Cooking Competition in D&D

Hi so I am working on a one-shot and I wanted the PCs to be in a cooking competition, so I made a little 'cooking competition model' of sorts to use, and I wanted to share it if anyone wants to use it. Also to note when I was making the concept a lot of the ideas for how it should work came from some posts on enworld, so these are not all my original ideas.

Cooking Competition Model

PC Roles: The way I am playing this is where one PC is the Head Chef and another is the Helper. The Head Chef is the one making the main decisions and rolls when cooking, and the Helper can roll for a modifier to help the Head Chef if they got a bad roll. The Helper also has the task of gathering ingredients for the Head Chef, and each time they need to get something I have them roll a perception check to see if they can find the right one. The DC for this depends on how recognizable an item is, for example a giant lamb leg would be very easy to find, while a jar of black pepper might be more of a challenge in a crowded pantry.

Prep-round: The competition is split into two rounds, one called the Prep-round and the other called the Cooking-round. The Prep-round is where the PCs are given the list of ingredients and simple cooking instructions, (like mix x and y together; or fry x for 20 minutes) and sent to gather the ingredients and measure them out. Measuring ingredients requires a Perception check, and the DC is pretty low, but its completely up to you. I usually have it anywhere between 5 and 8. During the Prep-round PCs also have the opportunity to perform up to 3 flourishes,* which can earn them bonus points.

*A flourish is a skill check of anything you want, where the PCs roll for the related skill to get a bonus. Ex. If a PC wants to do some fancy Hibachi knife work to impress the judges, they would roll for Acrobatics. Or if they want to stack the pastries into an Eiffel tower shape they would roll for Performance. These will give the PCs bonuses to add to their final score.

Cooking-round: In this part of the competition the PCs start to combine and cook the ingredients. In this round the Head Chef is really the only PC doing work, but the Helper can still make modifier rolls to help them out. As far as cooking goes I made a chart of how to determine a success for each different type of action.

Actually cooking (anything with fire/a stove)-DC 10-12 Survival check to make sure it does not get burned.

Cutting/Chopping things-Acrobatics check, and the DC gets harder the smaller the food has to be cut

Mixing things-DC 6-8 Perception check to know when to stop mixing for a good consistency.

Helper Modifier Rolls: Whenever the Chef makes a bad roll, the Helper has the chance to roll for a modifier. It's just one roll from a d4, and whatever it is gets added to the Head Chef's roll. The Helper can use this as many times as they want, but they can't help themselves. Ex. The Head Chef makes a DC 10 Survival check to cook some bacon, and they roll a 6. To assist them, the Helper rolls a d4, getting 4, which is added to the 6. Now the roll is a 10, and succeeds on the skill check.

Bonuses and Penalties: Doing things correctly or incorrectly while cooking lets the PCs earn or lose points. These points are either added or subtracted to their Final Roll, which determines the score the judges will give their food.

Flourishes-Success +4 Fail -4

Finding Ingredients-For every 5 correct ingredients +2 For every 3 wrong ingredients -1

Measuring-For every 5 correct measurments+2 For every 3 incorrect measurements -2

Actually cooking (using a stove)-For perfect +2 For burnt -3

Cutting/Chopping-For perfectly cut/chopped +1 For incorrectly cut/chopped -1

Mixing-For perfect consistency +2 For incorrect consistency -2

The Winner/The Final Roll: After the food has been prepared the Head Chef will make a Final Roll using a d20 to determine what score the judges will give their food. Before they do, the Helper will make a roll on a d20 to decide whether the Head Chef has advantage. disadvantage, or neither on the Final Roll. The DC for the Helper's roll is the same as the DC for the Final Roll. If you plan on playing multiple rounds of this the Final Roll DC could start at something like 12, and then go up to 14, then to 16, or some variation of that. If you only want to play one round then I would suggest using a DC between 12 and 18. So the Helper will roll, and if they are below the DC the Head Chef gets disadvantage, if they are above the DC they get advantage, and if they meet the DC they do a normal roll. (If you are playing with multiple Helpers, then have both of them roll, and if they both meet or exceed the DC the Head Chef has advantage, if they both fail they get disadvantage, and if one fails and one succeeds they will do a normal roll.) Now the Head Chef can roll the d20 then add/subtract all the bonuses and penalties from the two rounds. And there's the final score! If it is equal to or greater than the DC, they win! If not, they lose.

Calculating Final Roll Example: Since there is no actual food to judge, the score given by the imaginary judges is determined by a dice roll, or the Final Roll. Let's say the DC for this round is 16. The Helper rolls and gets 17, which is a success. This means the Head Chef now has advantage on the roll. The Head Chef rolls with advantage, and gets a 10. They then add/subtract their bonuses and penalties, which let's say this person has 2 flourish successes, 1 flourish fail, 5 correct ingredients, 3 wrong ingredients, 5 correct measurements, 2 perfect things cooked on a stove, 1 burnt thing cooked on a stove, 4 perfectly chopped things, 2 incorrectly chopped things, 1 perfectly mixed thing, and 2 incorrectly mixed things. Adding that all up equals 10 for the roll and +6 for the bonuses and penalties, so the Final Roll is 16.

Let me know if anything was confusing or if you have any questions about this play style. I hope this is helpful to anyone who wants to use it!