[xayide]

I guess these are more science/engineering than hacker, but I think the following cooking sites match the title pretty well:

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/ When I want to make something new and complicated, I go here first. Great layout, photos with every step, and no assumed prior knowledge.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ The magazine has more content than the website, but when I took the time to read a two page essay about how to make pork lo mein, down to what cuts of meat I could reasonably expect to find in an American grocery store, I was not disappointed. These are the same people who endorsed wadded up paper towels as the best turkey lifters after extensive testing.

Of course, for real recipe hacking, I go to the substitutions section of the Joy of Cooking to see what insanity I can dig up. My best to date is a non-dairy chocolate cake that used lots of mayonnaise, and I really want to experiment with flax seeds as an egg substitute.

[joshu]

Cooks Illustrated is awesome. These people are obsessive and I love it.