Diverters and cooking chambers and cooking apparatus including diverters

A cooking chamber configured to hold cooking media therein and to cook food products therein, comprising:

• a heating element configured to convey heat to cooking media held in the cooking chamber;
• a wall;
• an inlet port formed in the wall;
• a cooking chamber fitting disposed adjacent to the inlet port, the cooking chamber fitting configured to provide a fluidically sealed coupling to receive cooking media transferred through the inlet port into a vat defined by the wall;
• and
• a diverter disposed adjacent to the inlet port, wherein the diverter comprises:
• a diverter plate;
• a recessed portion formed in the diverter plate,
• an orifice that projects from a surface of the recessed portion formed in the diverter plate, the orifice comprising an open sidewall portion and configured to receive the cooking chamber fitting, such that cooking media is allowed to pass therethrough;
• wherein the recessed portion extends from the orifice;
• a bumper portion that projects from the surface of the recessed portion and is disposed proximate to the orifice;
• the open sidewall portion of the orifice configured to open towards the bumper portion;
• and
• wherein the recessed portion faces the inlet port.

A cooking apparatus, comprising:

• a cooking chamber configured to hold cooking media therein and to cook food products therein;
• a filter pan disposed in fluid communication with the cooking chamber and configured to receive and filter cooking media from the cooking chamber via a drain in the cooking chamber;
• a filter pump configured to pump filtered cooking media from the filter pan to the cooking chamber;
• an inlet port formed in a wall of the cooking chamber through which filtered cooking media enter the cooking chamber;
• and
• a diverter disposed adjacent to the inlet port;
• a recessed portion formed in the diverter;
• wherein the diverter comprises a bumper portion that projects from the recessed portion formed in of the diverter;
• and
• wherein the recessed portion faces the inlet port.