Great thread. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to plug Serious Eats (no affiliation, just a satisfied reader). The editor is an MIT trained chemist who also is incredible at cooking, and the recipes not only always just work, but the reason why they work gastronomically is always spelled out in very clear detail.

Outside of that, I generally have the same issue with cooking ethnic cuisine. The specialized equipment is different, it's challenging (and crucial) to get specialty ingredients, new techniques need to be learned. But, most importantly, you have to know how it's supposed to taste, otherwise it's impossible to approach cooking it properly. I was never able to make a proper mapo tofu until I had my first really really good one and realized what I was missing (good Szechuan peppercorns).