Since Raprot has started a tradeskill recipe book and guide thingy, I'll add my two cents. Recently I have really been focusing on cooking, and there are some very good reasons why you should too...

Why do I want to cook?


The smithing, bonecraft, and clothing guilds all have their places, but they don't really provide you with what you need to really start using them right off the bat. Decent armor and equipment are typically very high level, and require expensive materials that you probably can't farm at the low job levels when you actually need them. They also don't really start earning you money until you get fairly high in them and can start getting exceptional results.



Alchemy can earn money right off the bat, and can allow you to make items for your own personal use, but Alchemy can be expensive.



Cooking on the other hand is cheap to do, usually the items you'll need can be purchased very inexpensively from local NPCs or farmed from easy mobs near your home town. It's also something that can make you items that you will need for the entire game, so it's a great way to suppliment your character's growth. It's also something you can eventually pull a profit on.



The basics


First of all, some ground rules:

• #1 : Try to have synth support from the guild. As you get higher, it will become less and less convenient to return to Windhurst for the support, but still try for it. Synth support tends to make things go more smoothly.
• #2 : Always buy from vendors unless you know specifically where to farm the items. Become intimatelyt familier with the various merchants guides out there. They will be your life-saver.
• #3 : Be prepared to lose money at first, but you will be making items to either sell back to NPC or use yourself.

When and how to use Crystals



Generally speaking, there are going to be two times you will want to be crafting, depending upon what you are trying for:

• Maximum Skillups
  
  As you are levelling cooking you want to optimize the time you spend. This means you want to synth crystals on days and times appropriate to them for maximum skillups.
  
  
  
  Generally speaking, cooking on the iceday and lightsday work well for maximizing skillups in cooking. That being said, if you understand a bit of theory, you can make your skillups that much more effective. I suggest that you read this and use the Crafting Time Calculator to really maximize your skillups as you level.
  
• HQ/Exceptional items
  
  To make exceptional (+1) items, craft on the day opposite to your crystal's element, the day before your crystals element or on Darksday. This will lower your success if you are trying for skillups, but will increase your exceptional likelihood. Thus, you do not want to try to skill up on these days. Use these days as the best time to make HQ/exceptional items.
  
  
  
  For example, Fire Crystal used on Watersday or Darksday will give you more breaks, but will increase your chance of getting exceptional results.
  
  
  
  You can see from my document "Elementary Dear Watson" the elemental wheel to determine when these days will be, or you can use this handy dandy elemental chart (taken from Belot's Cooking Guide):

  Crystal	---->	Day
  Water	---->	Firesday
  Wind	---->	Earthsday
  Lightning	--->	Watersday
  Ice	---->	Windsday
  Fire	---->	Iceday
  Earth	---->	Lightningday
  Dark	---->	Lightday
  Light	---->	Darksday

Cooking Recipe List and Food Effect Guide


When levelling cooking (or any skill) be sure to have a printed copy of that guild's recipe list. Don't rely on one in a book or strategy guide as the recipes are constantly being updated or added to. Instead, get it from someplace like this as it will be fairly dynamic and up to date.



Also, you may want to have a food effect guide with you so you can see what each food you are making does and whether or not you want to keep it. For example, early on you will be making Apple Juice. Apple Juice does not stack and does not sell for very much, however, it gives the effect of MP refresh, making it perfect for getting your mage jobs to level 10. My favorite food effect guide can be found here but there is another pretty decent (if outdated) one here.



The Guide


Okay, we've seen the basics and have a pretty good idea of what we're doing, so let's get to it!

• Level 0-2.5 (roughly) : Carrot Broth (1 Water Crystal + 4 Sandorian Carrots)
  
  Buy carrots from vendor in Sandy (if you can) and make Carrot Broth. Unless your BST is high enough to use these, just sell them to an NPC (you wont make any money from these at the AH or from NPC, so don't waste your time trying to sell them anywhere else).
• Level 2.5-9 : Orange Juice (1 Water Crystal + 4 Sauruta Oranges)
  
  You will fail at this one, but you will level very quickly. Buy Oranges from Baehu-Faehu, an NPC standing across from the W.W. in Windy Waters (he sells them the cheapest). These do MP refresh (very slowly) and you could use them to level your mages to 8 or so (or, you can sub WHM or BLM and use these to level your other jobs to 7 or so- WHM to cure yourself, BLM to nuke mobs).
• Level 9-10.7 : Sliced Sardines (1 Wind Crystal + 1 Bastore Sardine)
  
  Okay, I actually skipped this one myself, and you can too. My wind crystals were too precious to me to waste on sliced sardines that were otherwise useless to me. However, so many people recommend doing this that I'm including it for completeness.
• Level 10.7 - 19 : Apple Juice (1 Water Crystal + 4 Faerie Apples)
  
  Here is someplace I disagree with many others out there. Many people say do Selbina Butter (1 Ice Crystal, 1 Rock Salt, and 1 Selbina Milk) as it technically costs less, however the Selbina Butter is useless unless you are going to be cooking Popotos or something later on (and we wont be). The Apple Juice is a better MP refresh than the Orange Juice, so use it to level any mage jobs you may have less (or, take them with you to the Dunes and give to the mages in your parties... They will be your friends for life).
• Level 19-26 : Insect Balls (1 Earth Crystal + 1 Millicorn + 1 Distilled Water + 1 Litte Worm)
  
  The first time I heard someone synthing these I just about died laughing... Ahem... Anyway, the materials to make these can be bought really cheap. Here is where you should be able to start turning a profit. Synth these and sell them to your local fishermen (a mule nearby hot fishing spots around town can really help).
• MILESTONE : Level 22 Roast Pipira (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Rock Salt + Pipira)
  
  I actually leveled on this food, but I wouldn't recommend you do the same. I mention it because at this point you should be able to start making money. DEX +3, Attack +14%, Ranged Attack +20% and Ranged Accuracy boost make this a great food for Samurais, Thieves, and Rangers. You should be able to make these for 6000-7000 gil, and sell for 10k at least.
• Level 26-30 : Pineapple Juice (1 Water Crystal + 2 Kazham Pineapples)
  
  If you already have the water crystals, head to Kazham and buy the Pineapples from the NPC on the dock near the Airship ramp. You should be able to buy the Pineapples for around 57 gil each, and sell the Juice for at least 400 gil. This means you should be making at least 250 gil profit on each one. Or, if you are levelling a mage, use these for MP regen.
• Level 26-30 Alternate : Sardine Balls (1 Earth Crystal + 1 Distilled Water + 1 Bastore Sardine + 1 Horo Flour)
  
  Not as cheap or as profitable, but if you are also a fisherman, then you may wish to consider synthing Sadrine Balls for salt-water fishing.
• MILESTONE: Level 29 Dhalmel Steak (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Black Pepper + 1 Olive Oil + 1 Dhalmel Meat)
  
  Among the new defacto standard for general Melee attack foods. This powerhouse is geared for those in the 121-204 base attack range and lasts for 3 hours.
• Level 30-34 : Meatballs (1 Earth Crystal + 1 Hare Meat + 1 Distilled Water + 1 San d'Orian Flour)
  
  Again, not much profit here, but excellent for fishing. Because this uses Earth Crystals, this will be the cheapest way to level to 34.
• Level 32-38 : Pet Food Delta (1 Earth Crystal + 1 Land Crab Meat + 1 Bird Egg + 1 Rye Flour +1 Distilled Water)
  
  This stuff is fairly cheap to make provided you buy the Rye Flour from an NPC. It will also be profitable if you sell it someplace that Beastmasters level (like Bastok near Korr. Tunnel, or Raboa near Quicksand Caves and Alteppa). The problem is it sells very slowly.
• MILESTONE: Level 38 Meat Mithkabobs (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Kazham Peppers + 1 Cockatrice Meat + 1 Mhaura Garlic +1 Wild Onion)
  
  Some people say level on this, but please don't! The items to make them are so expensive, why waste money on so many breaks? It used to be this was the holy grail of cooking as it was where you would suddenly become very profitable, but everything changed with the Dec.2004 food patch. Mithkabobs still sell pretty well, and you can pull a profit, but don't think you will be rolling in the doough from them like you used to be able to.
• Level 38-40 : Melon Juice (1 Water Crystal + 1 Watermelon + 1 Thundermelon)
  
  These ingredients can be found pretty cheaply, and you can get yourself to level 40 (where you need to take the next test). If you have a mage, these some of the best MP regen items on the market, so use them well. Otherwise, they sell pretty slowly and not for much profit. Mule them if you can.
• Level 40-42 : Tomato Juice (1 Water Crystal + 1 Rock Salt + 3 Mithran Tomato)
  
  It's so nice to level with Water Crystals, isn't it? Anyway, these are REALLY cheaply made, but sell worth crap (why they are worse than Melon Juice for MP regen and yet are higher to cook is beyond me). Sell them to an NPC to almost break even, or use them yourself for farming (with a mage main or sub).
• Level 43-47 : Apple Pie (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Pie Dough + 1 Maple Sugar + 1 Cinnamon + 1 Lizard Egg + 1 Faerie Apple)
  
  Was so nice to level off of Water and Earth crystals, wasn't it? Well, too damned bad. Apple Pies sell reasonably well, and you should pull a slight profit here provided you farm/grow your own Fire Crystals. If you have mage friends, this is a great food to give them. The Lizard Egg can be substituted for Bird Eggs (which actually caps at 50). Use whichever is cheaper.
• Level 47-50 : Grape Juice (1 Dark Crystal + 4 Sand'Orian Grapes)
  
  Technically speaking, you can take Apple Pie all the way to 50 with the Bird Eggs instead of Lizard Eggs. But since the materials used to make Apple Pies are so expensive, you may find it cheaper to just go the Grape Juice route. Dark Clusters should go for around 3.5-4k at the AH, and the Grapes go for 60-70g from the vendor in Sandy or the Guild shop. The switch from Apple Pies to Grape Juice is an iffy one. If the pies are too expensive for you and you aren't earning enough from them to keep making them, switch to the Grape Juice whenever. The Grape Juice doesn't sell well at all, but they are much cheaper to make.
• MILESTONE : Level 49 Fish Mithkabob (1 Fire Crystal + 2 Shall Shell + 1 Nebimonite + 1 Bastore Sardine + 1 Bluetail)
  
  Back when I was young.. i.e., before the Dec. 2004 patch :-P .. the Fish Mithkabob was the defacto standard for tanks. It's pretty much been replaced by a lot of other foods, but since it does cap at 90, you will still find plenty of people to buy it.
• Level 50-53 : Eel Kabob (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Black Eel + 1 Olive Oil)
  
  You may find this route rather expensive (and, if you do, skip directly to the next food), but it will be worth it if you can afford it. Eel Kabob is a great little food item that is hardly ever at the AH, and it's connoisseurs will pay good money for it. It should cost around 10k per stack to make, but you ought to be able to sell it for 15-20k per stack. Or, you can use it yourself. With its DEX and Evasion boosts, it makes a great Ninja food.
• Level 53-55 : Beaugreen Sautee (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Selbina Butter + 1 Beaugreen)
  
  This is unfortunately a dead end. While this is a great little Ranger food (+30 Accuracy), the fact that it is only 30 minutes and can be purchased so cheaply from an NPC means that it sells for a loss. Even still, it is a fairly cheap thing to make.
• Level 55-60 : Yagudo Drink (1 Dark Crystal + 1 Yagudo Cherry + 3 Buburimu Grapes)
  
  Say hello to profit once again! This is a great mage drink and can be made cheaply provided you buy the ingredients from the regional vendors for Kolshushu. If you have to buy the items from the AH, be prepared to lose money.
• Level 60-64 : Colored Egg (1 Fire Crystal + 1 San d'Orian Carrot + 1 Lizard Egg + 1 La Theine Cabbage + 1 Distilled Water)
  
  Levels 60-70 can be a real chore. Everything is Fire or Dark crystals. That being said, the path of least resistance is to make Colored Eggs. They may not sell worth crap, but are excellent solo foods (HP +20, MP +20, Attack +3, Ranged Attack +3). They are, however, the cheapest thing to make. Buy the Carrots and Cabbage from regional vendors.
• MILESTONE : Level 64 Blackened Frog (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Copper Frog + 1 Dried Marjoram + 1 Rock Salt)
  
  Excellent little Ranger food that has a very high (near end-game) skill cap. This is also a food that you will very rarely find at the AH, so sometimes cooking it will be your only option. Technically, you could level off of these, but they can be rather expensive.
• MILESTONE : Level 64 Melon Pie (1 Fire Crystal + 1 Thundermelon + 1 Cinnamon + 1 Bird Egg + 1 Pie Dough + 1 Maple Sugar)
  
  Excellent mage food (especially Black Mages) that can be made from relatively cheap materials. Thundermelons can be purchased from Goblin NPC in Raboa. Technically, you could level off of these, but they are more expensive than the Colored Eggs.
• Level 64-66 : Colored Egg (1 Fire Crystal + 1 San d'Orian Carrot + 1 Bird Egg + 1 La Theine Cabbage + 1 Distilled Water)
  
  After 65, swap out the lizard egg for a bird egg and continue synthing up to 67. Bird Eggs can be purchased even cheaper from NPC vendors in Windy behind the Airship doors (you will need an airship pass to get them). You should be able to buy them for 52gil each.
• ALTERNATIVE Level 64-66 : Raisin Bread (1 Fire Crystal + 1 San d'Orian Grape + 1 San d'Orian Flour + 1 Selbina Butter + 1 Maple Sugar + 1 Rock Salt + 1 Distilled Water)
  
  These are ultimately more expensive to synth than the colored eggs, however there are two very goo reasons to level up on these. The first is that at 70, Raisin Bread will be your level break food, so you will need at least one anyway. The other reason is that Raisin Bread is a Guild Item for the Cooking Guild. So if you are saving up for those precious guild items (Raw Fish Handling is the big one you want right about now) then this will help you. Synthing these mean: 1) You get skill ups, 2) You get Guild Item Points, 3) You get the limit break item for 70.
• Level 66-71 : Pear au Lait (1 Water Crystal + 2 Derfland Pear + 1 Honey + 1 Selbina Milk)
  
  Say hello to cheap synths that pull a profit again! Pear au Lait is one of the best HP regens you will find, and you can sell these for a reasonable markup. They are also another excellent soloing food. Here, everything can be bought from a regional vendor or guild merchant.

More coming soon...