The cooking mechanic was kind of broken because there were a tonne of in-game guides and quests leading you towards the "mix and match different recipes, experiment and find the best buffs for a situation" when it became basically "four bananas" was the only one I ended up wanting to use.
it's a little bonkers that there were so many recipes in that game, but cooking a single yellow-heart item was more effective than any healing recipe, and there was no bonus effect for mixing or being thoughtful.
