This is a great site address that is somewhat long-winded, but gives an excellent entemology for stocks, broths, boulions, and soups.
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsoups.html
In short, a stock is a liquor made by slowly simmering meat and meat bones in unseasoned water for the purpose of extracting nutrients and flavor. It is cooked for several hours, with careful skimming occuring frequently. It is also strained.
Theword came from stock, to set aside a useful amount of something, as stocking your pantry.
Broth comes from the same Germanic root as brew. It means to boil something. Typically, a broth is made by simmering, or boiling other ingredients in a stock. These ingredients can be meat, grain, vegetable, or a combination of these, along with seasonings, and salt. From broths, soups are made.
And I agree that the move collagen that a stock contains, the better it is. As I have said before, making stock is really quite simple. For instance, you can brown ground beef with a lid on to capture and condense the steam back into liquid. When the ground beef is done, pour the liquid into a suitable bowl and refrigerate. When it has cooled, it will have gelled from the collagen extracted (dissolved) from the ground up connecting tissue in the ground beef. The fat will have risen to the top, cooled, and hardened. Just remove that hardened fat and you have a delicious stock that can be used to make soups or aspics. And as for the ground beef, you have removed most of the fat, making it healthier. Just brown it a bit more to develop the proper flavor and color after draining the liquid.
I always purchase chicken with both the skin and bones. I remove the skin and bones and throw them in a pot with boiling water. By the time I'm finished preparing the chicken meat, the stock (after its been strained) goes into the fridge, just lime my hamburger stock. Again you get that great collagen and meat flavor, and the fat is hardened and easily removed.
Check out the address above for a more complete explanation.
Seeeeeya;' Goodweed of the North