Recipe ratings (4 hours)

Information in this post is correct as of Saturday 7th June 2014.

In the latest recipe ratings instalment, we take a look at the 4 hour recipes.

Following the addition of the Crab Cakes this week, there are a total of 53 dishes in the game of 4 hour duration. It is the most common recipe length of all, with 49 of said dishes still available. However there are 22 of the 4 hour recipes which are only accessible if you've completed goals or purchased seasonal appliances which are no longer around.

 Previous recipe rating posts

 24/05/14 3 hours
 10/05/14 2 hours
 26/04/14 1 hour

With lots of competition for the Hall of Fame spot, let's make a start...

A newbie to the 4 hour club is the Dragon Nachos (Basic Stove), having been added in April. It's specialist subject is XP gain:

Dragon Nachos
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
7	10	6	10	4	7.9

The 99 XP for serving up this dish is the highest in the duration, ahead of the Garlic Noodles (Basic Stove). Indeed, to earn more XP on a per hour basis you have to shift down to shorter recipes. So if you want to march up the XP ladder as quickly as possible without being in front of the game all day, then I recommend popping on the nachos. A lot depends on your lifestyle, but you should be able to comfortably cook three batches a day without any edginess, while a fourth batch could even be possible. Unless you only sleep for four hours at a time, then I suggest setting a longer dish through the night which gives more XP.

The downside to the XP rush offered by the Dragon Nachos is that it isn't available until level 69. The aforementioned Garlic Noodles suffer similarly with unlock at level 57. This is a problem for all of the highest XP earners of 4 hour length, so much so that the best I can really suggest is aiming for the Strawberry Malt (Malted Shake Maker) which comes alive at level 40. But all in all the lower level 4 hour recipes are best avoided from an XP standpoint.

In contrast, when it comes to portions the Baked Scallops (Basic Oven) is a contender, despite being one of the initial Basic Oven dishes at level 5:

Baked Scallops
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
2	4	7	1	10	3.9

It's very rare to see such a low level recipe perform so well in one of the major factors, and its particularly useful that it's the portions variable it excels in. We've all had the predicament when first starting out where we can't keep food on counters and the customers get grumpy. The scallops are a nice option for countering this.

Clearly the rest of the Baked Scallops numbers are poor, whereas the two recipes which outperform it on portions are also strong elsewhere. First there's the Quesadilla (Basic Stove):

Quesadilla
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
6	7	10	4	6	6.9

The 1,650 portions make this the leader in that particular category, and all round it's a steady recipe. But that's all really, because overall it lags well behind the Dragon Nachos from earlier, as well as the second best portions food:

Smores
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
10	7	8	10	3	8.4

The Smores (Basic Oven) is the chart topper regarding profit, and by some margin. Yielding 3,700 coins profit for every batch, it is a stunning moneymaker. To make more profit per hour requires a step down to the really short recipes, and of course we can't sit and serve French Toast all day and night! The XP and portion stats are decent as well, although this is the very last dish to be unlocked in the game (for now!) at level 75, so is relatively inaccessible.

Nevertheless, it has beaten the Dragon Nachos for overall rating - are there any other candidates which could better it? The answer is no! Outside of those recipes already discussed, the best are the Smoked Turkey Leg (Basic Oven) and Smoked Salmon Potato (Basic Oven), but they can only match the Garlic Noodles' rating of 7.4.

So we have a victor! The Smores and it's sensational profit power is the latest inductee to the Recipe Hall of Fame.