In my random internet searches I ran across something called OpenCourseWare from MIT. In a nutshell, you can view the syllabus, homework assignments, reading, teachers notes, etc from most MIT courses offered at that school. It is all free but you cannot get any college credit for those courses. The MIT President was responsible for implementing this program in the hopes that it would raise the level of higher education all over the world. Isn’t that awesome??!?!?!
Anyway, if you are wondering how this affects food and cooking I am getting to that point. In reviewing the list of courses, I encountered a Kitchen Chemistry class whose objective is:
Welcome to the seminar entitled Kitchen Chemistry. This is a Pass/Fail, 6-unit seminar (2 hours of class and 4 hours of reading and homework per week). This seminar is designed to look at cooking from a scientific basis. Each week we will do an edible experiment and look at the science behind how it all works. We will examine chemical, biochemical, biological, microbiological, and maybe even physical principles. You are required to attend at least 80% of the classes.
I thought that sound somewhat fascinating… and while exploring the READINGS section online I found that they provide each week’s recipe along with questions that pertain to the different scientific process in each dish. Just had to share these…
