Premise: A semester-long course on the science and history of barbecue…

Learning Goals

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Relate muscle structure and composition—including collagen, myoglobin, fat, and water—to the expected cooking behavior and eating quality of specific meat cuts.
Explain and quantify the combustion and pyrolysis processes that produce heat and smoke, including the relationship between fuel, oxygen availability, smoke composition, and PAH exposure.
Analyze the chemical and physical transformations occurring during barbecue cooking, including protein denaturation, collagen solubilization, fat rendering, evaporation, smoke deposition, and Maillard browning.
Construct and evaluate a heat- and mass-transfer model for a barbecue cook, using temperature and mass data to account for conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation, geometry, and the stall.
Collect, calibrate, and interpret experimental data from meat, fuel, smoke, and temperature-control experiments; communicate uncertainty and apply appropriate food and laboratory safety practices.
Situate American barbecue within its historical and cultural contexts.

Pre-reqs

Gen Chem II, Calc II.

Reading List

Goldwyn & Blonder, Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling (2016) – primary resource
McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen — classic text on science and cooking; relevance here is Chpt 3 on meat.
Moss, Barbecue: The History of an American Institution (2nd ed, 2025) –A carefully researched history tracing barbecue from Indigenous pit cooking through colonial America into modern regional traditions.
(reference material on reserve) Myhrvold et al Modernist Cuisine (2011). – far too exp(a/e)nsive as a required purchase text, but lots of detail on heat transport, meat science, etc.
(reference) Lawrie’s Meat Science, 9th ed — classic reference for meat professionals
(reference) Meat Evaluation Handbook

Labs

Safety considerations: Food safety (raw-meat handling), combustion gases, and carcinogenic smoke compounds.

Meat quality determination (visual inspection, microscopy)
- Cryosectioning & imaging of raw and cooked meats
Bomb calorimetry of hardwoods & comparison calculations to propane.
Smoke analysis via HPLC determination of polyaromatic hydrocarbons or GC-MS or FTIR, or analytical pyrolysis
Properties of ionic solutions: osmotic pressure, diffusion, ionic strength (for relevance to brining)
Differential scanning calorimetry of collagen denaturation and gelatin gelation
Maillard reactions of amino acids and sugars
PID controllers — thermocouple calibration, sensor placement, logging uncertainty, and controller tuning.
Instrumented slow-cooker/smoker with feedback control
Heat transfer modeling – computational lab

Example Capstone Projects

Predicting the stall: Develop a heat- and mass-transfer model for pork shoulder or brisket; compare predictions against logged smoker data and explain discrepancies.
Fuel, smoke, and flavor: Compare two hardwoods or charcoal versus hardwood under controlled conditions. Measure temperature profiles, mass loss, and smoke/PAH proxy data; recommend a fuel strategy with safety tradeoffs.
Designing a stable smoker: Build or prototype a PID-controlled slow-cooker/smoker system. Calibrate sensors, tune the controller, quantify temperature stability, and document uncertainty.
The science of a regional barbecue: Select a regional tradition and connect its preferred animal, cut, fuel, cooking method, and sauce to meat science, heat transfer, and its cultural history.
Brining as transport science: Test salt concentration, time, and cut thickness; model diffusion and evaluate effects on mass change, water retention, texture, and sensory results.
Collagen, temperature, and tenderness: Compare low-and-slow cooking schedules for a collagen-rich cut. Use temperature logging and texture/structure observations to identify an evidence-based endpoint.
Smoke deposition and surface chemistry: Investigate how humidity, surface dryness, temperature, or smoke exposure affects bark formation and smoke deposition, while explicitly addressing PAH risk and experimental limitations.
A reproducible barbecue protocol: Create a scientifically justified, reproducible cook protocol for a chosen cut, including ingredient and fuel specifications, sensor placement, control strategy, predicted outcomes, safety plan, and historical context.

Other resources

American Meat Science Association

Fordham implementation notes

Place in the new core curriculum: Scientific Inquiry, Quantitative Inquiry (esp. if we build up the modeling aspects), Senior Capstone.

Fordham has history courses including Food and Drink in Modern Society, Food Politics, and Seminar: Food and Drink in Modern History on the books. Possible co-conspirators (perhaps enabling a History Inquiry designation?):

Name	Focus snapshot
Thomas Hertweck	English / American Studies; food studies, vegan studies, ecocriticism, food packaging, film, and American literature and culture.
Julie Chun Kim	English; food studies, Afro-Caribbean medicine and food, Indigenous land rights, colonialism, empire, and science.
Thierry Rigogne	History; early modern food history and the history of cafés; teaches “The Social Life of Coffee” and “Food and Drink in Modern Society.”

GenAI use

gpt-5.6-terra-medium used in codex to generate learning goals and possible capstone projects from draft notes and research current course offerings in history and possible collaborators