Cooking
Most fish can be cooked. You will need to know how to cook, and have sufficiently high cooking skill to learn the recipe. To cook, you will need to stood next to a cooking fire (including many braziers in towns and cities). Almost all cooking recipes can be purchased from vendors. If you are training your fishing skill, it is highly recommended that you train cooking at the same time.
While tasty, the majority of cooked fish only recover health when eaten. Consequently they have no special value, and should not be auctioned.
Some cooked fish gives a "buff", such as improvements to attributes, or health or mana regeneration. Many of these dishes are highly valued. Catching, cooking, and selling them at the auction house is often the best way to make gold from fishing.
The prices listed here are for single fish. It is common to sell fish in stacks of 5, 10 or 20. Raw fish may also sell, particularly where the cooking recipe is rare, as is the case for Savory Deviate Delight. Most people prefer to buy cooked fish.
High Value Buff Food
These cooked fish are often eaten, particularly by those venturing into the most difficult dungeons. Expect these fish to sell very well.
| Fish | Cooked Food | Minimum Level (to eat) | Buff | Duration (minutes) | Median Auction Value (cooked) | Catching | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Deviate Fish | Savory Deviate Delight | - | Pirate or Ninja | 60 | 70s | Where to catch » |
 | Figluster's Mudfish | Grilled Mudfish | 55 | +20 Agility, +20 Spirit | 30 | 80s | Where to catch » |
 | Furious Crawdad | Spicy Crawdad | 55 | +30 Stamina, +20 Spirit | 30 | 1g 20s | Where to catch » |
 | Golden Darter | Golden Fish Sticks | 55 | +44 Healing, +20 Spirit | 30 | 1g 25s | Where to catch » |
 | Huge Spotted Feltail | Fisherman's Feast | 65 | +30 Stamina, +20 Spirit | 30 | 1g 20s [a] | Where to catch » |
 | Icefin Bluefish | Poached Bluefish | 55 | +23 Spell Damage, +23 Spirit | 30 | 90s | Where to catch » |
 | Zangarian Sporefish | Blackened Sporefish | 55 | +20 Stamina, +8 Mana/5 seconds | 30 | 90s | Where to catch » |
- [a] One Huge Spotted Feltail creates 6 Fisherman's Feast ((since patch 2.3)) - it is huge, after all. Most other fish provide single servings. The value of a single Huge Spotted Feltail is therefore effectively over 5g.
- Median auction values are based on Wowecon prices for the cooked food. Prices are for single fish. Use these as a guide only - actual prices will vary.
Lower Value Buff Food
Not all anglers can catch the most valuable fish. And some other fish you catch will still have value. The table below lists lower value fish that give a buff when cooked. These tasty meals are not guaranteed to sell, but may still make the angler a respectable income. All the fish shown here were listed on Wowecon for between 10 and 50 silver each, cooked.
| Fish | Cooked Food | Minimum Level (to eat) | Buff | Duration (minutes) | Median Auction Value (cooked) | Catching | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bloodfin Catfish | Broiled Bloodfin | 55 | +8 Resistance [b] | 30 | ? | Where to catch » |
 | Crescent-Tail Skullfish | Skullfish Soup | 65 | +20 Spell Critical Strike Rating, +20 Spirit | 30 | 1g [c] | Where to catch » |
 | Enormous Barbed Gill Trout | Enormous Barbed Gill Trout | 65 | [d] | - | 40s | Where to catch » |
 | Lightning Eel | Stormchops | 55 | Zap lighting | 30 | ? [e] | Where to catch » |
 | Raw Greater Sagefish | Sagefish Delight | 30 | 6 Mana/5 seconds | 15 | 10s | Where to catch » |
| Raw Nightfin Snapper | Nightfin Soup | 35 | 8 Mana/5 seconds | 10 | 10s | Where to catch » |
| Spotted Feltail | Feltail Delight | 55 | +20 Stamina, +20 Spirit | 30 | 30s | Where to catch » |
 | Winter Squid | Grilled Squid | 35 | +10 Agility | 10 | 25s | Where to catch » |
- [b] Broiled Bloodfin buff is now +8 resistance to all schools of magic ((altered from +20 Stamina and Spirit by patch 2.4)).
- [c] Skullfish Soup rarely sells. It is also rarely sold. But when it does sell, it can still fetch a high price.
- [d] Hot Buttered Trout gives no buff, but does restore 7500 health and 7200 mana, so can still attract a high price.
- [e] Stormchops may be sold for more than 1 gold each. However, demand is very low, so often Stormchops simply do not sell. The Stormchops recipe is very rare - typically one must complete the daily cooking quest for a month to gain the recipe. Lightning Eel are also used for Argent Dawn quests, so may sell uncooked.
These are not the only fish that give buffs when eaten. A full list of all fish-based food that gives a buff can be found in the Fish Finder. This includes some fish-based buff food that may still be of use to lower-level anglers, but is unlikely to sell at auction.
Learn More
- Catching Deviate Fish - How to catch Deviate Fish, which may be cooked to make Savory Deviate Delight.
- Catching Furious Crawdad and Mr. Pinchy - How to catch Furious Crawdad, and Mr. Pinchy, who may grant you a rare Magical Crawdad pet (The Burning Crusade only).
- Catching Winter Squid - This topic explains the best place and time to catch Winter Squid.
- Also in the Valuable Fish chapter: What's Valuable?, Supplies, Gear, Minipets, and Other Valuable Fished Items.
