Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

How to Cook in Resident Evil Village

Mike Colucci
By

While he’s not the Merchant from Resident Evil 4, The Duke has become a fan-favorite character in Resident Evil Village. Ethan can buy new weapons and upgrade his current ones while exploring The Duke’s shop. However, he can also have The Duke cook a handful of meals for him with ingredients collected throughout the game. Cooking in Resident Evil Village is essential to beating the game on Village of Shadows difficulty. This guide will focus on how to cook in Resident Evil Village and where to find ingredients for The Duke’s recipes.

What does cooking do?

Resident Evil Village The Duke's Kitchen
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cooking is a mechanic unique to Resident Evil Village. It is how Ethan will upgrade himself rather than his weapons. Cooking and consuming The Duke’s recipes will increase Ethan’s total health, decrease damage taken while blocking, and increase his overall movement speed. There are three health-boosting recipes, two damage-reduction recipes, and one movement speed recipe.

Recommended Videos

As Ethan ventures around the village and surrounding areas, he’ll stumble across wildlife and livestock ripe for the killing. He’ll find fish swimming in ponds, chickens and hogs roaming outside their pens, and black goats wandering in the village. Thankfully, these animal locations are marked on Ethan’s map and will be X-ed out once he obtains all the available meat in that area.

Related

With the ingredients on hand, Ethan must return to The Duke and turn over the meat required to make the desired dish. However, if it is your first playthrough, you won’t unlock the ability to cook until you make it out of Castle Dimitrescu and find the house with the red chimney.

It’s here that The Duke will mark treasure locations on your map, along with where Ethan can farm ingredients.

Recipes

Resident Evil Village Herbed Fish
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Duke is quite the cook. He’ll be whipping up the finest French cuisine Ethan’s had in his life. There is no way to pin or track recipes outside of The Duke’s kitchen. So, below we’ve listed every recipe The Duke has to offer along with its requirements and buffs.

  • Herbed Fish: 3 fish and 2 poultry — health slightly increases permanently.
  • Bird and Beast Pilaf: 4 poultry and 1 meat — damage taken when guarding decreases permanently.
  • Three Flavored Mititei: 4 fish, 2 poultry, and 3 meat — health increases permanently.
  • Tochitura de Pui: 4 poultry, 3 meat, and 1 Juicy Game — health greatly increases permanently.
  • Ciorba de Porc: 1 fish, 5 meat, and 1 Quality Meat — damage taken when guarding greatly decreases permanently.
  • Sarmale de Peste: 6 fish and 1 Finest Fish — movement speed increases permanently.

Where to find ingredients

Resident Evil Village Meat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ingredients are scattered through each area of Resident Evil Village. Pay close attention, especially after The Duke marks the areas on your map. Here are all the ingredient locations in Resident Evil Village for those looking to speed-run all the recipes. Keep in mind, Ethan will need to progress the game to a certain point for some of these ingredients. Others are easily missed and cannot be obtained once past a certain point in the game.

Ingredients do take up room in your inventory, so it’s important to take them back to The Duke and turn them into meals as soon as possible.

If this is your first playthrough, use the knife to kill these animals to conserve ammo. Otherwise, unload with your infinite ammo Dragoon (if you bought it from the Bonus shop).

All normal fish Locations:

  • Ethan will find three fish as soon as he exits Castle Dimitrescu. Head down into the cave to find a small body of water. If this is your first playthrough, use the knife to conserve ammo.
  • Speaking of Castle Dimitrescu, head back through the Maiden and Demon door to find three more fish swimming in a pond left of the drawbridge.
  • Once you’ve ridden the boat for the first time, you’ll be prompted to head into a small shack. Don’t. Instead, head to the right and up a path to find a small pool of water. Inside will be some catfish with Ethan’s name on them. This one can be easily missed.
  • Once Moreau is dead, head back to the beginning of the area, to the fisherman’s house where you first left with the boat. You’ll have access to a new area where you’ll find more Catfish. Keep a sharp eye out for Catfish. They tend to hide under the surface and are tough to spot.

All normal poultry locations

  • Use the Iron Insignia Key to open a locked gate behind the Church in the village. You’ll find a pair of chickens here.
  • From the Church, head back towards Luiza’s house but hug the right side. You’ll see a path open up with a pair of chickens.
  • From there, head to the house with the red chimney to find three more chickens. You need to go this way anyway to progress the story.
  • In Moreau’s area, you can find two more chickens next to the first windmill. However, this is only after you’ve rotated it to gain access to the dam controls.

All normal meat locations

  • In West Old Town, you can find a sole pig in the first house on the right. It was probably the first house you entered after arriving in the village. Be careful; the pig will charge at you.
  • On your way back to the Benneviento grave, you’ll find a black goat on the path after obtaining the broken slab piece.
  • As soon as you enter Moreau’s area, you should see two pigs oinking near his Labyrinth puzzle. They’re impossible to miss.
  • Once Moreau is defeated, head back to the village to find two black goats hanging out in the graveyard near the entrance to Castle Dimitrescu.

Otto’s Mill

Resident Evil Village Otto's Mill
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Otto’s Mill is an optional area in Resident Evil Village and the best source for meat in the game. On your way to confront Heisenburg, you’ll arrive at a fork in the road. Head left to find Otto’s Mills. Cross the river and destroy the lock on the door to find a pair of pigs.

Inside Otto’s Mill is an ax-wielding Giant mini-boss that will punish Ethan if he cannot kill it quickly. He’ll summon Samcas (the flying bat-like enemies). There are plenty of exploding barrels that Ethan can use to damage the Giant, but early playthroughs make him difficult.

However, if you’re quick about it, you can shoot the locks on the door he was guarding and find the spoils of Otto’s Mill without killing the boss.

Once you’re through the door, you’ll find three pieces of meat along with fish and poultry. You’ll also find Father Nicola’s Angel, a very valuable item that can be sold to The Duke.

Where to find rare meat

While the above locations only provide what we’ll call “normal” ingredients, there are three unique ingredients that you’ll have to search extra hard for. They are Juicy Game, Quality Meat, and Finest Fish. They are needed for the three best recipes. Their descriptions offer some clues as to what Ethan is looking for.

  • Juicy Game: “… the juicy meat of a rare bird found only in this region.”
    Quality Meat:”… high-quality meat from a creature found only in this region.”
    Finest Fish: “……rare fish found only in this region.”

So, where are they? For starters, they aren’t marked on your map.

Juicy Game location

Resident Evil Village Rare Blue Bird
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Head into the village and look up at a tree between the mausoleum (where you found the Beneviento slab) and the entrance to Castle Dimitrescu. There is a bluebird perched in the tree. Take aim with your sniper to kill the bird. If you’ve played The Mercenaries, you know how annoying these birds can be.

Quality Meat location

Resident Evil Village Quality Meat
Image used with permission by copyright holder

After unlocking The Duke’s Kitchen, head back to Luiza’s house and find Elena and Leonardo’s small cabin. There is well-marked on your map, so you’ll be able to use that for reference. Jump through the window to find a white pig. Kill it to obtain Quality Meat.

Finest Fish location

Resident Evil Village Finest Fish
Image used with permission by copyright holder

You won’t be able to find the Finest Fish until after you beat Moreau and obtain the crank. Head back to the main area in the Village, where the Duke is. Head up the Lone Road and turn right to find a drawbridge. Lower the bridge with the crank and get in the boat. Turn around and follow the river south to the very end. Dock and turn left at the fork ahead of you. You’ll find a Pond with the Finest Fish and two normal fish. The Finest Fish is golden in color and is easily distinguishable from the other fish.

Now that you have the rarest ingredients in the game, you can craft the three best recipes for maximum health, speed, and damage reduction.

Do meals carry over?

Resident Evil Village Fish
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yes, meals crafted in one playthrough will carry over to the next as long as you’re playing the same file. Crafting these recipients is imperative to beat the campaign on Village of Shadows difficulty, as they’ll balance out the buffed enemy damage.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Colucci
Mike Colucci
Michael Colucci is a lifelong video game fan based out of the greater Boston area. He's the one insistent on searching every…
Resident Evil 4 locked drawers guide: all Small Key locations
Infected villager from Resident Evil 4 remake.

Keys and Resident Evil games are like peanut butter and jelly. If you're not fighting zombies, you're looking for a key to get you to the next room -- where you will fight more zombies. While there are plenty of mandatory keys in the Resident Evil 4 remake, there are also a set of extra keys that you can completely miss. These Small Keys are used to unlock locked drawers you come across, as opposed to doors, and hold some very valuable treasures. Considering how precious money is in this game, the more treasures you can find and sell to your Merchant friend, the better off you'll be. Small keys aren't in your direct path often, and once you leave an area, you can't go back to collect them later in most cases. We'll help you become the master of unlocking by showing you where to snag all the Small Keys in Resident Evil 4, as well as where to use them.
Where to find all Small Keys
Before getting into the locations of Small Keys, note that these keys are not exclusive to a single drawer. Any Small Key can be used to open any drawer, so feel free to spend them as soon as you find a drawer with a key in hand. However, once you leave an area in Resident Evil 4, there's no going back. That means if you left any keys or drawers behind, you won't be able to open them unless you start another playthrough or wait until you begin a new game. There are eight Small Keys to get, and they are all found within the first two zones of the game, but won't show up on your map. Locked drawers won't either by default, but if you buy the Treasure Map from the Merchant, the drawers will be put on your map. Here's how to track all the keys down, and where the nearest locked drawer is in the order you can first encounter them.

The first key you can get is in Chapter 2 in the Valley. After meeting the Merchant, you will be sent into the Valley to find a key to open the gate opposite the Merchant. After clearing out the enemies, drop down to the lowest level on the south end and enter the shack. Inside, take a right and look for a case on the shelf. Loot it, and pick up the first Small Key. The nearest locked drawer is back in the Factory past the Merchant. Go into the room where you retrieved Leon's equipment after it was taken from him and use the key on the desk drawer.

Read more
The best weapons in Resident Evil 4
Leon holding a gun in Resident Evil 4.

Leon clearly wasn't prepared for what he would encounter in the Resident Evil 4 remake or he would have come with more than a middling handgun and a knife. While those basic tools can get you through the opening stages of the game, it won't be long before you will need to call upon some much stronger firepower in order to survive the tougher -- and more grotesque -- monsters that stand in your way. The Resident Evil 4 remake offers a ton of weapons you can collect, such as pistols, SMGs, rifles, and more. However, most will cost a lot of cash -- and even more if you want to invest in their upgrades. You will have to make some tough choices about what weapons you want to stick with, and picking a dud can make your playthrough much more difficult. Instead of investing all your cash in a pea-shooter, check out the best weapons you can get in the Resident Evil 4 remake to blast your way through Ganados and Las Plagas alike.
The best weapons in Resident Evil 4

Red9
Where else could we start but with the Red9? Almost certainly the most popular handgun -- or gun in general -- from the original Resident Evil 4 has returned in the remake and is just as potent as ever. Not only can you grab this gun as early as Chapter 3, making it a great choice for investing your upgrades in, but it can be altered and has essentially no drawbacks. By default, the Red9's recoil is the primary point of criticism you could levy at it, but if you spend a few Spinels to give it the stock, you'll be able to basically snipe with this pistol. By the time you unlock the Exclusive upgrade, which multiplies the gun's power by 1.5x, you'll hardly ever find a situation where this handgun can't do the job.
Bolt Thrower
The Bolt Thrower isn't on this list for its high power, accuracy, or anything that you would traditionally look for in a gun. The reason it has to be here is due to the simple fact that you can recover the bolts it shoots into enemies after they're dead to massively cut down on your ammo expenditure. Ammo for it is also crafted using knives, but it even has a secondary firing method where it launches mines, giving it a lot more utility. The Exclusive upgrade isn't game-changing -- it doubles the ammo capacity -- but the less you have to reload, the less often you'll be caught in a sticky situation.
Stingray
In the rifle category, the Stingray is never going to let you down. This is a semiautomatic rifle, so the firing rate is mostly up to you, plus it has a great clip size by default. If you're hitting those weak points, this baby will also deal 3x damage, and can be outfitted with almost any scope. The Exclusive upgrade boosts your final firing rate by an additional 2x, which shouldn't be too necessary if you're trying to be precise, though can help in a pinch.
LE 5
The LE 5 is a weapon you can easily miss that is kind of like a good version of the Punisher in that it has amazing penetration power. Being an SMG, it also boasts a far greater firing rate and clip size, as well as more power. This is the perfect weapon to rip through any shield-wielding enemies. Again like the Punisher, the Exclusive upgrade allows the LE 5 to pierce up to five targets at once.
Broken Butterfly
Another returning favorite, the Broken Butterfly magnum is not just the best-looking hand cannon in the game, but also the most deadly. If you don't count a special weapon like the Rocket Launcher, the Broken Butterfly (after upgrades) deals the most damage of any gun in the Resident Evil 4 remake. The Exclusive upgrade plays a major part in this by boosting its final damage by 1.5x, again just like the Red9, but magnum upgrades are among the most expensive in the game, so this power won't come easy.
Striker
What's the worst part of a shotgun? The firing rate. Well, that is if you're not using the Striker. This semiautomatic shotgun spits out damage like nobody's business. It has power on par with any other shotgun, but way better firing speed, plus a massive clip size so you don't have to worry about running dry out an enemy in your face. If you get the Exclusive upgrade, you can even double the already huge clip size.
Rocket Launcher
This is a big investment both in terms of cash and space, but the Rocket Launcher is too iconic to the series not to be amazing. Yes, this has a one-hit kill on just about everything and will cost more or less depending on what difficulty level you're playing on. It has no upgrades because, well, what is there to make better? Unless you're playing with the infinite ammo for it enabled, you do only get one shot, so make it count.
Primal Knife
While technically not a gun, the knife is so good in the Resident Evil 4 remake that it has to be mentioned. This tool will save your skin more often than you think thanks to the new ability to parry and finish downed enemies, but the obvious drawback is durability. The Primal Knife has to be unlocked by finding and destroying all 16 of the Clockwork Castellans in the game. What makes it the clear frontrunner of all knives is the Exclusive upgrade that makes it completely unbreakable, no matter how much you use it.

Read more
All Resident Evil 4 remake Wayshrines and how to open them
An open wayshrine with a bracelet inside.

In the opening chapters of the Resident Evil 4 remake, you will come across strange shrines erected by a cult. These can be interacted with, but prompt you to use an item. Unfortunately, you won't even have the chance to open the first couple you find since the item required to open them can't be picked up until a bit later -- and only if you know where to search for it. But it's ro say that the treasures you get from them make it worth your time to backtrack and grab all the goodies inside. Here's how you can open all the Wayshrines in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and what each one holds inside.
How to get the Wayshrine Key

Surprise surprise, but Wayshrines can only be opened once you grab the Wayshrine Key. It will feel like a long time, but you can't even access the key until you reach Chapter 4 and beat Del Lago. Once you can explore the lake, head south to the Mural Cave. Deep in the caves, you will find an ornate cabinet after solving the puzzle in the cave. You can get there by going down the path from the southern dock and through the section with the two large stone hands. Thankfully, unlike Small Keys, the Wayshrine Key is reusable and can open every Wayshrine in the game.
How to 0pen Wayshrines

Read more