t make a fire you will have to find one. Stand near the fire to cook.
Your cooking trainer can provide recipes that you can learn in return for a few coins. You can also get recipes, spices, milk and water from cooking suppliers and trade goods suppliers.
There are five cooking levels– Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan and Master. They all require minimum character levels and provide a maximum cooking skill for each level.
The simplest and most economical apprentice recipes are Herb Baked Egg, Roasted Boar Meat and Charred Wolf Meat.
For Horde Level 1 to 40, you need to kill Mottled Boar in Orgrimmar for Chunky Boar Meat, Stalkers Wolves at Mulgore to make Stringy Wolf Meat, and Dark Hounds in Tirisfal Glade. Start with Spiced Wolf Meat at level 10 and be sure to use mild spices. You can cook Chunks of Boar Meat and Stringy Wolf Meat up to level 40.
At this point, Hordes must start fishing to level up.
At Horde Level 40 to 90, you must begin training as Journeyman Cook when you reach level 50. Purchase the Smoked Bear Meat Recipe from Andrew Hilbert at Silverpine Forest. You will also need to kill Grizzled Bears at Silverpine Forest for the Bear Meat.
At Horde Level 90 to 125, you have to go on a quest. Look for Grub at the Barrens and get the Dig Rat Stew quest. You will have to kill over 30 Dig Rats. When you finish the quest, cook Rat Stew until you reach level 125.
When you reach Horde Level 125 to 175, it is time to start training as an Expert cook. Travel to Shadowprey Village and buy an Expert Cooking Book from Wulan. Find Zargh at the crossroads and buy 60 Hot Spice and the recipe for Lion Hot Chops. Next, get around 50 to 60 Mountain Lion Meat at Hillsbrad Foothills.
For Horde Level 175 to 200, you can kill lashtail raptors at Grom’gol Base Camp to get raptor eggs and raptor flesh. Cook all the eggs first. When you are at level 175 you can learn to roast raptor. Cook raptor flesh until you reach level 225.
You can also reach Horde Level 200 to 225 by training for Spider Sausage. You can get White Spider Meat from the Darkfangs.
Once you get to Horde Level 225, you must head for Gadgetzen and obtain the Artisan Cooking Quest from Dirge Quickcleave. This is the Clamiette Surprise. Kill Steeljaw Snappers and obtain Big-Mouth Clams. While you are at Gadgetzen you will also need 10 zesty clam meat, 20 Alterac Swiss cheese that you can purchase from the innkeeper, and 12 giant roc eggs. While you are in the area, kill some Tender Wolf Meat and purchase the recipe for Monster Omelet from Bale. Buy some sooth spices because you will need these later.
To move from Horde Level 225 to 285, you have to cook the eggs into Monster Omelets. Cook all the Tender Wolf Meat that you have until you get to level 285. If you do not have enough meat, you will have to get more. You can also visit Bale and purchase the recipes for Juicy Bear Burger and Charred Bear Kabobs. Kill bears at Felwood until you reach level 285.
To reach the final stage at Horde Level 285 to 300, you must obtain the Desert Recipe quests from Calandrath. After you get the quest, you will receive the Smoked Desert Dumplings recipe.
Finish off by killing Strikers and Dredge Crushers for Sand Worm Meat. Start cooking the meat with soothing spices until you reach level 300.
Congratulations! You are now a Master Cook.