Overview
Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more!
In this Science and Cooking - From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (physics) course from Harvard University - HarvardX, which investigates physical transformations in food, we will be visited by world-famous chefs who use a number of different styles and techniques in their cooking. Each chef will demonstrate how he or she prepares delicious and interesting creations, and we will explore how fundamental scientific principles make them possible.
Topics will include:
How cooking changes food texture
Making emulsions and foams
Phase changes in cooking
You will also have the opportunity to become an experimental scientist in your very own laboratory — your kitchen! By following along with the recipes of the week, taking precise measurements, and making skillful observations, you will learn to think like both a chef and a scientist.
This practice will prepare you for the final project, when you will design and perform an experiment to analyze a recipe of your choice from a scientific perspective.
What you'll learn
- The chemical and physical principles that underlie everyday cooking and haute cuisine techniques
- How chefs can use enzymes to make foods that would otherwise be impossible
- How to use the scientific method to learn how a recipe works, and find ways you could improve it
- How to think like a chef AND a scientist.
Get more details
Visit programme websiteProgramme Structure
Syllabus
Module1: Elasticity
Module2: Viscosity
Module3: Emulsions and Foams
Module4: Advanced Phase Behavior
Module5: Enzymes
Module6: Baking
Check out the full curriculum
Visit programme websiteKey information
Duration
- Part-time
- 4 months
- 2 hrs/week
Start dates & application deadlines
Language
Delivered
- Self-paced
Disciplines
Physics Food Science View 17 other Short Courses in Food Science in United StatesExplore more key information
Visit programme websiteAcademic requirements
We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme.
English requirements
We are not aware of any English requirements for this programme.
Other requirements
General requirements
- Secondary school (high school) algebra, basic mathematics concepts
Make sure you meet all requirements
Visit programme websiteTuition Fee
-
International
249 USD/fullTuition FeeBased on the tuition of 249 USD for the full programme during 4 months. -
National
249 USD/fullTuition FeeBased on the tuition of 249 USD for the full programme during 4 months.
- Add a Verified Certificate for $249 USD
- Limited access: Free