During the last decade, haute cuisine has undergone a scientific revolution. Leading chefs have taken an interest in the science of cooking and in scientific tools found more commonly in research laboratories. Centrifuges, freeze dryers, digitally-controlled water baths and liquid-nitrogen filled Dewar flasks are just a few examples of technologies that have transformed the modernist kitchen. The computer remains an underutilized tool for exploring the hows and whys of cooking. In this talk at the University of Washington, Nathan Myhrvold and Chris Young of Intellectual Ventures show how computationally intense heat-transfer calculations can reveal the subtle factors that influence the success or failure of a cook’s efforts in the kitchen. Explore the virtues of computational cooking, and watch novel techniques and creations made possible when science informs the culinary arts.

As if meatloaf wasn’t bad enough? For more FAIL videos and pictures, visit failblog.org