Kenji Lopez Alt really helped me learn how to cook. Much like software, when you read a cook book, there's normally all sorts of background knowledge required to understand how to make that recipe. Watching him do it conveys way more info than the written recipe. eg here's what that chop should look like, here's what the veggies should look like, here's how tolerant / not tolerant various pieces of the recipe are to changes, etc.

If you think you'd like to cook, you should watch 20 or 30 videos from his channel.