Editing 23a:Kitchen

{{quality|Exceptional|19:17, 16 April 2011 (UTC)}}
{{workshop|name=Kitchen|key=z|job=[[Cooking]]
|construction=
1 of
* [[Block]]
* [[Stone]]
* [[Wood]]
|construction_job=
* [[Cooking]]
|use=
* [[Alcohol]]
* [[Meat]]
* [[Fish]]
* [[Flour]]
* [[Food]]
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Dwarven sugar]]
* [[Dwarven syrup]]
* [[Tallow]]
* [[Fat]]
* [[Plant]]s
|production=
* Prepared meal
* [[Tallow]]
}}{{av}}

{{buggy}}

A '''Kitchen''' is a [[workshop]] used by a [[cook]]. The cook uses this [[workshop]] primarily to combine base ingredients ([[meat]], [[plump helmet]]s, etc.) into prepared [[food]]. It is also used to render [[fat]] into [[tallow]].

== Prepared meals ==
On the Kitchen sub-menu of the ({{key|z}})-[[Status#Kitchen Status Screen|Overall Status/Kitchen]] screen, you can specify which foods kitchens are allowed to cook. (This is a universal control, and cannot be refined to one or more specific kitchen workshops or [[cook]]s.)

There are three grades of meals you can prepare at a kitchen:

* '''Easy''' (biscuit) requires two cookable items.
* '''Fine''' (stew) requires three cookable items.
* '''Lavish''' (roast) requires four cookable items.

The items to be cooked do not have to be different kinds of food: for instance, a cook might combine two plump helmet spawn into a single stack of two "plump helmet spawn biscuits", or four separate spawn into a single stack of four "plump helmet spawn roasts".  The amount of food produced always equals the total number of food items used.  

If large stacks of food are used as the ingredients, a large stack of meals will be produced.  For example, 22 "cave fish roasts" could be created from "minced cave fish [5], minced [[turtle]], minced [[dwarven wine]] [14], and minced turtle [2]". 

Cooking foods destroys any byproducts such as [[seed]]s, [[shell]]s, or [[bone]]s - none are left, not after cooking, not after eating.  This makes them ideal for placement in dining rooms located far away from your main population because food and refuse haulers will not have to trek long distances to retrieve the seeds or bones left after a meal, and a single enormous meal stack can feed several dwarves for a year or more

===Stockpiles===
A [[food]] [[stockpile]] can be customized to accept prepared meals, or only prepared meals, by using the {{k|u}} key within that stockpile.  A stockpile that accepts prepared meals does not filter based on what ingredients were used - a prepared meal is simply a prepared meal, end of discussion.  This can be toggled either on an existing stockpile by {{k|q}}uerying it and then using the {{k|s}} option to change it, or when creating a custom stockpile using {{k|p}} and then {{k|t}}.  If all foods are {{k|b}}locked and prepared foods are allowed, ''only'' prepared foods will be placed in that stockpile.

[[Barrel]]s can only hold a max of 10 items - stacks of prepared food that are larger than 10 will not fit in barrels, and will be placed individually on stockpile tiles.  This may leave them more vulnerable to [[vermin]], but can actually create denser stockpiles in terms of meals/tile.  Meals that are not in barrels do not seem to rot any faster.

Many players put their prepared foods stockpiles near [[dining room]]s, to reduce the travel time for dwarves that are [[Labor#Get back to work|eating]].

===Rotting===

A big problem with prepared meals is that if they are not stored in a stockpile (with or without a barrel) they will rot much faster than other [[food|foodstuffs]]. This will occur right there in the kitchen, effectively rendering their preparation a waste of time and resources and creating a large cloud of [[miasma]].  

Ensuring that you have enough food [[haul]]ers and open stockpiles that accept prepared food is the only way to prevent this.

===Value of a prepared meal===

Regardless of the type of meal you produce, a stack of prepared meals has a base value of 10 for each meal in the stack, multiplied by the quality rating of the preparation quality. As a result, the final value of a stack of meals is highly variable because it is so strongly influenced by the value and preparation quality of the ingredients.  The value added by the overall preparation can be a small fraction of the total value of the meal when expensive ingredients go into the meal.  [[Meat]] from animals with high [[animal material multiplier|MODVALUE]], processed plants that generate large stacks, or luxury food items like [[cheese]] are all ingredients that can cause a stack of prepared meals to have a surprisingly high value.

====Some examples:====

'''≡Dwarven wheat flour roast [33]≡'''

:This is a stack of 33 finely-prepared dwarven wheat flour roast. The ingredients are exceptionally minced plump helmet, well-minced deer meat, superiorly minced quarry bush leaves and minced dwarven wheat flour.

:Total value: 3102☼

:10 (prepared meal)               * 3 (fine)        == 30<br />
:2 (plant) * 2 ([[plump helmet]]) * 5 (exceptional) == 20<br />
:2 (meat) * 1 ([[deer]])          * 2 (well-made)   ==  4<br />
:5 ([[quarry bush leaves]])       * 4 (superior)    == 20<br />
:20 ([[dwarven wheat flour]])     * 1 (no label)    == 20<br />
:Subtotal (value of one serving): 94☼

:94 (value) * 33 (quantity) == 3102☼

'''*Dragon meat stew [41]*''' 

:This is a stack of 41 well-prepared dragon meat stew. The ingredients are finely-minced dwarven syrup, minced quarry bush leaves and well-minced dragon meat.

:Total value: 11685☼

:10 (prepared meal)         * 2 (well)     ==  20<br />
:20 ([[dwarven syrup]])     * 3 (fine)     ==  60<br />
:5 ([[quarry bush leaves]]) * 1 (no label) ==   5<br />
:2 (meat) * 50 ([[dragon]]) * 2 (well)     == 200<br />
:Subtotal (value of one serving): 285☼

:285 (value) * 41 (quantity) == 11685☼

==Bugs==
Prepared meals do not actually take their ingredients into account when determining their value, as they do in later versions. The following patch for version 0.23.130.23a fixes this:
{{spoil small|<nowiki>0x35D44C : 90 66 5E -> E0 29 5F</nowiki>|Binary Patch Enclosed}}

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'''See also:'''
*[[Food]]
*[[Meat industry]]
*[[Cook]]
*[[Overall Status|z-Status Menu]]

{{Workshops}}