That's why there are different levels of cookbooks/recipe books, and people need to pick from their level. Amazon is very good for that, because people comment extensively in their book reviews. At the higher levels, all that might be needed is to describe the dish by ingredients and approximate method. At that level, if it says "braised" whatever, the operator should have enough experience to adapt the general concept of braising to suit the dish. At a more beginner level, it might specify the size of the pan and the amount of water or specific water level to be used, with a note that the lid stays on in the oven.
And somewhere in the middle, it might just say to brown or sear the meat. At the middle level, the cook should know that "brown" and "sear" mean dark, hard browning and should know, for instance, that you get that by placing the meat in a small amount of very hot oil and leaving it alone until it naturally releases. At one point, that cook had to keep gently trying to left the meat but eventually learned about how long to leave it, how far up the side particular color changes would take place, and how exact timing wasn't necessary. I would not automatically assume a middle level cook knew that pork chops need medium or medium-low heat and scoring of the side fat in order not to curl, quite different from searing beef.
Like everything else, you have a box of tools. In cooking, the tools are the ingredients, heat sources, cooking vessels, and hand tools that produce some useful effect. You learn how each works by cooking from detailed recipes and paying attention to what happens, so that you don't try to deep fry in an oven, just as the beginning woodworker is told to use a coping saw and thus learns that it's the correct tool and observes how it works and therefore doesn't try to do the same job with a hack saw. But the accomplished woodworker doesn't have to be told which saw blade to use to cut cleanly across the grain.
For instance, the slow cooker is just another tool. The recipes that came with the cooker are very specific about amounts of water, time, and temperature. The more accomplished cook will just get out the slow cooker if it's the right tool and one they like using. But they will also know how to get the same effect with other tools.
And cooking need not be one way. Once you know what each component does, how oven heat transfers to a vessel, what the water in the vessel does, the different effects of the food being covered with water, partially covered, or a bare amount of water in the pot, the cook knows how that will change the outcome for each type of food. So he can change confidently it for effect.
To the highly experienced cook, braising vs. stewing doesn't matter. Tell them one or the other, and they're going to do something involving heat and water and do it according to their experience.
Look at what is perhaps the most famous of all recipes, boeuf bourguignon in Julia Child's book. You can do it just fine, because it's very detailed and is intended to teach method. And each of the related recipes, like sauteed mushrooms are equally detailed. But it's not a terribly complex dish (being just a beef stew done right), and after you make it once or twice, you know what to do and how to do it and can transfer that knowledge to quite different dishes. Nor do experienced cooks require most of a page telling them how to saute mushrooms. Go look at the sauteed mushroom recipe. Detailed, right down to shaking the pan. But once you've done it, all you need is "saute mushrooms with some shallots." And it also calls for "brown braised onions." Her only use of the term 'braise" is to say "Braise as follows.", prior to detailed directions.
If you want a recipe writer who pretty much says, "Now, you've braised," you can't beat Julia. She was writing for American women at a time when classic French cooking was something they may not have even heard of.. Do the Julia and Julie exercise, and you'll know a great deal of technique. Think about the why's of each recipe, and you'll know a great deal about cooking.