Though this column usually focuses on farmer's market finds, we want to occasionally offer some advice on common kitchen techniques. Great ingredients make great food, but so do great skills. Have something you'd like us to discuss? Send us an email or leave a comment.

A freezerful of stock is a cook's secret weapon. Create buttery, flavorful boiled rice by using stock in place of water. Make extraordinary soups with homemade stock. Finish a dish with a rich, stock-based pan sauce. Braise food in stock to add extra dimensions of flavor. Impress your friends with tales of stockmaking (though this doesn't work for us nearly as often as you'd think). You can buy good stock (hint: not with a Swanson's logo), but if you know how to make your own, you can control the flavors and stretch ingredients a little further. Save the bones from your roast chickens, and convert them to a golden elixir every few months. It's like getting a bonus meal out of the chicken.

It's an easy skill. You can find complex instructions, but we prefer the simpler forms. Yes, it takes time, but you don't have to do much work, so set it up before you hunker down for a night of TV, and by the time the news comes on you'll have a richly colored, aromatic addition to your pantry.

Photos by Melissa Schneider