Abstract: The apparatus comprises a pressurized circuit, wherein water is superheated to a uniform temperature, maintained free of stagnation points of air bubbles and steam, and always kept at a pressure higher than that of saturated steam at the highest temperature reached by the water itself. The superheated water, taken from the highest point of the pressurized circuit, is rapidly introduced into a precooking chamber, in which the food to be cooked has been introduced earlier and in which the pressure of the pressurized circuit is maintained. The food, after a precooking in the chamber, completes its cooking in water at atmospheric pressure in two successive cooking devices and, after the excess water has been extracted, is unloaded onto the plate for the consumer's use.