Abstract: An indicating type timing device for use in fast food preparation is provided to time cooking processes in which a food product is cooked by immersing it in a heated cooking medium. Since various food products, such as french fries, fried onion rings, fried fish, and the like require different cooking times, the unit is adapted to properly time the cooking of these different products, irrespective of the initial temperature of the food product or the cooking time.The timing device uses a voltage controlled oscillator and associated counting circuit. The base frequency of the oscillator is set by the charge on the capacitor in one of a selected series of RC timing circuits. A thermistor continually measures the temperature of the cooking medium (such as shortening) and produces a voltage that varies the base frequency of the oscillator (increasing the frequency for increased measured temperatures).