An outdoor food frying apparatus includes a frame having a pot support, a burner element supported upon the frame, and a pot that removably fits the frame. The pot has end walls, a rear wall, a front edge portion, and a bottom wall. A basket is pivotally attached to the pot rear wall with one or more hinges. The basket is correspondingly sized and shaped to fit the pot interior. The basket is movable about the hinge between cooking and food discharge positions. The lid is pivotally attached to the pot. The lid is movable between a cooking position wherein the lid covers the pot upper opening and food discharge position wherein the lid rotates at least 180 degrees from said cooking position, forming a tray for receiving food discharged from the basket. A steamer plate can optionally be connected to the basket at the basket rim and/or basket side walls.

An outdoor food frying apparatus includes a frame having a pot support, a burner element supported upon the frame, and a pot that removably fits the frame. The pot has end walls, a rear wall, a front edge portion, and a bottom wall. A basket is pivotally attached to the pot rear wall with one or more hinges. The basket is correspondingly sized and shaped to fit the pot interior. The basket is movable about the hinge between cooking and food discharge positions. The lid is pivotally attached to the pot. The lid is movable between a cooking position wherein the lid covers the pot upper opening and food discharge position wherein the lid rotates at least 180 degrees from said cooking position, forming a tray for receiving food discharged from the basket. A steamer plate can optionally be connected to the basket at the basket rim and/or basket side walls.

A single shell taco fry mold device to enable a user to deep fry a single taco shell. The single shell taco fry mold device includes an open end, a connected end, an outside layer, an inside layer, and a handle. A handle rest of the handle includes a twist or angled bend, thereby allowing the user to rest the handle on an edge of a pan or deep fryer within which it is placed. The outside layer includes at least one support rung to adjoin the outside layer to the inside layer to act as a stopping barrier on the connected end that prevents the tortilla from sliding through or out of the single shell taco fry mold device. The handle grip is made from rubberized plastics to retain the single shell taco fry mold device in a secure and comfortable manner.

Disclosed is a deep fryer with a structure which is heated from the external side of the side walls without direct contact of the oil and the heat source that is used to heat the oil in the deep fryers. In particular, the deep fryer includes at least one resistance that provides heating for the side walls, a cold reservoir that is designed to prevent the food residue that sinks to the bottom from burning, and a wave breaker.

A multi-zone fryer (100) and method for preparation of fried food products (187) comprising an elongated cooking trough (105) for holding a volume of heated cooking oil (115), at least first and second rollers (106a, 106b), and a conveyor (110) arranged to extend and transport the food products in a direction from the first roller (106a) at an inlet end (120), along the bottom (121) of the trough to the second roller (106b) at an outlet end (122), wherein the elongated cooking trough (105) comprises at least a first and second cooking zone (140, 145), each cooking zone having oil level sensors (170,175,180,181) configured to co-operate and control an oil inlet control valve (184;184a) and an oil outlet control valve (185;185a) arranged in fluid connection with the trough (105) and an oil circulation system to ensure that a predetermined oil level is kept in the trough.

An improved dispenser unit for dispensing bulk food items, including a cabinet having at least one hopper having a drum with product compartments, a deflector and flexible gate valve, a dispense assembly, and a control system. The dispense assembly may or may not include one or more belts and/or sensors. The product compartments include flexible and/or elastic membranes, which dynamically change the effective product storage volume within a compartment, and eliminate rigid or semi-rigid pinch points between the drum and drum compartment. A product flow divider may be positioned above the receiving container in the dispense assembly, said divider configured to cause the dispensed product to divide into two or more flow streams into the receiving container. The receiving container may be vibrated or oscillated.

A fryer includes: an oil tank; and a heater, the fryer being configured to heat a frying oil stored in the oil tank by the heater so as to fry a food material put into the oil tank, the oil tank including an upper oil tank in which the heater is arranged and the food material is to be fried, and a lower oil tank provided below the upper oil tank so as to be continuous with the upper oil tank, and configured to sink and collect moisture and fried scraps released from the food material into the upper oil tank, the heater including a side heater partitioning an inside of the upper oil tank into one or a plurality of cooking areas, and surrounding the one or the plurality of cooking areas, and a lower heater provided at a bottom of the one or the plurality of cooking areas.

A frying oil ordering device 60 comprises a remaining amount recognition unit 61 that recognizes an amount of frying oil 17 remaining in a storage tank 33, and an ordering timing determination unit 62 that determines an ordering timing for the storage tank 33 to be replenished with the frying oil 17 based on the remaining amount and at least one of information regarding replacing the frying oil 17 in a fryer 14 in a facility 32, and parameters that affect future sales of fried foods 19 in the facility 32.

A method of operating a user engagement system, as provided herein, may include receiving a recipe selection signal of a predetermined recipe, and receiving a recipe information signal based on the predetermined recipe. The method may further include receiving an image signal from the camera assembly, and identifying a utensil based on the received image signal. The method may still further include initiating a recipe action at the user engagement system.

A multipurpose sensing module used in association with a removable filter pan includes a capacitive sensor that is disposed within or proximate to the removable filter pan such that the sensor is adapted to measure and determine status parameters and data of a fluid contained within the removable filter pan. A sealed control box is adapted to house sensor electronics that are in communication with the sensor. The sensor electronics are adapted to receive the status parameters and data from the capacitive sensor. A connector is adapted to allow the sensor electronics to communicate with a controller of the controlled system. The controller is adapted to determine a presence and status of the removable filter pan based on the communication between the sensor electronics and the controller.