A bagel cookware comprises a round bagel tray sized to hold about four bagels in a twelve inch pot of boiling water. The bagel tray has about four vertical bagel support rods and a central socket comprising a cylindrical collar. This cylindrical collar has a pair of vertical slots to receive a T bar end of a lifting handle. When the handle is twisted the T bar end engages a pair of retainer channels. The handle also has a series of anti-floatation screens so the bagels cannot float while boiling. The chef can use the removable handle to place the cookware in boiling water, then pick up the cookware and place it in an oven. Commercial embodiments could use robotics and hold dozens of bagels on an equivalent apparatus. Alternative embodiments include a stamped anti-flotation screen, a hollow handle rod fitting over the central socket, and the T bar engaged through the central socket.

A system and method for cooking a food item, such as poultry, includes heating cooking fluid in a cooking vessel to a temperature sufficient to cook poultry and placing the poultry on a substantially horizontal perforate plate, breast down, such that the poultry is at least partially immersed in the cooking fluid. The perforate plate prevents poultry skin from sticking to a support, such as a deep fry cooking basket. The immersed poultry is cooked for a selected cooking period and then removed, along with the perforate plate from the cooking fluid. The poultry is then removed from contact with the perforate plate.

A system for automating the removal of cooking racks or trays laden with food items. The automatic rack lifting system includes a fryer assembly having a frypot and a liftable traveler assembly with a removable rack carrier or cooking carriage that carries a plurality of removable cooking baskets for food into and out of the cooking medium or oil disposed within the frypot. The system may further include lift arms removably secured to an actuation support structure. The automatic rack lifting system comprises a lift system for automated (e.g. under software program control) or manually controlled automatic lifting of a cooking carriage.

An oven for heating and frying food, particularly a rapid cook oven, includes walls and an openable oven door delimiting an oven space and heaters to heat food in the oven space. Such heaters including: microwave radiation devices, a frying plate having an undersurface, and heat circulating-air devices comprising a flow duct for removing circulating air from the oven space and leading it back into the oven space after cleaning, and a fan installed in the flow duct for creating a circulating-air flow in the said flow duct. The oven additionally includes structure delimiting a cooker space, thermal insulation between the oven space and the cooker space and a heater comprising a cooker situated in the cooker space.

A dispensing basket includes a pair of opposed side walls and a back wall that extends between the opposed side walls. A pair of front walls extend from the side walls in a direction towards each other and angled away from the back wall. The pair of front walls form a funnel with an opening between the pair of front walls. A floor extends between lower ends of the side walls, the back wall, and the front walls.

Systems and methods for shaping food items are provided. The systems and methods can shape the food items into taco shapes. A system can include a basket and an insert. The basket includes at least one trough and a handle. The insert includes at least one wedge. The insert is assembled with the basket in use, and frozen patties are placed in the insert and/or the basket. The insert is assembled with the basket such that the wedges and/or troughs contact the patties. The assembly is placed in hot oil to cook the patties. As the patties cook and soften, the insert moves downward relative to the basket, and the wedges and/or troughs urge the patties into the troughs and into a taco shape.

The present invention includes a ring that can be fitted around the top perimeter rim of a pot such as caquelon. That ring is comprised of a plurality of brackets that allow for triangular shaped containers to be hooked onto two possible positions. A first position is when the containers sit at the bottom of the pot, and a second position is when they are held predominantly above the ring so that their perforated structure can drip liquid back into the pot.

An easy handling and installable fryer for cooking materials in an electric-field carrying space includes an oil pot base including an oil pot having an inner surface at least partially being a metal plate, and a metal mesh basket placeable in and out of the pot. The base includes a pot fastener that allows the basket to be placed in the pot without electricity conduction to the inner surface, and a conductor including a conducting electrode on an upper portion of a pot surface opposing a handling side, and insulated from the inner surface that conducts an alternating current to the basket in the pot. The basket includes a basket fastener that allows, with the pot fastener, the basket to be placed in the pot without electricity conduction to the inner surface, and an electricity receiver that receives electricity from the electrode and conducts electricity to the mesh basket metal.

An improved outdoor cooking apparatus features a pot with multiple cooking inserts and burner frame that supports a burner element. One insert can be used for cooking an entire poultry carcass. Other inserts are perforated baskets that can be used to fry items.

A drum has an upper edge and a lower edge. The drum has an open top and a closed bottom with a floor. The drum has a cylindrical side wall with a 12 o'clock region forwardly, a 6 o'clock region rearwardly, a 3 o-clock region to a first side, and a 9 o'clock region to a second side. A propane tank is positioned within the drum supported upon the floor. A container for food to be cooked is supported by the drum adjacent to the upper edge of the drum. The container extends downwardly into the drum. A burner is positioned within the drum above the propane tank and below the container. A tube couples the burner to the propane tank.