Abstract: An apparatus especially suitable for cooking, in a cooking fluid, food products which lose a portion of their moisture content as vapor during the cooking cycle is provided. The apparatus is configured to allow food products to be spaced and oriented in the apparatus so that during cooking water vapor is expelled from the food products into the vertical convection channels formed by the spacing and orienting of the food products. The expelled buoyant water vapor augments the upward vertical convection of the cooking fluid through the vertical convection channels, thereby improving heat transfer from the cooking fluid to the food products. As a result, cooking time and fat uptake is reduced and a more uniform product quality is provided.