Cooking

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-10

Overview

cooking.lua is a script that manages cooking recipe definitions, ingredient classification, and recipe resolution logic for cookers (e.g., cookpot, portablecookpot, portablespicer). It does not define a component but instead returns a module table with utility functions and data structures used by other parts of the game—particularly by the cookpot and preparedfoods systems. It reads ingredient definitions, registers recipes, and resolves weighted recipe selection based on provided ingredients.

Usage example

local cooking = require "cooking"

-- Check if a prefab can be used as a cooking ingredient
if cooking.IsCookingIngredient("meat") then
    print("meat is an ingredient")
end

-- Resolve a recipe from a list of ingredient prefabs
local recipe_name, cooktime = cooking.CalculateRecipe("cookpot", {"meat", "carrot", "honey"})
print("Result:", recipe_name, "in", cooktime, "seconds")

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None (this file is a pure data/module utility, not an ECS component).
Tags: Not applicable.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
official_foods	table	{}	Set of official (non-mod) food prefab names used as keys for quick lookup.
cookerrecipes	table	{}	Nested table mapping cooker names (e.g., "cookpot") to recipe name → recipe table maps.
cookbook_recipes	table	{}	Nested table mapping cookbook categories (e.g., "mod") to recipe name → recipe table maps (excludes portablespicer).
recipe_cards	table	{}	Flat list of {recipe_name, cooker_name} pairs used to populate the recipe card UI.
ingredients	table	{}	Map of ingredient prefab names to their metadata, including tags (e.g., meat, fruit) and optional prefixed forms (_cooked, _dried).
MOD_COOKBOOK_CATEGORY	string	"mod"	Constant string representing the category for mod-added recipes in the cookbook.

Main functions

AddCookerRecipe(cooker, recipe, is_mod_food)

• Description: Registers a cooking recipe for a specific cooker and populates global data structures accordingly.
• Parameters:
  cooker (string) — Name of the cooker (e.g., "cookpot", "portablespicer").
  recipe (table) — Recipe definition table, expected to contain at least name, and optionally test, priority, weight, cooktime, and no_cookbook.
  is_mod_food (boolean) — If true, marks the recipe as modded and adds it to the "mod" cookbook category.
• Returns: Nothing.

AddIngredientValues(names, tags, cancook, candry)

• Description: Registers ingredient definitions for one or more prefabs, optionally adding _cooked and/or _dried variants.
• Parameters:
  names (table of strings) — List of prefab names to register as ingredients.
  tags (table) — Key-value map of tag names (e.g., "meat", "fruit") to numeric values.
  cancook (boolean, optional, default false) — If true, adds a "_cooked" variant with precook tag.
  candry (boolean, optional, default false) — If true, adds a "_dried" variant with dried tag.
• Returns: Nothing.

IsCookingIngredient(prefabname)

• Description: Checks whether a given prefab name is registered as a cooking ingredient.
• Parameters:
  prefabname (string) — Prefab name to check.
• Returns: true if prefabname (or its alias) exists in ingredients, otherwise false.

GetRecipe(cooker, product)

• Description: Retrieves a specific recipe table by cooker and product name.
• Parameters:
  cooker (string) — Name of the cooker.
  product (string) — Name of the recipe product (i.e., output prefab).
• Returns: Recipe table (if found), otherwise nil.

GetCandidateRecipes(cooker, ingdata)

• Description: Finds all recipes for a given cooker that satisfy the test function against the provided ingredients.
• Parameters:
  cooker (string) — Name of the cooker.
  ingdata (table) — Table with fields names (count map of ingredient prefabs) and tags (summed tag values), typically from GetIngredientValues.
• Returns: Table of candidate recipe tables, sorted descending by priority; only highest-priority recipes are retained if multiple share top priority.

CalculateRecipe(cooker, names)

• Description: Selects a random recipe (weighted by weight) from the candidate recipes for the given ingredients.
• Parameters:
  cooker (string) — Name of the cooker.
  names (table of strings) — List of ingredient prefab names.
• Returns: Two values:
  name (string) — Name of the chosen recipe product.
  cooktime (number) — Cook time in seconds (defaults to 1 if not specified in recipe).
• Error states: If no candidates exist, returns nil.

GetIngredientValues(prefablist)

• Description: Converts a list of ingredient prefabs into aggregated name counts and tag sums, handling aliases and variant suffixes.
• Parameters:
  prefablist (table of strings) — List of ingredient prefab names.
• Returns: Table with two keys:
  names (table) — Map of prefab name → count.
  tags (table) — Map of tag name → summed numeric value.

IsModCookerFood(prefab)

• Description: Checks whether a given prefab is a mod-added cooking product (not in official_foods).
• Parameters:
  prefab (string) — Prefab name to check.
• Returns: true if mod-added, false otherwise.

HasModCookerFood()

• Description: Checks whether any mod has registered food recipes in the "mod" cookbook category.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: true if cookbook_recipes["mod"] is non-nil, otherwise false.

Events & listeners

None. This script is a utility module and does not interact with the game event system.