The Old Camp in Gothic 1 Remake throws a lot at you early on, and Snaf's Recipe is one of the first side quests you'll pick up. The premise is simple: find ingredients for the camp cook's ragout. The execution is less simple when the game refuses to put markers on anything. Two ingredients, no hand-holding, and a map you probably don't have yet. Here's exactly where to go.
How do you start Snaf's Recipe?
Enter the Old Camp through the north gate (the one near the stone bridge closest to your starting point) and head left. Snaf works at a cooking cauldron near the huts where Thorus is stationed. If he's not at the pot, check inside the hut right next to it.
Greet him and ask what you can do for him. He'll explain his new ragout recipe and request two ingredients:
- 3 Bugmeats (dropped by meatbugs)
- 5 Hellcaps (mushrooms found in caves and open ground)
That's all it takes to trigger the quest. No combat required, no special skills needed. It's one of the few quests in Chapter 1 that a fresh-off-the-drop Nameless Hero can complete without getting mauled.
Snaf at his cauldron
Where to find bugmeat in Gothic 1 Remake
Meatbugs look like oversized maggots crawling along the ground. Stepping on them kills them instantly, and each one drops a bugmeat.
The most reliable cluster sits along the road near the east wall of the Old Camp, past your starting shack and the fighting arena. Follow the path clockwise around the castle from Snaf's location, and shortly after passing the arena you'll spot a wall with a ladder on your left. Three meatbugs crawl across the road right there.
Meatbugs near the arena
If you need extras, additional meatbugs turn up in these spots:
- Two just south of the Exchange Place
- Two behind Cavalorn's hut, west of the Old Camp
- One on the road toward the New Camp
For most players, the arena-side cluster covers all three in one stop.
Where to find hellcaps in Gothic 1 Remake
Hellcaps are mushrooms that grow in caves and occasionally in open fields. They don't glow or stand out, so they're easy to walk past.
The fastest single location for all 5 is north of the Old Camp. Exit through the north gate, cross the stone bridge, and follow the forest path ahead. Stay on the road to avoid alerting scavengers. Just before the first large rock formation on the left side, you'll find a ring of exactly 5 hellcaps growing at the base of a tree. That's your entire quota in one spot.
Alternative cave locations if you prefer exploring or already missed the forest ring:
The caves west of town sit along the guarded path toward the orcs. Wandering too far in that direction early on ends badly. Stick to the north gate forest path or the south gate Nek cave unless you're confident in your combat.
What do you get for completing Snaf's Recipe?
Return to Snaf with all 3 bugmeats and 5 hellcaps and hand them over. The quest wraps up immediately.
Rewards:
- 100 XP
- 1x Meatbug Ragout (consumable)
- Meatbug Ragout recipe (lets you cook it yourself)
- Snaf will give you one free Meatbug Ragout per day whenever you visit him
The daily food supply is genuinely useful in the early game. Free health recovery items add up when you're scraping through the first hours with minimal resources. The 100 XP is also solid for a quest that requires zero fighting.
One thing worth knowing: Snaf's Recipe does not count toward the Casting Shadows quest. If you're working toward joining the Old Camp and completing Casting Shadows, this quest won't tick any of those boxes. It's purely a side quest with its own standalone rewards.
For everything else you need to survive the Colony's opening hours, the full Gothic 1 Remake guide collection covers faction quests, ore farming, lockpicking, and more. If you're still finding your footing, the Gothic 1 Remake beginner's guide walks through the most important things to tackle before getting pulled into faction politics.