The invention features a cooking apparatus having a number of compartments for the cooking of different foods under different cooking conditions. Aspects of embodiments of the contemplated invention include a lid portion, an upper portion that is vertically retractable and removably engaged with a bottom portion. The cooking apparatus is modular and, as such, enables the use of multiple cooking apparatuses for the steaming and/or boiling of different foods within the same pot or cooking unit at the same time.

A cooking system in the form of a fryer is provided to reduce and/or optimize the amount of cooking medium required to operate the fryer, while improving the reliability of movement of food product through the cooking system during a cooking process. To this end, the cooking vat of the system is designed with one or more heating elements positioned to avoid generation of turbulent flow in the cooking medium. Moreover, the movement of food product along the cooking vat and/or out of the cooking vat is done reliably and in such a manner to avoid turbulent flow in the cooking medium. The automatic cooking system provides improved cooking medium life span as well as reduced overall oil volume use.

A cooking apparatus for boiling or frying food. The cooking apparatus has an outer pot defining a cooking well containing the cooking liquid. A basket or inner pot is situated within the cooking well of the outer pot. The outer pot has two protrusions along its inner wall. The inner pot has two flanges along its outer wall. The inner pot may be rotated to align the flanges either with the protrusions of the outer pot or with the gaps between the protrusions. When aligned with the protrusions, the flanges rest on the protrusions, allowing the inner pot to drain.

A high efficiency heating apparatus for heating fluids and cooking mediums, such as oil or shortening within a fryer, includes a natural draft (non powered) combustion chamber that is affixed to an exterior surface of a fry tank.

A high efficiency heating apparatus for heating fluids and cooking mediums, such as oil or shortening within a fryer, includes a natural draft (non powered) combustion chamber with internal baffles that is affixed to an exterior surface of a fry tank.

Some implementations of the described methods relate to a process for frying coffee beans (and/or another food product) in a fry medium (such as cooking oil) and then centrifuging the coffee beans (and/or other food product) to remove a significant portion of the fry medium. Although the frying and centrifugation can occur in separate devices, in some cases, the described systems comprise a device that acts as both a fryer and a centrifuge. Indeed, in some cases, after the coffee beans (or other food product) has been fry roasted in a perforated container (e.g., a basket), the fry medium is drained from the container, and container is spun. In some cases, liquid nitrogen is also applied to the beans (or other food product), before and/or after being fry roasted. Other implementations are described.

A substantially closed loop filtration and convection system is configured to move fluid/oil volume within a fryer vat. The vat has a flow directed inlet, which directs flow of cooking fluid in a direction across the bottom of the vat directing the flow of oil and crumbs/debris across the vat, up and across a flow separation portion toward and into a cleaning zone portion of the vat. A crumb tray or crumb/debris catch system is disposed in the cleaning zone adjacent to the vat.

A multi-bank cooking system includes multiple discrete cooking systems sharing common plumbing and integrated safety features. The multi-bank cooking system may include two or more rack-fryer systems, each with discrete frypots, operating mechanisms and cooking controllers. Each of the discrete cooking systems, may share a common plumbing system with integrated valves and controls receiving coordinated safety signals to facilitate safe and efficient operation of the system.

Method and a deep frying device for deep frying a food product in a deep frying device, wherein the deep frying device comprises a container for fat. For reducing the chances of damaging the deep frying device by the deep frying and increasing the availability, use is made of a deep frying device comprising a pipe section for hot flue gas which protrudes into the lumen of the container but is not connected to an opposite wall. The pipe section comprises—a plurality of supply pipes for the relatively hot flue gas, and—at least one outlet pipe for the relatively cold flue gas coming from the plurality of supply pipes.

A multifunctional and portable cooking implement includes a deep fryer module, a cooktop module and an oven-grill-griddle module, which may be configured between the deep fryer module and the cooktop module. The multifunctional and portable cooking implement provides a plurality of means to cook and warm food items in a compact form and may have legs that pivot about respective leg hinges to elevate the modules, above a ground surface. The exemplary multifunctional and portable cooking implement may have a length from a first end to a second end that is configured to fit within a truck bed and on a tailgate of a truck. A cover-countertop may be pivotably coupled to one or each end of the portable cooking implement to pivot open to provide countertop space for food preparation.