The Science of Cooking: What's Really Happening to Your Food | with Ben Ebbrell & David Weitz
What's actually happening to your food when you cook it? Harvard physicist David Weitz and Sorted Food's Ben Ebbrell reveal the science hidden inside everyday cooking — from why mayonnaise becomes a solid, to how meringue defies physics, to what a martini has in common with a bag of salt. If you haven't watched Part 1, we recommend you start there: https://youtu.be/8vCgNB6osSsThis talk was filmed at the Ri on the 18th April 2026.
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In this lecture — the UK premiere of Harvard's celebrated Science and Cooking series — Ben cooks live on stage while David explains the physics and chemistry behind every step. You'll never look at an emulsion, a foam, or a loaf of focaccia the same way again.
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David Weitz is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, where his research focuses on the physics of soft condensed matter. A member of the National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering, he is the founder of Harvard's Science and Cooking public lecture series — a programme that has drawn over 45,000 live attendees and more than six million YouTube views worldwide.
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Ben Ebbrell is a co-founder of Sorted Food, one of the UK's most-loved food YouTube channels with nearly 3 million subscribers. A trained chef, he won the Good Food Channel's "next celebrity chef" competition and was named in The Guardian's 30 Under 30 for digital media. Sorted Food has released 7 cookbooks, a popular app, and a range of live shows dedicated to making great cooking accessible to everyone.
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Chapters:
0:00 Why focaccia? The bounciest bread explained
0:31 What is elasticity? Hooke's Law and food
1:56 Measuring focaccia's elastic constant live on stage
5:24 Calculating the result: focaccia vs tough meat
7:17 Making meringue: French vs Swiss vs Italian
8:08 Two liquids become a solid – again (foams and emulsions share the same equation)
9:42 Italian meringue: why sugar syrup changes everything
10:49 Building Baked Alaska: sponge, ice cream, meringue
11:16 Making ice cream in a bag – with the audience
13:29 Instant ice cream hack: frozen berries and clotted cream
14:40 Liquid nitrogen ice cream
15:38 What IS ice cream? A foam AND an emulsion
16:37 The insulation miracle: torching meringue over ice cream
17:40 Can meringue protect a hand from a blowtorch? (live demo)
20:45 The science of a martini: why shaking makes it colder than ice
25:09 Cheers!
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