Techniques & chemistry

Have you ever heard someone say : give a man a fish, he will eat today. Give a man a fishing rod, he will eat everyday.
Fine Cooking is a fishing rod.
Once you understand the techniques and the food chemistry, you can virtually make anything you like and succeed. For example: I never was satisfied with my French stew (meat too hard, too much gravy). Fine Cooking made a 3 pages long article on how to make a good French stew : when to add wine, how long to cook the meat etc. Now that I understand how each ingredient must be treated, my French stew is...hum delicious !