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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Pultes Cum Iure Oenococti (Pottage with Wine Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Renga Renga (Burundi Sweet Potato Leaf Stew)      Origin: Burundi	Rwanda Goat Pelau      Origin: Rwanda
Pumpkin Chili      Origin: American	Resalsike (Royal Fruit Stew)      Origin: England	Rwandan Beef Stew      Origin: Rwanda
Pumpkin Curry      Origin: Britain	Reshmi Gosht (Lamb Breast in Aromatic Sauce)      Origin: India	Rwandan Chicken      Origin: Rwanda
Pumpkin Sambar      Origin: India	Restaurant-style Chakalaka      Origin: South Africa	Rwandan Porridge      Origin: Rwanda
Pumpkin Vine Tips Tarkari      Origin: Nepal	Restaurant-style Monkfish Curry      Origin: Britain	Rys Lumbard Stondyne (Sweet Rice and Egg Pudding)      Origin: England
Purée d'Aubergines (Aubergine Purée)      Origin: Rwanda	Rhubarb and Ginger Compote      Origin: Britain	Saak-er Ghanto      Origin: Bangladesh
Queue de Boeuf Pinon (Oxtail Pinon)      Origin: Togo	Rice and Peas      Origin: Jamaica	Saare jerk-sealiha (Island Jerk Pork)      Origin: Dominica
Quizaca (Cassava Leaf Stew)      Origin: Angola	Rice and Peas      Origin: Saint Kitts	Saba Callaloo      Origin: Saba
Râgout de Boeuf aux Bananes (Beef Stew with Plantains)      Origin: Central African Republic	Rice Flour FuFu      Origin: Liberia	Saba Masala Chicken      Origin: Saba
Rabo Encendido (Spicy Dominican Oxtail Stew)      Origin: Dominican Republic	Rice with Pigeon Peas      Origin: Puerto Rico	Saba Rice and Black Beans      Origin: Saba
Rad Na Moo (Pork with Noodles in Gravy)      Origin: Thailand	Ris engoulé (Ris Engoule)      Origin: France	Saint Kitts Stewed Saltfish      Origin: Saint Kitts
Ragoût aux épinards (Spinach Stew)      Origin: Central African Republic	Ris Gras Burkinabé      Origin: Burkina Faso	Saint Lucia Lambi Soup with Dumplings      Origin: Saint Lucia
Ragoût Béninoise (Beninese Ragout)      Origin: Benin	Risoto Cranc Celtaidd a Chorgimychiaid Bae Ceredigion (Risotto of Celtic Crab and Cardigan Bay Prawns)      Origin: Welsh	Saint Lucian Bouillon      Origin: Saint Lucia
Ragoût d'Ignames et Boeuf (Beef Stew with Yams)      Origin: British	Risoto o Ddail Poethion a Pherlysiau Gwyllt (Risotto of Nettles and Wild Herbs)      Origin: Welsh	Saint Vincent Chicken Pelau      Origin: Saint Vincent
Ragoût de Chévre au Riz (Goat Stew with Rice)      Origin: DR-Congo	Risotto alla Milanese      Origin: Italy	Saint Vincent Pig Feet Souse      Origin: Saint Vincent
Ragoût de Porc au Citron Vert (Ragoût of Pork with Lime)      Origin: Senegal	Risotto allo Zafferano (Saffron Risotto)      Origin: Switzerland	Saint-Martin Whelk Soup      Origin: Saint-Martin
Ragoût Njansang (Njansang Stew)      Origin: Central African Republic	Riz au Gras ('Fat Rice')      Origin: Benin	Saka saka (Congolese Cassava Leaves)      Origin: Congo
Ragoût of Turkey      Origin: Britain	Riz au Lait de Coco de Comores (Comorian Rice with Coconut Milk)      Origin: Comoros	Saka Saka du Mali (Malian Sweet Potato Leaf Sauce)      Origin: Mali
Ragout Breton à la saucisse (Breton Stew with sausage)      Origin: France	Riz Créole (Creole Rice)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Saka-saka (Mutton and Cassava Leaf Stew)      Origin: Guinea
Ragout d'Igname (Yam Porridge)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Riz des Iles (Island Rice)      Origin: Comoros	Salmi Poulet Mauriticien (Chicken Mauritius)      Origin: Mauritius
Ragoût de cabri créole (Creole Goat Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Riz Dion (Rice and Mushrooms)      Origin: Haiti	Salmis de Faisan (Salmis of Pheasant)      Origin: France
Ragoût de chatrou créole (Creole Chatrou Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Riz et Pois Collés (Haitian Rice with Peas)      Origin: Haiti	Salmis de Palombe (Salmis of Pigeons)      Origin: France
Ragoût de lambi (Conch stew)      Origin: Saint-Martin	Riz Gras du Burkinabé (Burkina Faso Fat Rice)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Salmon Kalia in Panch Phoron Sauce      Origin: India
Ragoût de poisson (Creole-style fish Stew)      Origin: Saint-Martin	Riz haricots rouges antillais (Antillean Red Beans and Rice)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Salsa de Cacahuete con Pollo (Peanut Sauce with Chicken)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Rapas (Turnips)      Origin: Roman	Riz Wolof (Wolof Rice)      Origin: Guinea	Salt Cod and Potatoes      Origin: Bermuda
Rapes in Potage (Turnips in Pottage)      Origin: England	Romazava      Origin: Madagascar	Saltfish Buljolde      Origin: Antigua
Raspberry Coulis      Origin: Britain	Roo Broth (Roe Deer in Broth)      Origin: England	Sambhar (Lentil Curry)      Origin: India
Ratatouille      Origin: France	Ropa Vieja      Origin: Cuba	Samia' Metchou Peng Pa (Khmer Fish Stew with Lemongrass)      Origin: Cambodia
Rayo Saag Ra Sungur Ko Masu (Pork and Spinach Curry)      Origin: Nepal	Rosehip Purée      Origin: Fusion	Samlor Machu Trey (Sweet and Sour Soup with Fish)      Origin: Cambodia
Real Irish Stew      Origin: Ireland	Rosemary-scented Lamb      Origin: Britain	Samp      Origin: eSwatini
Red Cabbage with Glazed Onions      Origin: Belgium	Rostbraten Mit Pilzfulle (Roast Beef with Mushroom Stuffing)      Origin: Germany	Sancoche      Origin: Trinidad
Red Curry Cambogee with Meat      Origin: Cambodia	Rougail Saucisse (Sausage Rougail)      Origin: Mauritius	Sancochi di Galinja (Chicken Stew)      Origin: Aruba
Red Oil Greens      Origin: Liberia	Rougaille Boudin (Black Pudding in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Mauritius
Red-red      Origin: Ghana	Roz bi Laban (Egyptian Rice Pudding)      Origin: Egypt

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