Introducing recipe ratings!

As regular readers will know, whenever new recipes are released, I tend to provide a commentary on their statistics before drawing some kind of conclusion about whether the dish is any good. Quite often these days this involves me descending into some superficial waffle for a few paragraphs before announcing that 'we've got a dud'.

So to provide some sharper analysis (and some sanity) to proceedings I've devised a method of giving a recipe a rating from 1 to 10. There are five contributing factors to this rating, each of which have a different level of influence on the overall rating. The following pie chart should give an idea of what I'm getting at:

So profit, XP gain and portions remain integral to the judgement of a recipe, but the profit per plate and availability of a dish are now also considered, albeit with less of a say. The credit for the profit per plate variable goes to frequent contributor Makandriaco Todd, who convinced me that this is a more useful indicator than coins per plate, which I had previously used. Let's take a look at each of these factors in turn, and I'll try to explain how I calculate a relative rating for it...

 Profit (35%)

The profit of a recipe is the difference between the income it generates and the cost to prepare it.

The reason I give profit the greatest influence on the overall quality of a recipe is that it is something we all need. As long as you are playing the game there is a need for coins, whether it is to pay for new decorations or to expand the restaurant.

To calculate profit ratings, take the difference of the highest and lowest yielding profit recipes of the duration in question and divide by 10. Subtracting the resulting number from the highest profit value 10 times gives 10 equal intervals, each of which is represented by a rating from 1 to 10, with 10 being for the highest interval and 1 for the lowest interval.

 XP gain (30%)

The XP gain of a recipe is the number of XP given when it is served.

Coming in a close second, XP gain is another very important statistic. We need the XP to level up, and thus gain access to better recipes and more decorations. It is given a little less clout than profit because it becomes largely irrelevant once a player reaches level 99. Plus purchases of decorations provide an alternative source of XP.

To calculate XP gain ratings, use exactly the same method as for profit.

 Portions (20%)

The portions of a recipe is the number of individual plates of the recipe placed on a counter when it is served.

I've always overplayed portions. This factor is only really important when you haven't got the volume of appliances necessary to keep your counters stocked all the time. There is definitely a level threshold above which it becomes easy to maintain food on counters, and it is then that portions becomes an obsolete figure.

To calculate portions ratings, use exactly the same method as for profit and XP gain.

 Profit per plate (10%)

The profit per plate of a recipe is the profit earned from one customer eating one plate of the recipe.

The profit per plate of recipes is not shown on the recipe lists in-game, but is available on my online recipe list. This is a minor variable, but is worth considering. In contrast to portions, it is significant to those players who have colossal amounts of food stocked, as mountains of food obviously won't disappear quickly. So to make up for the potential coins stagnating on the counters, we can cook a dish with a high profit per plate. We won't sell it quickly because there's so many other foods out there, but the few plates which are sold in the short term will earn back more of the coins spent cooking it.

It's worth pointing out that the variance of profit per plate for each duration is quite low, so often there will be a large number of dishes with a rating of 10, with only one or two lagging behind and thus getting a rating of 1.

To calculate profit per plate ratings, use exactly the same method as for the previous three factors.

 Availability (5%)

The availability of a recipe relates to the level at which the recipe is unlocked.

Of course once you get above level 75, every recipe is readily available and this factor is pointless, which is why it gets only a 5% share of the overall rating. But it's still worthy of some consideration for the sake of the many who are climbing the level ladder, since if we have two recipes which are identical in every way except their availability, clearly the one with the lower level of unlock is superior.

To calculate availability ratings is much simpler, with a sliding scale used. If the level of unlock is between 1 and 9, then a rating of 10 is given, if the level of unlock is between 10 and 19, then a rating of 9 is given, and so on down to a rating of 1 if the level of unlock is between 90 and 99.

If the recipe in question has been removed, it gets an availability rating of 1, while those dishes which were unlockable in goals get an availability rating of 5. The exception here are the Gran-Gran goal recipes, which have an availability rating of 9 since those goals never expire and they can be unlocked quite easily.


Once all five of these factors have been obtained, we then take the average, weighted as shown in the previous pie chart. This gives an all round score to indicate the overall quality of a recipe.

Over time the rating of a recipe can change. This is because if we get a new highest or lowest yielding dish across any of the first four factors then the difference between the highest and lowest figures for that factor(s) is altered, and consequently the intervals between rating values is changed.

Now if you've switched off (how could you!) or are simply not interested in any of the mechanics behind my calculations then don't worry, because I will always post the ratings for a new recipe when it is released. Here's an example of how I'll display the ratings:

Escargots with Lamb
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
9	10	7	10	5	8.8

So the Escargot with Lamb scores superbly for profit, XP gain and profit per plate. The high scores for the first two components play a crucial role in getting this recipe a really high overall rating. It's also fairly strong on portions, with availability the only one it doesn't rate particularly well in. However because this last factor has minimal influence, the overall rating isn't affected much.

It's important to note that recipe ratings should only be compared between dishes in the same duration bracket. To show why this is the case, consider the Escargots with Lamb. It is a very strong recipe among it's fellow 8 hour dishes, but if you were to cook any number of 1 hour recipes eight times you'd get more back across the board, regardless of the ratings for that dish! So be warned!

Over the next few weeks and months, I'm going to write a feature on each duration of recipe, probably two at a time. We'll have a detailed look at which dishes are the best to cook depending on what factor you want to maximise, and with the fancy new recipe ratings will induct the best all-rounders into the Recipe Hall of Fame!

In the mean time, feel free to head over to my recipe list which now includes a tab dedicated to the recipe ratings.