—   ENGINEERING SCIENCES 24   ———————————————————

The ultimate goal of this class is to guide students in conducting a successful research project, successful meaning a project that is substantive, original, and addressing a question whose answer would make a genuine contribution to knowledge about flavor molecules and fermentation. 

Our approach is to start the semester with a deep-dive into the field: we try our hands at various fermentation processes, explore the literature, engage with visiting speakers, and make a small number of local field trips. Throughout we engage with the material by asking questions and exploring potential research projects. We then spend the second half of the semester working on the projects, while sharing and collectively discussing our findings. This course is in many ways a mini-version of the scientific process: from a cursory interest in a field, to tangible data and communication and publication of results. [course website (harvard log in)], [pdf syllabus]   

This course discusses concepts from the physical sciences that underpin both everyday cooking and haute cuisine. The content, including the delicious and edible (!) labs, have been developed in collaboration with the El Bulli Foundation in Spain. Each week a world-class chef visits and present their remarkable culinary designs. Inspired by this, the course then explores scientific topics ranging from energy, diffusion, and heat transfer, to emulsions, foams, and viscosity.

Students spend the last five weeks of the course working on a practical project connecting some aspect of cooking to science. The  results are presented at the course-wide science fair. At the end of the course, students are able to explain how a range of cooking techniques and recipes work, in terms of the physical and chemical transformations of the food. 

The visiting chefs rotate, but in 2015 they included: Andoni Aduriz (Mugaritz), José Andrés (minibar, Jaleo, The Bazaar, ThinkFoodGroup) Joanne Chang (Flour Bakery, Myers and Chang), Jim Lahey (Sullivan Street Bakery), Mark Ladner (Pasta Flyer, Del Posto),  Josep Roca (El Celler de Can Roca), Bryan and Michael Voltaggio (Ink, AGGIO, VOLT), and Tara Whitsitt (Fermentation Truck). The course also includes demos and lectures by other leaders in the field, including Ferran Adria (El Bulli Foundation), authors Harold McGee (On Food and Cooking, Keys to Good Cooking), Nathan Myhrvold (Modernist Cuisine), and food scientist Dave Arnold (Booker and Dax, Cooking Issues). [course website (harvard log in)], [pdf syllabus]    

This course is based on the on-campus version of Science and Cooking and offers an opportunity for non-harvard college students to take the course for credit through Harvard Extension School. The course involves considerably more human interaction and personalized feedback than the Harvard X course. Students watch online videos, complete problem sets, and perform lab exercises in their kitchens, all while being connected to the course staff and classmates through the online discussion forum and web conferencing. Alternatively, the hybrid version combines weekly online lectures with on-campus activities. The course concludes with students working on a final project of their choosing and presenting it to the class at the online science fair. [hybrid course], [online course]

This course offers students the opportunity to work on an individual research project under the supervision of a faculty member. Alumni of Science and Cooking who want to continue working on their final project can sign up for this course to do so for credit. Students can also explore a new topic. Past projects have ranged from optimizing the performance of kitchen appliances, to chocolate tempering, vegan ice cream substitutes, and Japanese candy.