Abstract: A recirculating food product deep fryer comprising a cooking tank, a cooking oil dispersement assembly extending into the cooing tank for emitting a cooking oil into the cooking tank, a heat exchanger, and a centrifugal pump for continuously pumping the cooking oil through the heat exchanger and cooking tank. The centrifugal pump includes a cylindrical, hollow and vertically aligned sump tube and a pump impeller rotatably mounted approximate the bottom end of the sump tube, a rotor shaft extending through the sump tube substantially along the sump tube axis for rotatably driving the impeller, a motor couple to the rotor shaft at the top end of the sump tube for rotatably driving the rotor shaft, and an annular baffle mounted to the rotor shaft between the pump impeller and the motor. The annular baffle acts to centrifugally sling cooking oil particles entrained in steam rising vertically through the sump tube and coming in contact with the bottom surface of the annular baffle.