BoneAppetit on a Valheim Server: New Dishes, Cooking Stations and a Surprise-Free Install

Vanilla Valheim cooking gets repetitive fast: the same soups, breads and pies at every stage of progression. BoneAppetit by RockerKitten adds new cooking stations and dozens of dishes — from pork rinds and kabobs to pizza, ice cream and burgers — plus new creature drops and a cooking skill. It is a content mod, so an installation mistake affects everyone: stations vanish and food disappears from chests. Here is how to set up BoneAppetit on a Valheim server so your group's kitchen survives the very first restart.

What BoneAppetit adds

Cooking stations

The mod is built around four stations that unlock as you progress:

• Griddle. Built with a hammer from 10 stone — new dishes are available as soon as you find a spot for it.
• Prep Table. Unlocks with tin; since version 3.0.0 all the ice cream lives here.
• Grill. Requires a forge, 1 iron and 10 stone. It unlocks higher-tier grilled food.
• Oven. An add-on for the grill that raises its level; it needs surtling cores and surtling trophies.

The griddle and the grill cook over fire, so they need a fire underneath. For anyone bothered by smoke, the mod adds smokeless campfires, hearths and braziers: according to the changelog they help players whose FPS drops because of smoke particle physics, and they make indoor kitchens practical.

Dishes and new drops

The menu grew over several major versions. Dishes include Pork Rinds, Kabobs, Honey Glazed Carrots, Country Fried Lox Meat, Bacon, Pizza, Pancakes, Porridge, Cake, Haggis, Omlette, Burger, Fish Stew and a whole line of Ice Cream Cones, including the "elemental" Fire, Electric and Acid ones. There are intermediate ingredients too: Butter from carrot seeds, Broth from bone fragments and Nut-ella from beech seeds.

For some recipes the mod adds new drops: pork from boars, eggs from seagulls and transportable drake eggs from drakes. Keep that in mind if your server also runs mods that change creature loot.

Cooking skill

According to the 3.1.0 changelog, cooking at the mod's stations (rk_griddle, rk_grill, rk_prep) and in the cauldron grants Cooking skill experience. Each level adds a 1% chance to craft an extra portion, and after level 25 there is a chance for a second one equal to your level divided by 4. At level 100 that means a 100% chance for one extra portion and 25% for another. In version 3.4.0 the author removed the Gore-mand skill, kept Cooking progression through crafting and temporarily disabled the Chef Hat buff.

Where to install it: server and every client

The author routinely tests the mod on a dedicated server with many other mods and asks you to install BoneAppetit on the server and for every player, "to ensure your crafting stations don't disappear, and that food doesn't turn to dust". That is not a formality: if one side is missing the mod, its objects simply do not exist for that side.

The mod's settings are synced from the server — the author specifically warns that the mod and its config must be on the server for sync to work. In the source code on GitHub (which holds version 3.2.4), the mod is flagged for Jotunn as required for everyone, so the server will most likely reject a client without it. Xbox and Game Pass players cannot install BepInEx mods, which is why Elysium offers crossplay only on the vanilla server variant.

How to install BoneAppetit on an Elysium server

Make a manual backup in the panel before installing. Then:

1. When ordering, pick the BepInEx variant — the mod loader comes preinstalled.
2. Download the mod from the BoneAppetit page on Thunderstore and upload its DLL together with the Jotunn library to BepInEx/plugins via the panel's file manager or SFTP.
3. Start the server, wait for the config to be generated in the console and restart once more. Check the console for BepInEx and Jotunn errors.
4. Give every player the same versions of BoneAppetit and Jotunn; they should load the game to the start screen, quit and launch it again.

The README also mentions HookGenPatcher as a Jotunn dependency, but the current dependency list on Thunderstore does not include it — if you install by hand, go by that list. General rules for installing mods and keeping versions in sync are in our guide to Valheim server mods.

Configuration

BoneAppetit's config is simple. Since version 2.0.0 it is mostly true/false toggles for each recipe — everything is on by default. Smokeless fires can be disabled separately. The 3.1.0 changelog lists the skill settings: CookingSkillEnable and BonusWhenCookingEnabled are synced from the server and enforced, while the Chef Hat message (HatSEMessage) stays local. In the file itself the keys may be named slightly differently — in the source code, for example, it is Enable Cooking Skill in the [Cooking Skill] section.

In version 3.4.0 the author disabled unused settings and moved a few recipes between stations: PBJ is now on the Prep Table, Smoked Fish on the Grill and Pancakes on the Griddle. If players "lost" a dish after the update, look for it at another station. The README does not give the exact config file name; the plugin GUID in the source code is com.rockerkitten.boneappetit, so look for a file with that name in BepInEx/config.

Server load and choosing a plan

BoneAppetit is a content mod without heavy background logic: it adds stations, items and recipes and changes the loot of a few creatures. That costs the server next to nothing. Smokeless fires take load off the players' computers, not the server — but if the kitchen with a dozen fires sits right in the main hall, your players will appreciate it.

BoneAppetit with Jotunn and a couple of other mods for a group of up to four players runs comfortably on the Pulse plan (4 GB, €10.49 per month). If you are building a full farming-and-cooking setup with Valharvest and other content mods, up to five mods fit on Vector (6 GB, €15.49 per month), and for around ten mods with large bases look at Nexus (8 GB, €20.49 per month). Hardware and plan choice are covered in detail in our Valheim server hosting guide.

Compatibility and common issues

• Stations gone, food vanished. Almost always someone is missing the mod or runs a different version. Compare the BoneAppetit and Jotunn versions on the server and on every client.
• Boar loot with creature level mods. In version 3.0.1 the author fixed boar drops when used with CLLC — if you run mods that change loot, check drops after installing.
• Valharvest. Valharvest was created as an extension of BoneAppetit: new crops, dishes and balance tweaks for some recipes. If you run both, keep their versions identical for everyone.
• Where to store produce. Once your group builds a farm for these recipes, chests fill up quickly. Dedicated storage mods such as Odin's Food Barrels exist for exactly that.
• Removing the mod. BoneAppetit's stations and dishes only exist alongside the mod. If you decide to drop it, eat up your supplies and make a backup first.

We collected other mods updated after the Valheim 1.0 release in our list of the best Valheim mods.