Making Stock but soup chicken or fowl are not available

Interestingly, Judy Rodgers specifically says NOT to use extra backs.

"Still, you can substitute a small whole chicken and make up the balance with fresh chicken wings, which deliver bright flavor and viscosity. Don't supplement with backs."

That was her stance and she was a very opinionated cook. She also uses salt in her stock and there's a camp that believes that salt inhibits flavor extraction. If I want salt in my stock, I add it at the end.

She possibly says NO BACKS as there is a certain amount of "guts" attached to those backs and, like the recommendations against using livers, probably add a certain amount of stronger flavor to the broth. Never bothered me. I also add a dozen or so whole peppercorns and 3-4 whole cloves to a pot of chicken stock. They add a bit of heartiness to the pot.

Like I said, she was very opinionated.

She did run an excellent restaurant kitchen (some locals think of it as Chez Panisse West) so she certainly had highly trained line cooks who would follow her explicit instructions had she wanted to use chicken backs. The cookbook is meticulously detailed to the point where she would have put those same instructions in print.

While Judy was alive, that's the way chicken stock was made at the Zuni Cafe.

I'm not saying you can't make good stock with chicken backs (I use them myself). As I often say, it's really up to the individual cook.

After all, you're putting on your dinner table for your guests. If you want to put aromatics in your stock, go right ahead. Many cooks do.

Curiously her peer Paul Bertolli (chef de cuisine during the early years at Chez Panisse and co-author of the early Alice Waters books) doesn't use any aromatics at all in his meat broth. No onions, no carrots, no bay leaves, no salt, no pepper, no spices, nothing. It's just meat (combination of beef, chicken, and pork) and water. That's it. He's even more exacting than Judy was.

Do they even make that distinction anymore?

Which distinction?

I remember, too, when one could buy broiler/fryers AND roasters in any supermarket. B'Fs were smaller, usually around 3-4 pounds and the roasters were larger, but not as large as some of what I see today. A chicken was never meant to weigh 7-8 pounds! The much older stewing chickens were exactly that.... and usually tasty, but very tough old birds that made great stock. You might be able to find them at a large enough farmers market or if you have an egg facility in your area.