My, my, it has been a while, no? Rest assured I have not been idle. In addition to improving my running with crosstraining, intervals, and rigorous record keeping (nutrition, calories burned, heart rate, etc), the huge influx of summer produce has induced a euphoria of kitchen activity. Mind you I haven’t spoiled this fun with all the little details I usually bother with—namely, photographing and journaling for posterity—BUT, today I decided, “Why not?” That is my Jekyll (or Bertha?) personality peeking through the curtains. I am not ordinarily the most whimsical person, but this site is nothing but the indulgence of a whim.

While restraining myself from utterly devouring sweet, luscious white nectarines, peaches, and cherries, my recent flirtations have been with grain berries and ovo-lacto vegetarianism.

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Week 2 is already finished, and my plans are on schedule. Among other culinary trips (see the new beef stroganoff and updates to cranberry orange bread), this week’s accomplishments include smoked ham-vegetable stock, peanut butter milk chocolate bark, candied orange zest, dark chocolate bark with said zest, potato rosemary rolls with roasted garlic, brown roux, and a test run on roasted chestnuts.

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In a previous article, I delivered a fairly thorough overview of stocks and outlined a recipe for fish stock. I dislike repeating myself, but for the sake of clarity, let’s start with what we know (or should know). There are three basic types of stock: white, brown, and fumet. Fish stock belongs to the first category, and is thus fairly simple to make; there’s some chopping and a fairly short simmer time, but no extra work is involved. Brown stock, the subject of today’s article, requires a little more preparation and a lot more time. I won’t pretend to be an expert in this arena. I’m still working out the kinks in this recipe, and there are a few practical matters to address in the future. But if you’re looking for an inroads into the topic, read on.

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No kitchen can truly be great without homemade stock. Stock is the fonds de cuisine, or "the foundation of cooking," and is a major component of rich stews and many excellent sauces. (And as for sauces—well, no aspiring chef or gourmet cook can truly claim fame in the culinary arena without demonstrating command of sauces.) Furthermore, a properly prepared stock made from scratch will always outperform prepackaged stock from the supermarket or stock made from powders; the two cannot even compare. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and upgrade your kitchen with a little homemade stock. Prepare stock the night before and refrigerate or make in advance and freeze for up-to several months.

There are at least a dozen, if not several dozen, variations of stock, depending on the ingredients and the methods employed. However, we can usually break down a traditional stock into three basic components:

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