How to Fish: How to Cook Fish and Unlock the Grill

Cooking in How to Fish, the physics fishing-and-shooting game from Dazed Games, is a money mechanic first and a healing mechanic second. Once the grill is unlocked, you heat a fish, gun, or other sellable item until its value climbs to a 1.5x peak, then pull it off before the flame chars it. Cooked fish also restore more health and hunger when eaten, which matters during the harder boss encounters.

Quick answer: Bring the grill master on Island 3 a shark caught with the Standard Boss Lure ($280), then hold any item over the grill flame, press F to watch its Value, and remove it the instant the multiplier reads 1.5x.

What cooking does to an item

Heating an item raises its sale value up to a maximum of 1.5x. That bonus applies to everything sellable, not just fish, so guns and other gear you plan to offload are worth a few seconds over the flame too. Cooking never changes how a weapon performs in combat. It does not add damage, speed up reloads, or improve any other stat, so only cook equipment you intend to sell.

Cooked fish carry a second benefit. When eaten, they restore more health and hunger than raw fish, which makes them useful supplies for fights like the Pufferfish and Piranha encounters. Keep a stack of cooked catches on hand before those battles instead of selling your entire supply.

Cooking result	Effect
Cooked to 1.5x	Sale value peaks at 1.5x; remove it here
Left too long	Turns solid black, value drops to 0, restores almost no health or hunger
Lava-cooked	Locks at exactly 1.5x with no burn risk

Unlock the grill on Island 3

You cannot cook anything until you complete the grill master’s request on the third island. This also earns the Grillmaster achievement.

Find the grill master standing beside the unlit grill on Island 3 and speak to him. He asks you to bring him a Blue Shark before he will light the grill.

First-person view facing the beachside forge and the grill master NPC with a weapon in hotbar slot 1 — Approach the grill master beside the unlit grill and accept his request for a shark. Image credit: Dazed Games / via @PazarGamingGuides

Buy the Standard Boss Lure for $280 from the island’s shop. Make sure you pick the boss version, since the cheaper pink Standard Lure only catches regular fish and will not summon the shark.

Equip the Standard Boss Lure on your rod and cast into the water to summon the Blue Shark. When it starts spinning toward you, move sideways and attack from a safe distance. A maxed Uzi is enough to finish the fight, and the coconut trees can block your dodges, so watch your footing.

Fishing rod selected in the hotbar with the Cast prompt shown before casting from the raft — Equip the boss lure and cast to summon the shark, releasing the mouse button to cast the line. Image credit: Dazed Games / via @PazarGamingGuides

Carry the defeated shark back to the grill master and hand it over. Completing his request lights the grill for good and unlocks the Grillmaster achievement, confirming that cooking is now available.

Cook an item to the 1.5x peak

Cooking has no minigame. You do not flip the fish or juggle timing beyond one moment, so the whole process is reading the live number and pulling the item at the right time.

Gameplay view with weapon slot 2 highlighted, holding a pink pistol while facing the lit seaside grill — With the grill active, stand at the flame holding the item you want to cook. Image credit: Dazed Games / via @PazarGamingGuides

Hold the item you want to cook in your hand and press F to open the live readout. The panel shows Value, the cooking multiplier, Weight, and Killscore, all updating in real time. Keep it open the whole time the item is over the flame.

Hold the item over the grill’s flames and watch the multiplier rise from 1x. The Value climbs steadily toward its ceiling.

Move the item completely clear of the flame the instant the multiplier reads 1.5x. That is the maximum, and it is your confirmation the cook is done. Leave it any longer and it turns solid black, dropping its value to 0.

Note: The live F readout gives you the exact moment to pull, so you never have to judge doneness by color alone.

Which items are worth cooking

Cooking costs nothing and adds half again to every sale, so build it into your route early. Run each sellable over the grill before you cash it in.

Item type	Best use
Fish	Cook before selling, but keep a stack for healing and hunger in boss fights
Weapons	Cook right before selling for the extra 1.5x value; combat stats are unchanged
Other sellable items	Cook to lift the sale price the same way

One caution on weapons. Leaving a gun with a skin or camo you want to keep off the grill is the safe choice, since cooking a decorated weapon has been seen to strip its cosmetics. Only cook gear you are about to hand to a vendor.

Burning an item and the eating achievements

A burnt catch is a total write-off. Once it turns solid black, its value drops to 0 and it restores almost no health or hunger, so burning is normally a waste. There is one deliberate exception.

Eating a burnt creature unlocks the Yummy in My Tummy achievement, and eating a mini-boss unlocks Competitive eating. You can trigger both with a single bite. Buy the Beginner Boss Lure for $40 on Island 2, the cheapest lure, which summons the easiest mini-boss. Kill that creature, hold it over the grill until it chars solid black, then eat it. Use a cheap catch for this rather than sacrificing anything valuable.

Achievement	Cooking action
Grillmaster	Light the grill on Island 3
Yummy in My Tummy	Eat a burnt creature
Competitive eating	Eat a mini-boss

Lava cooking on Island 5

Island 5’s volcano removes the timing risk entirely. Lava cooks items to exactly 1.5x and holds them there without burning, so you can drop your items in and walk away instead of watching each one over a flame. It is the tool for bulk preparation.

Once you reach the volcano, lava-cook everything you plan to sell and build the largest pile of cooked fish you can carry before the late boss fights. Those encounters demand plenty of cooked fish, and the lava prepares the whole supply at no risk. Until then, the grill on Island 3 is your only cooking option, so keep an eye on that 1.5x readout every time you sell.