You need a steak to make a meal, so making meals doesn't show until after Jenny shows you how to butcher something. That includes the special "make dinner for Erevi" spot in the Tower kitchen. (Remember, you need two steaks for that dinner rather than just one.) Yes, learning how to make mead requires following the giants quests.Are there any other recipes like that? I made the 'special pastries' already but, they didn't show up in the cook book yet. Do you need to give one to someone first? What about the other recipes? Mead is probably the Giants. Do you get meal from this quest ( Erevi's dinner )?
If you make special pastries before knowing moon flower pollen makes people horny, you get the previous dialogue/thoughts about it. Once you know, they show in the cookbook.