Abstract: A food processing apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus has a refrigerated compartment with a batch dispensing system for delivery of batches of frozen food to a cooking compartment. The cooking compartment has a deep-fry cooking chamber which has a basket and an integral chute which extends between the walls of the cooking chamber to form a barrier between the oil and the discharge outlet for sealing of the chamber. An analogue transducer monitors the position of the basket so that the continuous control may be achieved via a microprocessor control unit. Thus, control of cooking times, drain times, and movement of the basket is readily achieved by suitable setting of a control unit.