Recipe ratings (1 day)

Information in this post is correct as of Saturday 25th October 2014.

Here it is then, the end of a long and winding road which has seen more than 400 recipes placed under the microscope. There's only one slot in the Hall of Fame remaining, and it will go to the leading all-rounder among the 1 day dishes.

Before we hit the stats, I should point out that the 1 day recipes are actually not that at all - they take 22 hours to prepare, and their 'per hour' numbers used to compare with foods of differing durations are calculated accordingly. The same fate befalls the 2 day dishes, which in reality take 46 hours to brew.

 Recent recipe rating posts

 11/10/14 16 hours
 27/09/14 12 hours
 13/09/14 10 hours
 30/08/14 9 hours
 18/08/14 8 hours

Sticking with the 1 day offerings, there are 23 have found their way into the recipe lists in all. Of these the Gnocchi (Basic Stove) and Mummy Pizza (Basic Oven) have been removed, while the Prime Rib (Basic Oven) is only accessible to players who completed the Christmas goals in 2011. Fortunately none of these three are stellar challengers.

We begin this final ascent with the highly influential profit factor, which is topped by the Stuffed Mushrooms (Basic Stove).

Stuffed Mushrooms
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
10	8	10	7	4	8.8

It may not be unlocked until level 60, but these mushrooms really pack a punch. Only one recipe in the entire game yields more profit for each batch, that being the 2 day Peking Duck (Basic Oven). However when we measure the profit per hour, the mushrooms isn't quite such a stunning operator, with a lot of shorter recipes beating it. Even if you've got limited game time, the Gravlax (Swedish Stove) and Tiramisu (Basic Oven) which are 10 and 12 hours long respectively will give much more profit per hour.

Yet within its own duration, the Stuffed Mushrooms are dominant, with a drop of 2,300 coins profit down to the next best, the Glazed Ham (Basic Oven).

Glazed Ham
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
8	5	5	10	7	6.7

As a result, the Glazed Ham isn't being featured here due to its profit rating. Instead it gets airtime because of the profit per plate on offer. You get 3.97 coins of profit per plate with this recipe, which is significantly higher than all but the Crème Brûlée (Basic Stove) in the duration. This is because these two foods deliver 5 coins per plate, as opposed to the usual 4 coins per plate. They are among only six dishes in Restaurant Story which award more than 4 coins per plate, making them very valuable if you've already got enough food out on counters to cope with demand and want to increase your income.

This quirk to the Glazed Ham prevents it scoring so well on portions, where the Swedish Meatballs (Swedish Stove) take second place to the Stuffed Mushrooms.

Swedish Meatballs
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
8	7	7	7	6	7.3

Not only does the meatballs perform nicely with regards to portions, but it is a steady contender throughout, with an overall rating of 7.3. This is enough to move beyond the Glazed Ham, but not the imperious Stuffed Mushrooms. At least it does unlock sooner though, with the padlock withdrawn on the Swedish Stove at level 44.

The 1 day recipes are once again not too competitive when it comes to working on a per hour basis. Despite being the leader for the 1 day length, the Stuffed Mushrooms sit 156th in the ranking of all dishes for portions per hour. This time the BBQ Chicken (Basic Grill) and Chicken Tenders (Basic Oven) are the go-to recipes of longer duration for those with busy lives.

The only major variable yet to be investigated is the XP gain. Could this tip the balance? Well the food trying to pip the Stuffed Mushrooms to the overall top spot is the Classic Meatloaf (Basic Oven) with a seismic 294 XP.

Classic Meatloaf
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
7	10	7	7	5	7.8

This is way ahead of any other 1 day dish, and is actually more than three of the five 2 day recipes give despite taking half the time to cook. But like with profit and portions, there are loads of shorter length foods with a healthier XP per hour. This time the optimum options for those who can't access the game regularly are the Haddock (Fish Stand) and Stuffed Lamb (Basic Oven), both of which are 10 hour efforts.

And just to rub salt in the wounds of the meatloaf, it hasn't done enough in the other factors to rate higher than the Stuffed Mushrooms. However the consolation is that it does capture the silver medal for second best.

So we have a victor! The Stuffed Mushrooms is the top all-round recipe of 1 day duration, and consequently fills the final place in the Recipe Hall of Fame.

Before I call it a day, let me explain why the 2 day dishes aren't getting a thorough analysis. There are only five of them, so much like the very short lengths (such as 30 minutes) there isn't the range of data available to produce an accurate comparison. But I will state that the Peking Duck is the runaway pick of the 2 day candidates across profit, portions and XP gain. However the Roast Chicken's 8 coins per plate make it very attractive for the same reasons outlined earlier on for the Glazed Ham and Crème Brûlée.

It's scary to think that the recipe ratings were introduced way back in April, and that we've only just now reached the conclusion of the analysis. I've got plans to post some more recipe statistic based stuff in the future, including details of why I'm running a cycle of Roast Chicken and Biscuits and Gravy in my restaurant at the moment! But with the busiest time of the year now upon us, this can wait until after the New Year. That's it folks!