Woodcutting, Tanning, Cooking | Crafting TES V: Skyrim Guide
Last update: 05 December 2019
This page of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim guide describes the less developed crafting fields in the game. Namely logging, tanning, cooking. In our tutorial, we explain their basic principles and suggest where they can be used.
Woodcutting
Woodcutting is not a type of activity you can profit from, so you should treat it only as a possibility and certainly not as a necessity. If you want to try your chances as a woodcutter, then you must begin by visiting one of the sawmills found in Skyrim. Once you've arrived at the sawmill find a woodcutter's axe, pick it up and activate it from your inventory. The next step is to interact with a chopping block (as seen on the screen above). This should force the main character to automatically start chopping wood. You can sell the materials obtained using this crafting activity, but don't count on receiving a lot of gold for them.
Tanning
Tanning allows you to convert animal hides into leather and leather into leather strips. All the objects received in this crafting activity are used in smithing. This means you shouldn't ignore tanning if you seriously think about improving your smithing abilities and don't want to waste time or spend money on leather objects. Tanning racks (as the one seen on the screen above) are used for the purpose of this crafting activity. They're usually found where blacksmiths work and one of the racks is located in Riverwood. Check the table seen below for a complete list of activities available after interacting with a tanning rack.
CRAFTED ITEM | REQUIRED MATERIALS |
Leather strips (4) | 1x leather |
Leather | 1x fox pelt |
Leather | 1x ice wolf pelt |
Leather | 1x snow fox pelt |
Leather | 1x wolf pelt |
Leather | 2x goat hide |
Leather (2) | 1x deer hide |
Leather (2) | 1x elk hide |
Leather (3) | 1x cow hide |
Leather (3) | 1x horse hide |
Leather (4) | 1x bear pelt |
Leather (4) | 1x cave bear pelt |
Leather (4) | 1x sabre cat pelt |
Leather (4) | 1x snow bear pelt |
Leather (4) | 1x snow sabre cat pelt |
Cooking
Cooking isn't exactly the best way to spend your time in Skyrim. The main reason for that is because most meals offer a very small bonus to health, mana or stamina and this means they're much worse than standard potions, not to mention their best variations. Only a couple of meals offer a larger bonus and are more helpful, however even in this case you shouldn't be spending too much time preparing them, because doing this doesn't allow you to improve any of your skills. If you're desperate and want to become a cook at all cost, then you should visit a kitchen, preferably in a public place and not in someone else's home. Once you're inside the kitchen interact with a cooking pot (as the one seen on the screen above). Check the table seen below for a complete list of meals, stews and soups. It's worth mentioning that almost all ingredients needed for cooking can be obtained by killing wild animals, stealing from kitchens and purchasing items from merchants that specialize in selling food and drinks.
MEAL | INGREDIENTS | EFFECTS | COMMENTS |
Apple Cabbage Stew
| 1x red apple 1x cabbage 1x salt pile | Restoring 15 stamina points and 10 health points. | - |
Beef Stew | 1x garlic 1x carrot 1x salt pile 1x raw beef | Increasing stamina by 25 points for 720 seconds. Regenerating 2 stamina points per second (the effect lasts 720 seconds). | This is an interesting meal if you're playing as a warrior and often like to perform power attacks. |
Cabbage Potato Soup
| 1x cabbage 1x leek 1x salt pile 1x potato | Restoring 10 health and stamina points.
| - |
Cooked Beef | 1x salt pile 1x raw beef | Restoring 10 health points. | - |
Elsweyr Fondue | 1x eidar cheese wheel 1x moon sugar 1x ale | Increasing mana by 100 points and improving mana regeneration by 25% (both effects last 720 seconds).
| This is the best meal you can cook and it's useful to mages for obvious reasons. Moon sugar is a rare alchemy ingredient and you'll also probably have to spend some time looking for the eidar cheese. |
Grilled Chicken Breast | 1x chicken breast 1x salt pile | Restoring 5 health points. | - |
Horker Loaf
| 1x horker meat 1x salt pile | Restoring 10 health points. | Horkers are found mostly in northern Skyrim, close to the shore. |
Horker Stew | 1x garlic 1x lavender 1x horker meat 1x tomato | Restoring 15 health and stamina points. Regenerating 1 health point per second (the effect lasts 720 seconds). | This is an interesting meal if you're playing as a warrior, because you'll use the bonuses to health and stamina. Horkers are found mostly in northern Skyrim, close to the shore. |
Horse Haunch
| 1x horse meat 1x salt pile | Restoring 10 health points. | Make sure to check if the horse you want to kill doesn't belong to someone else, because it may be treated as a crime. |
Leg of Goat Roast | 1x leg of goat 1x salt pile | Restoring 10 health points. | - |
Mammoth Steak
| 1x salt pile 1x mammoth snout | Restoring 10 health points.
| If you don't want to engage in any fights you can look around for dead mammoths or only for their snouts. |
Pheasant Roast | 1x pheasant breast 1x salt pile | Restoring 5 health points. | - |
Rabbit Haunch | 1x salt pile 1x raw rabbit leg | Restoring 5 health points. | - |
Salmon Steak | 1x salmon 1x salt pile | Restoring 5 health points. | - |
Tomato Soup | 1x garlic 1x potato 1x leek 1x salt pile | Restoring 10 health and stamina points.
| - |
Vegetable Soup | 1x cabbage 1x tomato 1x leek 1x potato | Regenerating 1 health point and 1 stamina point per second (both effects last 720 seconds). | This is an interesting meal if you're playing as a warrior, because you'll use the bonuses to health and stamina. |
Venison Chop
| 1x salt pile 1x venison | Restoring 5 health points. | - |
Venison Stew | 1x venison 1x leek 1x salt pile 1x potato | Restoring 15 stamina points. Regenerating 1 health point and 1 stamina point per second (both effects last 720 seconds). | This is an interesting meal if you're playing as a warrior, because you'll use the bonuses to health and stamina. |