Cookhouse

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Overview

The Cookhouse is a Food Production Building that is available from the beginning of the game as a Blueprint you can choose on each mission. It has a larger footprint than the other Buildings that make similar products.

The Cookhouse's Specialization is Warmth. This is a Comfortable Specialization type, so the Lizards that work in the Cookhouse will gain +5 to their Resolve.

Production Chain

Berries are an important ingredient in the Cookhouse's Recipes. And Insects are in two of the three Recipes. If you have a sustainable supply of Berries, Insects, and Flour, then you can make everything the Cookhouse offers.

Recipes in the Cookhouse

The Cookhouse produces two Complex Foods and Pigment, which is a Crafting Material used in Scrolls (for Education) and Tea (for Treatment) or for producing Packs of Trade Goods.

3 recipes in the Cookhouse.

Building	Efficiency	Ingredient #1	Ingredient #2	Product
Cookhouse	★★ 02:06	4  Insects 4  Meat 4  Mushrooms 3  Jerky	4  Vegetables 4  Roots 4  Berries 4  Eggs	10  Skewers
Cookhouse	★★ 02:06	8  Flour	3  Herbs 3  Berries 3  Roots	10  Biscuits
Cookhouse	★★ 02:06	—	4  Insects 4  Berries 4  Copper Ore 3  Coal	10  Pigment

Strategies

Being able to make both Skewers and Biscuits in one Building means the Cookhouse can satisfy at least one Complex Food Need from any Species in your settlement. It is especially great for Harpies, who only need Jerky from elsewhere to have all their Complex Food Needs met.

If you don't have Beavers in your map, then Jerky is everyone's Complex Food. Be careful not to spend all of your Jerky as ingredients for Skewers, despite the efficiency of using the Jerky as the Skewers ingredient.

The Cookhouse is one of just a few Buildings that can produce two different Complex Foods. This short list includes:

• Bakery produces Biscuits (★★) and Pie (★★)
• Butcher produces Skewers (★★) and Jerky (★★), which leaves out Beavers' Complex Food Needs
• Cellar produces Pickled Goods (★) and Jerky (★)
• Cookhouse produces Skewers (★★) and Biscuits (★★)

You can park extra Lizards in the Cookhouse if their Resolve is low. Having four Worker slots means a Cookhouse can make the difference between Lizards leaving or not.

If your settlement produces excess Grain (or Flour from Grain), consider adding a Ranch, which can use that Grain to produce both the Meat and Eggs that the Cookhouse can turn into Skewers.

Unless you're getting the Cookhouse for Skewers, you will need a source of Flour before the Cookhouse can be most effective and make both its Complex Foods. Make sure you get a Provisioner (★★), Supplier (★★), or Rain Mill (★★★) going first, so your Workers can start making Biscuits right away.

Making Jerky first is a big multiplier for turning Insects or Meat into Skewers. If you have the Smokehouse or Butcher, for example, and can afford to spend Fuel-type Resources, you can multiply the number of Skewers you get from Insects or Meat by more than 3x by first making them into Jerky.