How to become a better cook by bringing science to the kitchen

In this talk we will bring parallels of science and cooking to the fore.  Using a wide variety of kitchen cooking techniques whose inner workings on the molecular level can be explained through chemistry and physics we hope to make the science and the food more easily understandable.  We will cover topics ranging from surface tension, diffusion processes, gelation, crystallization and viscoelasticity. The overall goal of the talk is to make you a better cook by better understanding your ingredients and how to manipulate them and to learn science through the prism of cooking.

Bio:

William (Bill) Yosses held the prestigious title of the White House Executive Pastry Chef from 2006 to 2014. Other executive pastry chef experience includes, The Dressing Room in Westport Connecticutt, Tavern on the Green and Bouley Restaurant in New York City. Yosses spent his early career in France in such highly recognized landmarks as Fauchon, La Maison du Chocolat, and LeNotre.

As Pastry Chef of the White House, he was closely involved with Mrs Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, with the goal of reducing childhood health problems related to diet, and conducted bi-weekly tours of the White House vegetable garden for school groups. In a related project, he has given lectures on Science and Cooking in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, and was instrumental in building a program in the Physics Department of Harvard University in conjunction with Chop Chop Magazine called Camp Chop Chop, in which healthy foods and innovative exercise are used to introduce scientific concepts to 4th and 5th graders.

Bill earned his A.A.S. degree at New York City College of Technology in Hotel Management, a Master of Arts at Rutgers University in French Language and a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toledo in French Language. He has published two books, Desserts for Dummies 1997, and The Perfect Finish, Special Desserts for Every Occasion, 2010. He is the recipient of the James Beard Who’s Who Award and Food Arts Magazine Silver Spoon Award.