Explore the intersection of science and cooking in this Harvard University lecture featuring Dave Arnold from Food Arts and Harold McGee from the New York Times. Delve into the historical development of cooking science, from Benjamin Franklin's experiments to modern molecular gastronomy. Discover how scientific principles have influenced culinary techniques, including sous vide cooking, spherification, and emulsification. Learn about the evolution of nouvelle cuisine and the impact of open-source food research. Gain insights into the chemical processes behind mouthfeel, viscosity, and polymers in food. Examine the role of science in industrializing, denaturing, and ultimately rediscovering cooking. Understand the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists and food artisans in advancing culinary innovation.
Unquiet Meals Make Ill Digestions - Science and Cooking Lecture Series
Harvard University via YouTube
Overview
Syllabus
SCIENCE & COOKING LECTURE SERIES
Components of Food and Historical
Energy Temperature Heat Tuesday: Components of food: sous vide cooking Joan Roca, Jordi Roca, Salvador Brugues
Diffusion and Spherification Tuesday: Gelation and cross-linking and Spherification
Heat Transfer
Lab 5: Molten chocolate cake
Review and Midterm Tuesday: Review of Concepts
Mouthfeel continued: Viscosity and Polymers
Emulsions and Foams
Chemistry 1
Modernist Cuisine
Dessert
Wrap-up
A definition of soft matter science
Benjamin Franklin's "beautiful experiment"
Cheese: liquid to solid to ooze
The development of cooking & its science
Science contributes to cooking
Science works to secure, industrialize food
Science denatures cooking
Science rediscovers cooking
The course textbook, 1984
"Molecular Gastronomy,"1992-2004
The original nouvelle cuisine
Classic French cooking
The new nouvelle cuisine, 1960
1994: Ferran Adrià , vegetable panaché
2003: Nueva nouvelle cuisine
Chemists illuminate basic cooking
"Open-source" food research Nordic Food Lab
New journals for scientists + food artisans
Taught by
Harvard University
