Have you ever been up against a boss, only to discover that your group needed just a tiny little push to finish the fight? The answer is simple: food buffs. Cooked food is the easiest and most inexpensive way to improve your character and gain the extra edge you desire. Not a cook? Find yourself a friend who's trained up cooking, or train it up yourself! At max level, it's fairly easy to level cooking from start to finish. While you're doing that, let's look at the different types of food buffs available and which foods give you an increase to which stats.

Group Meals:

If you're headed for a raid and don't know if your other group members will come prepared with their own food, fear not. You can bring along a group feast, place it down in the room at the beginning of the raid, and everyone can eat from it. It's handy to keep a few of these around as an alternative, since you never know when you'll die more times than you have food for!

Fish Feast: This is the best group feast available, offering 80 attack power, 46 spell power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Musselback Sculpin, 2 Glacial Salmon, 2 Nettlefish, 1 Northern Spices

Great Feast: This is essentially a miniature version of the fish feast, with 60 attack power, 35 spell power and 30 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Chunk o' Mammoth, 1 Shoveltusk Flank, 1 Worm Meat, 2 Chilled Meat

Small Feast: This is a "fun" food buff. It doesn't help you in combat, but it makes you smaller for a period of time.
Ingredients: 2 Nettlefish, 2 Rhino Meat, 2 Glacial Salmon, 1 Northern Spices

Gigantic Feast: Another "fun" food buff, this does the opposite of the small feast, making you larger for a period of time.
Ingredients: 2 Deep Sea Monsterbelly, 2 Chunk o' Mammoth, 2 Rockfin Grouper, 1 Northern Spices

Individual Meals:

If you only need food for yourself, this is the way to go. With minimal ingredients and recipes that are relatively easy to acquire, there's no reason you shouldn't be walking around with the Well Fed buff whenever you need it. There are also two versions of most of the recipes, so if you don't have or can't afford Northern Spices you can certainly make the less expensive recipe, which will have a slightly smaller buff than the higher one.

Agility:

Blackened Dragonfin: 40 agility and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Dragonfin Angelfish, 1 Northern Spices

Armour Penetration:

Hearty Rhino: 40 armour penetration and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Rhino Meat, 1 Northern Spices

Attack Power:

Mega Mammoth Meal: 80 attack power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Chunk o' Mammoth, 1 Northern Spices

Poached Northern Sculpin: 80 attack power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Musselback Sculpin, 1 Northern Spices

Grilled Sculpin: 60 attack power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Musselback Sculpin

Mammoth Meal: 60 attack power and 30 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Chunk o' Mammoth

Critical Strike Rating:

Spiced Worm Burger: 40 critical strike rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Worm Meat, 1 Northern Spices

Spicy Blue Nettlefish: 40 critical strike rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
,i>Ingredients: 1 Nettlefish, 1 Northern Spices

Poached Nettlefish: 30 critical strike rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Nettlefish

Worm Delight: 30 critical strike rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Worm Meat

Expertise Rating:

Rhinolicious Wormsteak: 40 expertise rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Worm Meat, 1 Rhino Meat, 1 Northern Spices

Haste Rating:

Imperial Manta Steak: 40 haste rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Imperial Manta Ray, 1 Northern Spices

Very Burnt Worg: 40 haste rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Worg Haunch, 1 Northern Spices

Baked Manta Ray: 30 haste rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Imperial Manta Ray

Roasted Worg: 30 haste rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Worg Haunch

Hit Rating:

Snapper Extreme: 40 hit rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 3 Bonescale Snapper, 1 Northern Spices

Worg Tartare: 40 hit rating and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Worg Haunch, 1 Northern Spices

Mana Per 5 Seconds:

Mighty Rhino Dogs: 16 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Rhino Meat, 1 Northern Spices

Spicy Fried Herring: 16 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Fangtooth Herring, 1 Northern Spices

Pickled Fangtooth: 12 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Fangtooth Herring

Rhino Dogs: 12 mana per 5 seconds and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Rhino Meat

Spell Power:

Firecracker Salmon: 46 spell power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Glacial Salmon, 1 Northern Spices

Tender Shoveltusk Steak: 46 spell power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Shoveltusk Flank, 1 Northern Spices

Smoked Salmon: 35 spell power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Glacial Salmon

Shoveltusk Steak: 35 spell power and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Shoveltusk Flank

Spirit:

Cuttlesteak: 40 spirit and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Moonglow Cuttlefish, 1 Northern Spices

Strength:

Dragonfin Filet: 40 strength and 40 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Dragonfin Angelfish, 1 Northern Spices

Multiple Buffs:

Dalaran Clam Chowder: 60 attack power, 35 spell power and 30 stamina for one hour.
Ingredients: 2 Succulent Clam Meat

Tracking Buffs:

These foods will allow you to track individual things on your minimap, the same way a hunter can track them. They do stack with profession tracking (fish, herbs, ore) and with hunter tracking, so you could potentially track two things at once. Very handy for finding a named quest mob.

Tracker Snacks: Track beasts for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Shoveltusk Flank, 1 Northern Spices

Blackened Worg Steak: Track humanoids for one hour.
Ingredients: 1 Worg Haunch, 1 Northern Spices

Special Buffs:

Remember the Small Feast and Gigantic Feast above, which offered a "fun" buff instead of improving your performance? That's what these are. They have different uses but are fun to have around. Another great thing is that each time you execute one of these recipes, you get five of the food instead of just one. Pass the extras around to all of your friends!

Bad Clams: "Bad Clams make you angry."
Ingredients: 1 Succulent Clam Meat, 1 Mote of Shadow

Haunted Herring: "Haunted Herring makes you scared."
Ingredients: 1 Fangtooth Herring, 1 Essence of Undeath

Last Week's Mammoth: "Last Week's Mammoth makes you sad."
Ingredients: 1 Chunk o' Mammoth

Tasty Cupcake: "Cupcakes make you happy."
Ingredients: 2 Simple Flour, 1 Northern Egg

I know all too well how overwhelming it can be, opening up the cooking window and trying to decide what food to bring to a raid. Next time you're heading off to Ulduar, check this guide, bring some food and have a feast!