Harvard University is offering free online course on Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. This course focuses on the physical changes that occur during cooking.
In this 6 week course, top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine techniques illuminate scientific principles in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. The course is Self-Paced.
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( votes)Course At A Glance
Length: 6 weeks
Effort: 5-7 hours pw
Subject: Science
Institution: Harvard University and edx
Languages: English
Price: Free
Certificate Available: Yes, Add a Verified Certificate for $ 75.00
Session: Self-Paced
Providers’ Details
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
About This Course
In Part 2 of Science and Cooking (Part 1 is available here), we will be visited by more 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.
Why Take This Course?
Students 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.
Learning Outcomes
- 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.
Instructors
Michael Brenner
Michael Brenner is the Glover Professor of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics, and Harvard College Professor at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He developed the popular Harvard class, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” with his colleague David Weitz and chef Ferran Adrià.
Pia Sörensen
Pia Sörensen is Preceptor of Science and Cooking at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, and the HarvardX Fellow for Science & CookingX. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at Harvard University, studying small molecule inhibitors of cell division.
David Weitz
David Weitz is a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Physics. He developed the popular Harvard class, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” with his colleague Michael Brenner and chef Ferran Adrià
Requirements
Secondary school (high school) algebra, basic mathematics concepts.
How To Join This Course
- Go to the course website link
- Create an edX account to SignUp
- Choose “Register Now” to get started.
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