http://allrecipes.com/recipe/basic-chicken-stock/Detail.aspx

Just see number 3 in the directions. This will work for beef stock too.

The egg white and the shells form what’s called a raft by some, rising to the top. Along the way, any remaining small particles will be trapped.

OK, now I want to go home and make some stock!

for more on trotters, check out this link below – I've made the meat pie with guinness, but there are endless paleo uses for "trotter gear" and it's an amazing thing to keep a few quarts in the freezer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/magazine/22food-t-002.html

I don't think a true demi can be made without the roux. Traditionally it is equal parts browned veal stock and brown veal veloute (gravy or sauce)reduced by half (demi). But who needs a "true" demi, as long as the product tastes good?

I like your idea of reducing the stock more. When I last earned my salt as a chef (1988ish) the trend was away from traditional preparations and toward pure reduction sauces. The concentrated flavors are terrific and the geltins provide plenty of body. The ingredients, if not the extensive preparation, are pure paleo.

The only point I would like to emphasize is to be sure to start with cold water, the colder the better. It helps the gelatin in the marrow bones dissolve before congealing. It will make your stock nice and jello like. Not a bad idea to soak them in cold water for a few hour or overnight before firing up the crockpot.

Hooves are full of gelatin. Add away – same with tails, necks and knuckle bones.

For darker stocks – roast the bones and vegetables before covering with cold water. The sugars will brown adding color and flavor.

Classic vegetable flavorings: onion, carrot, celery (no leaves please) in a 2:1:1 ratio respectively. If you like leeks use 1 part leeks so the ratio is 1:1:1:1. Leeks also add even more gelatin to the mix.

Bayleaf, peppercorns and thyme is the classic herb combo.

French chefs sometimes do a second round with the same bones for a more neutral stock (remoulage if I remember correctly – it has been nearly 25 years so I might be off on the term). It requires more time to reduce but the outcome is just as gelataneous as the first round. It is good in place of unflavored gelatin.

I add a split pig's foot when I have one (you can always get those cheap at a Latino market if you can't get them from a conventional butcher) to broths for Portuguese sausage soup, and chicken feet to chicken broth. Makes the most wonderfully gelatinous broths. I'm working on finding calf's feet for beef broth. That natural gelatin is great for our own GI lining and joints.

I count on the bioavailable minerals in broth instead of taking calcium supplements! Roasting meaty neck bones a bit, prior to broth making, intensifies the flavor.

If the broth is going to be frozen for later use, when it is strained and skimmed, I simmer it uncovered on the stove (not boiling) to let some water evaporate. Then when it has concentrated almost to th epoint of becoming demi-glace, I let it cool, then freeze it. Takes up less freezer space. I tend to toss any skimmed fat that has simmered a long time (more than 12 hours) to avoid oxidated fats. Less of an issue with saturated fats, but with chicken fat, unless I know it wasn't fed a lot of soy and corn (very unusual), I have to assume a high amount of unstable PUFAs in the fat, so it's better to toss fat that has cooked a very long time.

I am so over the convenience of bullion cubes, powder, or "Better than Bullion" and canned or aseptic packages of broth. The Migraineur says that packaged chicken broth is like the water one rinses chicken with, when compared to homemade broth – I couldn't agree more! As you've described, Richard, a zip bag on the freezer for carrot, onion, and celery scraps, and another for bones, and a slow cooker pot – makes broth making a piece of cake (ever notice how many wheat-origin words and phrases are in the English language?). I just froze some celery today – I had some left from my last CSA box, some in this week's box, and it was too long to fit in my crisper. So I chopped up the older stuff, chopped off the leafy end of the new stuff so it would fit (1 or 2 minutes at most) – gave it a rinse in the salad spinner, spun the water out, bagged and froze it.

When I have time, I like to chop a LOT of onions, either by hand or in a food processor. Then I freeze the diced onions in convenient quantities for future use. When I'm pressed for time or out of whole onions (it happens), it's great to whack a bag of frozen diced onions on the counter to break up the clumps, then toss them into a hot buttered saute pan or broth.