Stews have been around almost nearly as long as humans have been cooking. All you need is a vessel to hold your ingredients and water and a means of heating that vessel. It can be as simple as a leather bag with stones heated in a fire dropped into it. So stews were almost certainly prepared during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, if not earlier. Once you have clay or metal pots you can prepare stews next to or set directly over a fire. Stews are low-maintenance cookery, generally not requiring that the cooking pot be observed continuously. The slow cooking is also ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat (neck, shin, tail etc). As these also tend to be the most flavoursome parts of animals, this also means that stews can be extremely flavourful. Stews also pair well with the local staple: potatoes, rice, bread, yams, cassava etc.

Even in hunter-gatherer societies stews are useful in that the slow cooking can make the most of tough meat and it can be combined with foraged grains, leafy greens, nuts and starchy tubers to yield a flavourful, low maintenance and nutritious meal. With the advent of agriculture almost all grains are amenable to stewing and combining grains and legumes in a stew provides a ready way to gain all the essential amino acids that humans (particularly children) require.

The boiling process of making stews also helps sterilize the ingredients, killing harmful bacteria and viruses. It can also help neutralize harmful chemicals, such as the cyanogenic compounds in bitter cassava and helps reduce bitterness in leafy greens, making the food both safer to eat and more palatable. The addition of flavouring ingredients (fruit, spices, herbs) during the cooking process can also alter the flavours of stews, making them more palatable and more appealing. This is particularly the case when adding components with high umami content (certain fish, seaweed, cruciferous vegetables, beans, soy sauce, mushrooms etc).

It is little wonder that, taken globally, the list of stews presented on this site is a long one.

Some stews border on soups and the definition of whether a dish is a soup or a stew. A good example of this is Welsh cawl which can be served with more liquid as a soup or can be thickened as a stew and served with bread and/or potatoes. Most curries, due to their long, slow cooking and blend of ingredients can also be considered a subtype of stew.

Pretty much every culture on earth has a classic stew that's a major part of its cultural culinary repertoire. I have viewed and collected recipes for many of these on my travels. These and other classic stews from around the world are collected and presented here.

The alphabetical list of all the stew recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 1816 recipes in total:

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Pilao ou Riz au Poulet (Comorian Chicken Pilau)      Origin: Comoros	Pork Black Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka	Poulet aux Arachides de Niger (Chicken with Peanuts, Niger Style)      Origin: Niger
Pilau Mouton de Comores (Comorian Mutton Pilau)      Origin: Comoros	Pork Fing      Origin: Bhutan	Poulet aux Bananes Plantains (Chicken with Plantains)      Origin: Cameroon
Pinon au Dindon (Pinon with Turkey)      Origin: Togo	Pork Fong      Origin: Bhutan	Poulet aux Bananes Plantains (Chicken with Plantains)      Origin: Madagascar
Pintade à l'Afrique (African Guinea Fowl)      Origin: Guinea	Pork Korma      Origin: India	Poulet Créole (Creole Chicken)      Origin: Mauritius
Pintade de Guinée (Guinean Guineafowl)      Origin: Guinea	Pork with Cabbage and Bananas      Origin: eSwatini	Poulet de Comores (Comorian Chicken)      Origin: Comoros
Pisam Adulteram Versatilem (Peas Turnover)      Origin: Roman	Pork, Potato and Fennel Casserole      Origin: Ireland	Poulet de Guinée (Guinean Chicken)      Origin: Guinea
Pisam coques (Peas in Herb Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Porkolt Csirke (Chicken Porkolt)      Origin: Hungary	Poulet Directeur Général      Origin: Cameroon
Pisam Farsilem (Pressed Peas)      Origin: Roman	Port of Spain Crabs and Dumplings      Origin: Trinidad	Poulet Massalé (Chicken Massala)      Origin: Reunion
Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam (Peas or Broad Beans Beans in a Herb Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Pot au Feau      Origin: France	Poulet Moambe (Chicken Moambe)      Origin: Congo
Pisca Hasa (Fried Fish)      Origin: Aruba	Pot au Feu      Origin: France	Poulet Véronique (Chicken Véronique)      Origin: France
Pisca Stoba (Fish Stew)      Origin: Puerto Rico	Pot-roasted Pheasant with Cider and Calvados      Origin: Britain	Poulet Yassa (Chicken yassa)      Origin: Senegal
Pisces Zomoteganon II (Fish Stewed in its Own Juice)      Origin: Roman	Potage Fene Boiles (A Broad Bean Pudding)      Origin: England	Poulet Yassa (Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Gambia
Plat Songhay (Songhay Dish)      Origin: Mali	Potaje de Garbanzo e Collejas (Chickpea Stew with Bladder Campion)      Origin: Spain	Poulet Yassa Burkinabé (Burkinabe Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Burkina Faso
Plat Tradicional Fula (Traditional Fulani Dish)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Potato and Bean Casserole with Tomatoes      Origin: Ireland	Poulet Yassa de Guinée (Guinean Poulet Yassa)      Origin: Guinea
Plays in Cynee (Plaice in Spiced Bread Sauce)      Origin: England	Potato Casserole      Origin: Ireland	Poulet Yassa Malienne (Malian Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Mali
Plokkfiskur (Icelandic fish stew)      Origin: Iceland	Potée bretonne aux saucisses et poisson (Breton stew with sausages and fish)      Origin: France	Prawn Kofta Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian
Point-and-kill      Origin: Nigeria	Potes Cig Eidion (Beef Pottage)      Origin: Welsh	Prawn Patia      Origin: India
Pois d'Angole (Pigeon Peas)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Potes Cig Eidion II (Welsh Beef Stew II)      Origin: Welsh	Pressure Cooker Baked Beans      Origin: American
Poisson au Fúmbwa (Fish with Fumbwa)      Origin: Central African Republic	Potes Cregyn Gleision Gyda Ceirch (Mussel Stew with Oat Dumplings)      Origin: Welsh	Pressure Cooker Beef and Stout Stew      Origin: Ireland
Poisson Yassa Mauritanienne (Mauritanian Fish Yassa)      Origin: Mauritania	Potes Llysiau â Dwmplinau (Vegetable Stew with Dumplings)      Origin: Welsh	Pressure Cooker Beef in Pepper Sauce      Origin: American
Poissons en sauce aux arachides (Fish in Groundnut Sauce)      Origin: Gabon	Potjeikos      Origin: Southern Africa	Pressure Cooker Cajun Meatball Stew      Origin: American
Pollo Borracho Chileano (Chilean Drunken Chicken)      Origin: Chile	Potted Ox Cheek      Origin: Scotland	Pressure Cooker Curried Beef Stew      Origin: South Africa
Pollo con Salsa de Cacahuetes (Chicken with Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Poularde à la D'Albufera (Chicken Albufera)      Origin: Spain	Pressure Cooker Curried Squash      Origin: Fusion
Pollo de Chocolate (Chocolate Chicken)      Origin: Mexico	Poulet à L'Indienne (Comoran Chicken Curry)      Origin: Comoros	Pressure Cooker Dhal      Origin: Fusion
Pollo Guisado (Dominican Stewed Chicken)      Origin: Dominican Republic	Poulet à la Basque (Basque-style Chicken)      Origin: France	Pressure Cooker Jambalaya      Origin: American
Pollo Guisado (Dominican Chicken Stew)      Origin: Dominican Republic	Poulet à la Moutarde façon Burkina Faso (Chicken with Mustard in the Style of Burkina Faso)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Pressure Cooker Ratatouille      Origin: Britain
Pollo Mexicana (Chicken Mexicana)      Origin: Mexico	Poulet à la N'Gatietro (Chicken in the Manner of N'Gatietro)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Pressure Cooker Vegetable and Coconut Curry      Origin: Fusion
Polvo à São Tomé (Sao Tomean Octopus)      Origin: Sao Tome	Poulet à la Noix de Coco et aux Arachides (Chicken with Coconut and Peanuts)      Origin: Gabon	Psoai (Pork in Piquant Sauce)      Origin: Roman
Polvo a Modo ze de Lino (Octopus Stew)      Origin: Cape Verde	Poulet à la Provençale (Provence-style Chicken)      Origin: France	Puerto Rican Picadillo (Puerto Rican Stewed Minced Beef)      Origin: Puerto Rico
Pondu      Origin: Congo	Poulet à la Sauce Tomate (Chicken with Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Gabon	Puhādi (Mesopotamian Lamb Stew)      Origin: Mesopotamia
Porc aux Choux de Chine (Pork with Chinese Leaf)      Origin: Madagascar	Poulet à la Moutarde (Gabon Mustard Chicken)      Origin: Gabon	Pulled BBQ Pork Tacos with Wilted Cabbage Salad (Pulled BBQ Pork Tacos with Wilted Cabbage Salads)      Origin: Britain
Porc Palmiste (Pork with Heart of Palm)      Origin: Reunion	Poulet au Beurre de Cacahuète (Chicken with Peanut Butter)      Origin: Senegal	Pultes (Meat Pottage)      Origin: Roman
Porc Wedi ei Bobi'n Araf (Slow-roast Pork)      Origin: Welsh	Poulet au Gingembre (Ginger Chicken)      Origin: Cote dIvoire
Pork and Beans      Origin: American	Poulet aux Arachides à la Togolaise (Chicken with Peanuts, Togo Fashion)      Origin: Togo

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