Cooking

Cooking

General

Type

Mechanic

Cooking is a game mechanic in PEAK that allows the players to cook various items and food. It requires a source of heat and produces different effects depending on the item.

Most food items benefit from cooking, while cooking non-food items produces various effects and can be both advantageous and detrimental.

Sources of heat

Cooking an item is usually accomplished by interacting with a fire while holding the item. Sources of fire in the game include the campfires, the fire at the crash site, and the  Portable Stove.

Additionally, many explosions, such as those from the  Dynamite, will cook items in a set range by one stage.

In the Caldera and The Kiln, dropped items or items in an unequipped  Backpack or in a Backpack held in the player's hands can also be cooked by standing on or leaving items on heated ground. Items dropped directly in lava will cook at a rapid pace.

Cooking stages

For most foods, cooking progresses in stages, with each stage being darker than the last. There are 4 cooking stages in the game:

Stage	Name	Behavior
1	Cooked	Restored  Hunger is doubled.  Bonus stamina is multiplied by x1.5 Cooked food gives at least  10 Bonus stamina even if it didn't give any before. For berries (including Shroomberries): Removes any  Thorns and  Poison Reduces  Spores by 5. (Both stages are identical and do not stack their effects)
2	Well-Done
3	Burnt	5 less  Hunger restored compared to the previous stage.
4	Incinerated	Adds  10 Poison for each time the food is incinerated (up to a maximum of 90). Equipment items break and stop working.

Some food items, like the  Cooked Bird, are precooked and do not occur uncooked.

Special cooking effects

Almost any item can be cooked. Many items have alternate or additional effects when cooked. Items that explode are destroyed. Unless otherwise specified, the default effects of cooking still apply. See the corresponding item pages for more details.

Item	Effect
Anti-Rope Cannon	Incinerated and unusable
Anti-Rope Spool	Incinerated and unusable
Antidote	Explodes into a small cloud of  Poison healing without inflicting knockback
Backpack	Visual-only. Can still hold items even when repeatedly incinerated
Balloon	Pops
Balloon Bunch	Pops
Bandages	Visual-only
Basketball	Pops
Big Lollipop	Removes  Drowsy penalty after use
Bing Bong	Lowers pitch and volume of voice lines Stops playing voice lines when Incinerated
Blowgun	120 Drowsy is replaced with  150 Heat
Bugle	Makes the pitch wobble more each time it is cooked
Chain Launcher	Incinerated and unusable
Cure-All	Explodes into a small cloud of healing without inflicting knockback
Cursed Skull	Activates immediately, then explodes with a dynamite explosion
Dynamite	Immediately explodes
Energy Drink	When consumed, explodes and knocks back players within a large radius Effect duration is increased by 4 seconds No additional  Drowsy (previous Drowsy still restored)
Faerie Lantern	Explodes into a small cloud of healing
First Aid Kit	Visual-only
Flare	Explodes, dealing  Injury in a small radius
Fortified Milk	Increases the effect duration by 10 seconds if at all cooked. Receives no other cooking effects
Guidebook	Incinerated and unusable
Heat Pack	Explodes, dealing  Injury in a small radius
Lantern	Explodes, dealing  Injury in a small radius
Mandrake	Permanently disables its screaming Removes  25 Curse upon consumption
Medicinal Root	Removes an extra  20 Poison
Pandora's Lunchbox	Explodes, applying its effects in a small radius without inflicting knockback
Piton	Incinerated and unusable
Portable Stove	Explodes, dealing  Injury in a small radius
Rescue Claw	Incinerated and unusable
Rope Cannon	Incinerated and unusable
Rope Spool	Incinerated and unusable
Scout Cannon	Explodes similarly to  Dynamite
Sports Drink	No penalty from being Burnt or Incinerated.
Sunscreen	Explodes into a large cloud of sunscreen without inflicting knockback
The Book of Bones	Removes  Curse upon use instead of giving it

Patch history

1.2.a (2025-06-18): Cooked items will now show up as cooked in the backpack UI.

1.10.a (2025-07-30):

• Fixed an issue where cooking something Well-Done and then stashing it would remove the buffs. For reference, the intended behavior is that Well-Done items give the same bonus as Cooked items. It's your warning before it burns :)
• Fixed an issue where an item in the temporary slot would display the wrong amount of Cooked.

1.40.a (2025-11-05):

• A lot more non-food items will now Actually Do Something when cooked. If it seems like a good idea to set something on fire, give it a try!
• Cooked usable but non-food items such as bandages will no longer grant Extra Stamina.
• Cooked poisonous berries will now be safe to eat. You still cannot cook the poison out of mushrooms.

1.44.a (2025-11-13): Lava will no longer cook items that are being held in your hands.