Abstract

Cooking oil is contained within a pressurized pot having a radiant heat to raise the oil temperature to the cooking temperature. An oil reservoir is located adjacent and below the pot, with a releasable cover for addition of oil and a low temperature heater. The pot has a bottom prefilter with a perforated basket. A drain line connects the prefilter reservoir with two series connected solenoid valves. A micron filter is connected by a fill line to a fill pipe of the pot and between the solenoid valves. A pump unit in the fill line moves the oil through the system. A low volume of oil is used for cooking of product, and advantageously is approximately in the ratio of less than two pounds to one pound of product. Oil absorbed by the product is periodically replaced with fresh oil from the reservoir. Filtering and adding of oil is in various sequences during the multiple batch cooking process. Filtering of the cooking oil may be after each couple of batches, by opening one valve while the other is and energizing the pump to circulate the oil from the pot through both filters. The operator monitors the oil level to provide fresh oil from the reservoir by reversely operating the valves from the filtering cycle.