Cooking game tips: how to get three stars every time

How a dish is graded

Every dish in Copper Pot Kitchen is a short run of steps, and each step gets one of four grades. Behind the scenes, each grade is worth a number:

When the last step is done, the game averages those numbers. An average of 85% or more is three stars. From 60% up to 85% is two stars. Anything lower is one star. That's the whole system.

What the 85% rule really means

Here's the surprise: a dish where every step is Great is only 80%, which is two stars. Greats on their own are never enough. You need some Perfects in the mix.

• Four steps, two Perfect and two Great: 90%, three stars.
• Four steps, three Perfect and one Good: about 89%, still three stars.
• Four steps, three Perfect and one Oops: 80%, two stars.
• Six steps, five Perfect and one Oops: about 87%, three stars.

So one Oops costs you the third star on a short dish, but a long recipe can absorb it if the rest is clean. A single Good is usually fine. The step that ruins a dish is the one you rush.

If every step comes out Perfect, it's a golden dish, with a gold reveal and a gold stamp in your recipe journal. Short recipes are the easiest ones to turn gold.

Slow down, because you can

This is the most useful thing to know about a shift. The guest you're cooking for doesn't lose any patience while you cook, and everyone else at the counter loses it at about half speed. So once a dish has started, there's very little reason to hurry the steps. Be quick between dishes, choosing the next guest and clearing plates, and careful during them.

Tap the counter (or press Space) to start on whoever is closest to leaving. That keeps walkouts down without you scanning every patience bar.

Step by step: where Perfects come from

Copper Pot has 19 kinds of step. These are the ones that cost players the most stars, and what works for us.

• Hold steps (sear, toast, blend, steam milk). Watch the gauge, not the food. The green zone moves a little from dish to dish, so don't count in your head. The gauge glows when you're in the green.
• Timer steps (bake, fry, grill, boil, simmer). The arrow moves on its own. Tap when it's in the green, not when it's about to be.
• Stir. Smooth, medium circles beat fast spinning. Keep the speed bar in the green. Blue means go a bit faster, orange means a bit slower.
• Pour, ladle, scoop and pipe. The flow keeps going for a moment after you let go, so release a hair before the line.
• Crack. A quick, confident flick onto the rim, not a slow push and not a slam. Watch where the white arrow lands on the meter and adjust next time.
• Toss and catch. Start moving the pan the moment the pancake leaves it. The dashed landing ring tells you exactly where to go.
• Roll up. Swipe up slowly for sushi, burritos and pastry. Rushing it is what costs you here.
• Roll out. Lift your finger when the dough fills the dotted circle and it turns green. Keep going and it gets too thin.

On a computer every step also works with the keyboard, but keyboard steps are all about timing and are never easier than using a finger or the mouse.

Make the green zones bigger

Most timing steps have a window for Perfect, a window twice as wide for Great, and a wider one again for Good. Three things widen the windows on every step.

• Skills. Each level in a skill tree widens its steps by about 10%. Knife Skills covers chopping. Heat Control covers searing, frying, grilling, boiling, simmering, toasting and flipping. Baking covers baking, kneading, rolling and piping. Sauces covers stirring, pouring, ladling, whisking, blending and drizzling. Plating covers plating, garnishing, seasoning and topping. Early on, Knife Skills and Heat Control help the most dishes.
• Equipment tiers. Each tier above the first on a machine makes its steps more forgiving. The stove tier helps a long list of everyday steps, from searing and boiling to stirring and pouring. The sous vide makes searing much more forgiving.
• Helpers. With a stand mixer, kneading and whisking are done for you at Perfect. A prep cook chops for you during service, but only at Great until you train them to level 3, when their chopping becomes Perfect. A level 1 prep cook is a real help on a busy day, but on a short dish their Great can be the step that keeps you under 85%.

If you just want to cook without pressure, Relaxed kitchen in More, Settings widens every window a bit more, and guests never leave. The Daily shift always uses the same fixed windows for everyone, whatever you own, so it's a fair test.

Practice where it's free

The Chef's Table has no guests and no clock. Pick any dish you've unlocked and cook it as often as you like. It pays half price, but three-star results count toward mastery: Bronze at 3, Silver at 8 and Gold at 15, worth 10%, 20% and 35% more on that dish for good. When a new recipe unlocks, cook it there a few times before you put it on the menu.

Keep your menu short. Guests can only order what's on it, so a menu of dishes you cook at three stars beats a long one with a couple of dishes you dread. You can edit it any time in Recipes.

Why three stars pays

A one-star dish sells for 30% less and a three-star dish for 30% more, and the tip grows with the stars too. Dishes of two stars or better in a row build a combo worth 5% more on tips per dish, up to ten in a row, with Hot streak bonuses at 3, 5, 8, 12, 16 and 20. In the Daily, every three-star dish adds 10 points to your score. Mastery stacks on top. A careful cook out-earns a fast one almost every time.

The short version

1. Aim for Perfects. All Greats is only two stars.
2. Take your time once a dish starts. The guest you're cooking for doesn't get impatient.
3. Release pours early, stir in medium circles and watch the gauge, not the food.
4. Put early skill points into Knife Skills and Heat Control.
5. Practice new dishes at the Chef's Table and keep your menu to dishes you nail.

For everything else, from locations and staff to the food truck and cook-offs, see our full Copper Pot Kitchen guide. The same grading idea runs through our other shop games, so these habits carry over to Caramel Row and the games on cooking games.

Questions