Abstract: A cooking apparatus has a cooking vessel (1), a bottom heater (3) for heating the bottom (13) of the cooking vessel, a heat exchanging jacket (5) for passing steam to exchange heat with the body of the cooking vessel, a fluid source (7) for supplying and draining the steam to and from the heat exchanging jacket, a weighing unit (9) for detecting the gross weight of the cooking vessel and heat exchanging jacket, a memory (11) for storing a reference weight change corresponding to a water-content change, and a controller (11) for controlling the bottom heater and fluid source to attain the reference weight change.

Abstract: A machine for delivering a viscous or paste-like foodstuff includes a hopper for receiving the foodstuff, the lower part of which is formed to include a funnel-shaped tapered portion, and a feed sleeve rotatably connected to the lower side of the hopper and having its lower end communicating with the exterior of a machine frame on which the hopper and feed sleeve are rotatably supported. A helical delivery blade is fixedly secured to the frame by a stationary shaft and includes a first blade portion fitted in the feed sleeve and a second blade portion of larger diameter fitted in the lower part of the tapered portion of the hopper, the first and second blade portions being continuous. A first drive mechanism rotates the feed sleeve and a second drive mechanism rotates the hopper in the same direction as the feed sleeve but at a lower speed, thereby producing a speed differential between the hopper and feed sleeve.