This is in reference to the previous post linking an article on broth

As I was reading it over, I found myself nodding my head at the description of the stock making process - something we used to do daily in the restaurants I worked in.  Veal glace in particular took days to make - rinsing the bones, roasting them in huge pans for hours before adding stock vegetables, herbs and smearing on tomato paste.  Back in the oven again and roasting some more until the paste was somewhat caramelized with the edges drying and turning dark.  Dumping all the paste smeared bones and vegetables into a large stockpot, covering with water and letting sit over a low flame all night. 

We would come in the next morning and drain the stock through the spigot in buckets, pour water over the bones again just to cover and make veal wash with that.  The stock itself would be cooled overnight.  When we came in the third day, the fat would have congealed.  We removed it and began reducing the stock slowly, never boiling it.  Toward the end we would pour in red wine and let the two flavors simmer and reduce together... heavenly!  It went from gallons of stock to mere quarts.

These days, I rarely have time for such a long and involved process, no matter how easy the actual steps are.  For the most part, here is how I get my stock:  Whenever I roast any type of meat - chicken, pork, beef - after removing the meat from the pan, I pour all the pan juices into a clear 2 cup measuring cup OR I pour it into a simple clear plastic container (like Glad for example) and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, the fat from the pan juices will have risen to the top and congealed.  I take that fat off the top, throw it in the trash, and keep what's left.  I either keep it in my fridge if I think I might use it during the week, or I save it in the freezer.  Depending on how much space I have or how ambitious I am feeling, I either freeze it in the same container I used to cool it OR I dump it into a larger container with similar stock.  Beef with beef, chicken with chicken, pork with pork, etc.  I don't normally remelt it if I am dumping it into a larger container, I just chop it up a bit and put it in. 

Here is an example of some stock I made this way, then using to make a braise of oxtail and vegetables.

As you can see, the stock I saved from a previous roast is extremely gelatinous to start off with. 

The oxtails have a lot of cartilage and bone, and with a long braise the cartilage seems to 'melt' and become velvety in texture.  It is absolutely one of the most delicious pieces of meat. 

After the braise, I strain the liquid off from the vegetables and cool overnight once again.  The fat has rendered off the bones after many hours of slow cooking in the oven (I do almost all my braises on the oven and not on the stove top) and rises to the top as the liquid cools.  The next day I skim the fat, reheat the ingredients with the stock and voila!  Tasty dinner.  When you are eating oxtail for the first time (after skimming the fat), you might be a bit confused when coming across pieces that aren't directly "meat".  That is the cartilage, broken down into tender pieces that have the velvety texture and delicious taste of seasoned fat in your mouth but are not. 

After reading the article on broth, I made this braise for Olivia and she loved it.  She still needs her food to be soft solids, but this meat was SO tender that we just shredded it into small pieces and she was able to eat it.  I fork mashed the vegetables and she really loved her dinner.  She can't feed herself yet, so we spooned it into her mouth. 

She is currently 19 months old.