Method for form-frying snack food product

In general, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for making fabricated snack food products such as potato crisps or tortilla chips. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for form-frying such products. Apparatus and method for cooking snack food pieces features a drum-type fryer which transports individual, die-cut piece preforms through hot oil contained within a cooking tank defined between the periphery of the drum and a housing in which the drum is contained. Vacuum transfer and feed rollers transfer the individual piece preforms from a die-cutting roller assembly onto the drum for cooking, and a similar roller transfers the cooked snack food pieces from the drum to a take-away conveyor for subsequent, downstream processing. The pieces are retained by suction against molding surfaces of frying mold elements distributed over the periphery of the frying drum.