World of Warcraft Cooking, in the Real World!

As many of you know, the insanely popular online game World of Warcraft(tm) has an extensive in-game cooking system. Using this system your character can cook up a large variety of dishes using ingredients found on the various monsters in the game.

For instance, spider legs make a wonderful kabob... Savory deviate delight (see below) is made from a deviate fish and will turn you into a ninja, and so on.

Chow down on many of these recipes and your character will regain a bunch of hit points over the next few seconds. Some of these foods will also add a buff to your 'stamina,' and possibly to other stats as well. So not only do you get your HPs back, but you get even more HP than you started with!

Now, there are some recipes which should be in the game, but aren't. For instance, in youir WoW wanderings you'll bump into some nasty toothy fish-people called Murlocs. As youi kill them you'll pick up, as "loot," slimey scales, small amounts of cash, the occasional item, and eyes. Ick.

But you know, if youi take those eyes and make them into a pie... they're actually pretty darn tasty. Unfortunately, that recipe isn't in game. You can make a stew with those eyes, but not a pie.

In the real world though, that pie recipe is available. Since Murloc Eyes aren't readily found at the local grocery, we used grapes, which make a fine substitute. We put the recipe into an adobe PDFand included a couple of others: Skyguard Rations and Warp Burgers.

To get your recipes, go to the Tauren Chef, scroll down to the yellow box, and sign up for the newsletter. You'll get your mini-cookbook almost immediately.

As many of you know, the insanely popular World of Warcraft(tm) has an extensive in-game cooking system. Using this system your character can cook up a large variety of dishes. Chow down on them and you character will regain a bunch of hit points over the next few seconds.

Some of these foods will also add a buff to your 'stamina,' and possibly to other stats as well. So not only do you get your HPs back, but you get even more HP than you started with!

And then there are at least a couple of more interesting foods. The famous Savory Deviate Delight, for example. This tasty dish, made from (what else?) the Deviate Fish, won't heal or buff you, but it will turn you into a pirate. Or a ninja.

Naturally this has certain side-effects. One of which is that a horde of pirates, one of which is you, will descend upon an area to loot and pillage and generally act like, well, pirates. Another side effect is the creation of silly pirate videos (look for 'wow pirates' on YouTube.)

Now, to make this dish in the real world, and maybe change your real-life friends into pirates, you'll want to find something that can pass for deviate fish. Halibut maybe. If you haven't seen one of these, well, a halibut is just a little weird looking. Flat, serious teeth, both eyes on one side. Good to eat, though.

Then you grab your favorite halibut recipe and use your excellent fish cooking skills and make this dish for your pals or real-life guild. Or cook 'em up a batch of fish sticks if they're to n00bish to appreciate (or deserve) good fish.

Shameless blurb: You can find our version of Savory Deviate Delight, and over 60 other WoW recipes for the real world, in the MMO Cookbook. Also included in the MMO Cookbook is the chili recipe mentioned below.

If you decide to try this for your real-life guildmates, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind.

1) Fish is always best when it's as fresh as possible. When you get it home from the store either use it quickly or freeze it. Don't leave it in the fridge. If you open the package and the smell pulls in all the cats in the neighborhood then it might be a little old. If that's the case I suggest giving it to the cats. They'll love you for it. For a few seconds, anyway.

2) It's better to undercook fish a bit than overcook it at all. If you're broiling or grilling your Savory Deviate Delight (we poached it) then keep a close eye on it. Poaching allows you a little more leeway since you're cooking it in a liquid.

Another fun World of Warcraft recipe is Dragonbreath Chili. This delicious chili makes 'garlic breath' seem mild. How so? Dragonbreath chili causes your character to breathe fire at random times while in a fight. Great fun. Every once in awhile it will also cause other players to send you a message asking just how the heck you did that???

So imagine fighting another charcter in-game when, all of a sudden, he's breathng fire on you! Yep, he had some Dragonbreath Chili right before that fight. Naturally it also works in non-PvP (Player Vs Player) situations.

One might think that any good, super hot Texas chili might fit the bill here and one would be right. Our version is milder, we leave the heating options up to you. Add a dash of Cayenne or add the whole can. Your choice. Cayenne's too tame? Try HotSauce.com for more interesting choices.

So grab your favorite chili recipe, or one from a package if you can't cook, add some fierly seasoning to it, a little or a LOT, and chow down on your homemade Dragonbreath Chili. Graby your copy of the MMO Cookbook if youi want to try our version.

Be prepared though, your buddies might try breathing on you after eating this stuff.

Dessert is the Chef's choice. Whip up some Gooey Spider Cake or Cave Mold Cookies and send your pals, family, whoever off to the game session well fed and happy.

Grab your favorite cookbook, or the MMO Cookbook, and grab or kidnap a friend or relative who knows how to cook. Find some WoW recipes that suit your fancy, invite some friends over (who know the game) and have fun!

Skip the non-gamers though, they just won't get it. Especially when you start sneaking around the house, or breathing fire, or saying "Arrr!" too much