A fryer comprising: a fry pot (12, 14) configured to receive a cooking medium; a controller; and a plurality of heating elements each configured to provide heat to the cooking medium in response to being activated by the controller, wherein the controller is configured to: control an amount of heat provided to the cooking medium based on a setpoint temperature (T SP), the setpoint temperature (T SP) being set to a target cooking temperature (T TCT) during a cook cycle; determine a cooking load; select a set of setpoint bias temperatures based on the cooking load, each setpoint bias temperature defining a threshold temperature (T TH1 -T TH4) below the target cooking temperature (T TCT); in response to a sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below a first threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4) but above a second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a first heating element of the plurality of heating elements; and in response to the sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below the second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a second heating element of the plurality of heating elements. a fry pot (12, 14) configured to receive a cooking medium; a controller; and a plurality of heating elements each configured to provide heat to the cooking medium in response to being activated by the controller, wherein the controller is configured to: control an amount of heat provided to the cooking medium based on a setpoint temperature (T SP), the setpoint temperature (T SP) being set to a target cooking temperature (T TCT) during a cook cycle; determine a cooking load; select a set of setpoint bias temperatures based on the cooking load, each setpoint bias temperature defining a threshold temperature (T TH1 -T TH4) below the target cooking temperature (T TCT); in response to a sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below a first threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4) but above a second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a first heating element of the plurality of heating elements; and in response to the sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below the second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a second heating element of the plurality of heating elements. control an amount of heat provided to the cooking medium based on a setpoint temperature (T SP), the setpoint temperature (T SP) being set to a target cooking temperature (T TCT) during a cook cycle; determine a cooking load; select a set of setpoint bias temperatures based on the cooking load, each setpoint bias temperature defining a threshold temperature (T TH1 -T TH4) below the target cooking temperature (T TCT); in response to a sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below a first threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4) but above a second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a first heating element of the plurality of heating elements; and in response to the sensed temperature (T SENSE) of the cooking medium being below the second threshold temperature of the threshold temperatures (T TH1 -T TH4), activate a second heating element of the plurality of heating elements.