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:

Page 17 of 19

South African Vegetable Biryani      Origin: South Africa	Stuffat Tal-Fenek (Rabbit Stew)      Origin: Malta	Tatws a Chig Mewn Popty Araf (Potatoes and Meat in the Slow Cooker)      Origin: Welsh
Southern Style Pot of Greens      Origin: American	Stuffat Tal-Qarnit (Octopus Stew)      Origin: Malta	Tatws Pum Munud (Five-minute Potatoes)      Origin: Welsh
Southern Succotash      Origin: America	Stuffed Pheasant Breasts with Prune Sauce      Origin: Scotland	Texas Chili      Origin: American
Sphondylos Elixatos (Boiled Parsnips)      Origin: Roman	Suaasat      Origin: Greenland	Texas Red Chili      Origin: America
Spiced Lima Beans with Garlic and Coconut      Origin: Nepal	Succotash      Origin: America	Texas-style Pork and Beef Chili      Origin: American
Spicy Braised Cabbage      Origin: Tanzania	Sudanese Rice      Origin: Sudan	Tfina Camounia (Potatoes and Bean Stew)      Origin: Tunisia
Spicy Potatoes      Origin: Ireland	Sugar Bean Curry      Origin: South Africa	Thai Green Curried Cod      Origin: Fusion
Spinach and Peanut Butter Stew      Origin: West Africa	Summer Lamb Casserole      Origin: Britain	Thai Green Curry of Prawn and Fish      Origin: Thailand
Spinach and Simsim      Origin: Uganda	Summer Vegetable Stew      Origin: Britain	Thai Mango Fish Curry      Origin: Thailand
Springbok Potjekos      Origin: South Africa	Superkanja      Origin: Gambia	Thai Pork Curry in the Burmese Style      Origin: Myanmar
Sri Lankan Chicken Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka	Suqaar (Somali Beef Stew)      Origin: Somalia	Thai Red Curry Duck      Origin: Thailand
Sri Lankan Curried Okra      Origin: Sri Lanka	Suriname Masala Chicken      Origin: Suriname	The Ultimate Chilli Con Carne      Origin: Fusion
Sri Lankan Fish Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka	Suss-Saures Rotkraut (Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage)      Origin: Germany	Thiebou dieune (Street-style Senegalese Fish and Rice)      Origin: Senegal
St Columba's Broth      Origin: Ancient	Suya Beef Heart Curry with Beans and Wild Greens      Origin: Fusion	Thieboudienne (Fish in the Manner of Dakar)      Origin: Senegal
St Helena Curry and Rice      Origin: St Helena	Swahili Aubergine Curry      Origin: East Africa	Thiou a la Viande (Senegalese Beef Stew)      Origin: Senegal
St Kitts Seasoned Breadfruit      Origin: Saint Kitts	Sweet Potato Stew      Origin: African Fusion	Thiou Curry (White Rice with Curry Sauce)      Origin: Senegal
St Kitts Stewed Fish      Origin: Saint Kitts	Szeged Gulyasz (Pork Goulash with Sauerkraut)      Origin: Czech	Thon Curry Moutarde à la Mauricienne (Mauritian-style Tuna Mustard Curry)      Origin: Mauritius
St Lucian Pepper Pot      Origin: Saint Lucia	Tô      Origin: Burkina Faso	Thukaree Riha (Maldives Vegetable Curry)      Origin: Maldives
Steamed Crawfish      Origin: Liberia	T'fina Aricha (Beef and Wheat Stew)      Origin: Tunisia	Tibs Wet      Origin: Ethiopia
Stewed Beef in Coconut Milk with Dumplings      Origin: Trinidad	Tagalia      Origin: South Sudan	Tieb au Poulet (Chicken and Rice)      Origin: Mali
Stewed Beeff (Stewed Beef)      Origin: England	Tagin Lisan 'asfur (Orzo Casserole)      Origin: Egypt	Tiebe (Rice and Meat with Vegetables)      Origin: Togo
Stewed Japanese Knotweed and Angelica      Origin: Britain	Tagine of Lamb with Pumpkin      Origin: North Africa	Tigadeguena (Chicken in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Mali
Stewed Partridge      Origin: Britain	Tajin Sibnekh (Chicken and Egg Tagine)      Origin: Tunisia	Tiguadege Na      Origin: Mali
Stewed Pork in Red Sauce      Origin: Sao Tome	Tajine de chameau aux abricots secs (Camel tagine with dried apricots)      Origin: Mali	Tishreeb Hummus (Chickpea Casserole)      Origin: Iraq
Stewed Pork with Chickpeas      Origin: Fusion	Tajine Kefta aux Oeufs (Vegetarian Koftas with Eggs)      Origin: Algeria	Tom Brown      Origin: Nigeria
Stewed Rhubarb and Angelica      Origin: Britain	Tajine Msir Zeetoon (Chicken with Lemon and Olives)      Origin: Middle East	Tom Yam Goong 2      Origin: Thailand
Stiw Cig Oen Cymreig (Welsh Lamb Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Tamal de Olla      Origin: Panama	Tomatillo and Beef Curry      Origin: Fusion
Stiw Eidion Cymreig (Welsh Beef Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Tamarillo and Beef Curry      Origin: Fusion	Tomato Keema (Tomato and Beef Curry)      Origin: Pakistan
Stiw Pysgotwr (Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Tanzanian Curried Okra      Origin: Tanzania	Tomato Rice      Origin: India
Stockfish Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Tanzanian Meat Curry      Origin: Tanzania	Topside Pot Roast with Port and Root Vegetables      Origin: Britain
Stoved Chicken      Origin: Scotland	Tanzanian Meat Stew      Origin: Tanzania	Toscanita de Ciuperci (Sautéd Mushrooms)      Origin: Romania
Stoved Howtowdie wi' Drappit Eggs      Origin: Scotland	Taro aux Fruits de Mer (Taro with Seafood)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Toto-kena Misy Anana sy Voanjo (Greens with Peanuts and Minced Beef)      Origin: Madagascar
Stovies      Origin: Scotland	Tarten Oen a Bricyll gyda Crwst Persli (Lamb and Apricot Pie with Parsley Crust)      Origin: Welsh
Stufato del Pescatore (Italian Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Italy	Tasqebap (Fried Lamb with Tomatoes)      Origin: Albania

Page 17 of 19