Best for beginners looking to escalate

[Beusho]

What do you all recommend to read or watch to advance in cooking. I can cook, that is I can follow a recipe, have knife skills and equipment. What I can't do is improvise, I don't really understand the 'why' of some recipes and it's frustrating. The books I've tried to read are either too detailed and daunting, I'm looking for something that goes over the basics but also explains the 'why' 

[KennethT]

I think part of what you're looking for comes with experience, which just takes lots of practice.  Also, I think it makes a difference if you cook a certain style of food all the time (like from a certain region), or if you're constantly bouncing around - not that there's anything wrong with that.  But, for me, when I started making a certain type of food over and over, certain things started jumping out, so now, if I watch a video showing someone making a new to me dish, I understand what they're doing right away - even if it's in a language I don't understand, I don't need captions anymore.

 

Also, I think that one thing to keep in mind is that, for centuries, most cooks had no understanding of the "why" of recipes - they just did as they were taught and didn't think much about it.  This was true of professionals - journeymen cooks learned from their masters and then continued the tradition, as well as home cooks - a daughter learning from her mother who did things the same way her mother and then her mother did....  It's only relatively recently where a select few people have to started to ask "why" and then, after learning, change their method from what was always "this is the way" to something different.

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, Beusho said:

What do you all recommend to read or watch to advance in cooking. I can cook, that is I can follow a recipe, have knife skills and equipment. What I can't do is improvise, I don't really understand the 'why' of some recipes and it's frustrating. The books I've tried to read are either too detailed and daunting, I'm looking for something that goes over the basics but also explains the 'why' 

Gimme an example of a recipe you don’t understand.

[donk79]

You may have already looked at this and found it wanting, but for learning to improvise, Michael Ruhlman's "Ratio" come to mind.  We had a discussion about the book when it was published that you can see here: 

 

[blue_dolphin]

9 hours ago, Beusho said:

What do you all recommend to read or watch to advance in cooking.

Have you read Samin Nosrat’s book, Salt Fat Acid Heat (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)? The first 4 chapters span 200 pages and are the most accessible intro to cooking that I know of.  The book also has recipes but those first chapters are the most valuable, in my opinion. 
That section of the book ends with this cartoon that may help you focus on the specific areas you want to explore AFTER you’ve taken the time to read the background. 

 

[TdeV]

My latest cookbook about pies.