[pjmorris]

Alton Brown's 'Good Eats' television programs (now streamable) did a nice job explaining whys. His books are good too. 'Cooking For Geeks', mentioned in the thread is interesting here as well. Also consider Harold McGee's 'On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen'... chefs turn to it when they want to know why (until they start doing their own experiments, then you get Adria, Achatz, and folks like Nathan Myhrvold turning out 'Modernist Cusine').