Norrathian Baking 101

Baking 101: A Quick Guide to Mastery

Those cheap muffins don't keep your tummy from grumbling for long, do they? Looking to be able to make something to tide you over and keep you satisfied during those long stretches of adventuring? Bake something up yourself!

Now the majority of folks who're looking to get their Baking skill up as quickly as possible making the least different recipes for the cheapest amount of money make three things: Batwing Crunchies, Fish Fillets and Fish Rolls. The best place to do this is around Freeport. The first thing to get is a Spit. This portable oven makes Baking anywhere possible, instead of having to head into town to find an oven. Tislan, in East Freeport's Traders Holiday, is your local supplier.

Next, stock up on Batwings and Frosting. Those are the ingredients for a meal of Batwing Crunchies. Batwings are sold in unlimited quantities in the Academy of Arcane Sciences and the Inn right by the boundary between the East and West Commonlands. Flour, frosting, garnish, jugs of sauces, milk, spices and vinegar are available from Parthar, in one of the outbuildings of the first Inn outside Freeport in the East Commonlands. He also has a large variety of cookbooks, though most folk don't bother with keeping those on hand. Merchants with this variety of Baking ingredients are scattered across Norrath.

Make Batwing Crunchies until you can no longer gain in skill from doing so (around 46 skill in Baking). Save any Batwings you have leftover. Unless you want to save the frosting for making other things, sell it back to a merchant. Stock up on Jugs of Sauces from Parthar, and head over to East Freeport. You can buy Fresh Fish in unlimited quantities from folk in the Port Authority. It's time to make Fish Fillets from a Jug of Sauces and a Fresh Fish (yields two meal-sized portions). Making these will get you to a moderate skill in Baking (about 82). Then you sell off any Jugs of Sauces you have leftover (unless you want to keep them about for making other things, like steaks, soups or pickled stuff). Keep the Fresh Fish. Time to bounce back and forth between East and West Freeport, making Fish Rolls out of Batwings and Fresh Fish. This seemingly odd combination yields a banquet-sized Fish Roll! Making these will take you to Master Baker status (up to skill 135). If you want to increase your skill after that, you'll have to pursue advanced Baking, requiring yet another container and many tedious hours spent hunting things that are completely unchallenging.

For Tier'Dal, Trolls, Ogres and Iskar, the above three recipes might prove difficult. There is no central location for those of evil alignment to buy the Baking ingredients, Fresh Fish and Batwings. Neriak's Commons has both fish and Baking ingredients, but no Batwings. It would appear the best old-world supply of Batwings for evil folk is in the Shaman guild in Oggok. Cabilis has a Baking ingredients merchant, and there are several places to get Batwings in Kunark, but supplies of Fresh Fish are lacking. Either hunting for creature meats and making other things, or getting someone to buy Fresh Fish would seem to be the alternatives. Fishing up your own Fresh Fish is no longer an alternative, as there are zone-specific fish almost everywhere you can dip a pole into water, and they aren't all bakeable.

Once you've gotten your skill up, or if you just want to bake something different, you can delve into the myriad of other recipes out there. Some of them even yield meals that magically enhance you! Perhaps the best source of information on recipes, trivial levels and where to find ingredients is EQ Traders Corner, maintained by Niami DenMother. If you visit her site, please read her rules and use the wealth of information there before asking anyone connected with her site for help. (I am in no way connected with EQ Traders Corner, I just have immense respect for the amount of time and hard work she's put into it.)

For those of you with the attention span of a gnat, that was:

Go to the Freeport area
Get a Spit from Tislan in East Freeport, at the Trader's Holiday
Go to West Freeport, the Academe of Arcane Sciences, 2nd floor and buy stacks of Batwings from Lysa
Go to East Commonlands, out-building of the 1st Inn (out from Freeport), buy stacks of Frosting from Parthar
Combine 1 Batwings + 1 Frosting in Spit until you can no longer gain skill (about skill 46)
Sell off extra Frosting, stow away extra Batwings for later, sell Batwing Crunchies, eat them or give them away
Go to Parthar, buy stacks of Jug of Sauces
Go to East Freeport, Port Authority, buy stacks of Fresh Fish from Iseba or Tarkar
Combine 1 Jug of Sauces + 1 Fresh Fish until you can no longer gain skill (about skill 82)
Sell off extra Jug of Sauces, either sell, eat or give away the Fish Fillets you made and stock up on Fresh Fish
Go back to Lysa in the Academe of Arcane Sciences, buy Batwings
Combine 1 Batwings + 1 Fresh Fish to make Fish Rolls until you can no longer gain skill (about skill 135)

Welcome to the world of Norrathian Baking! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

— Isolde Pagani, High Elven Enchantress, Quellious