> Has anyone found any technique/recipe books that attempt to deal with this ambiguity? Absolutely! If you are looking for this kind of specificity, Cooks Illu

> Has anyone found any technique/recipe books that attempt to deal with this ambiguity? Absolutely! If you are looking for this kind of specificity, Cooks Illustrated is your source. The will discuss multiple variables of basic techniques. Like in your example, dice size vs. browning time vs. just what the hell does "browned" mean anyway? : : The other solution to this: practice. If you cook thoughtfully, you will eventually come to understand how these variables impact your dish. But you need to pay attention while you cook, like a good engineer! I'll give you a 3 examples, specifically about onions, that took me years of practice to understand. Indian gravy base (essentially all dark curries and masalas) A <1cm dice, cooked very slowly until dark brown with no spot of white and not burned. You literally want a uniform brown paste because that gives the gravy a solid base and has a very earthy taste to it. Hard to do without burning. Mire Poix (a base used in many, many dishes in Europe: 50%carrot, 50%celery, 100%onion by mass): A <1cm dice, cooked slolwy until translucent. You don't want a toasty flavor at ALL, you want the savory taste of the onion with no zing. (easy, can be done in ~8-10 minutes) Spanish Caponata: A <1cm dice, cooked until browned edges (higher heat), but still white center, meaning sweet with some zing but still a toasty part. (tricky to not burn and still get a brown edge) And all of this skill changes if you buy a new pan or move to a new house with a new range! Or if your yellow onions are dried and cured properly, or overly moist or greenish. But cooks Illustrated will cover a lot of this, you just need to buy a lot of books though because they spread this out across several volumes. :( Practice though. Read cookbooks. Literally read them, the intros are usually very thoughtful. Marcella Hazan, Madhur Jaffry, Alma Lach, OTTOLENGHI... just to name a few of the greats you should check out.