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 2595 recipes in total:

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Pot-roasted Pheasant with Cider and Calvados      Origin: Britain	Poulet de Comores (Comorian Chicken)      Origin: Comoros	Psoai (Pork in Piquant Sauce)      Origin: Roman
Potage Fene Boiles (A Broad Bean Pudding)      Origin: England	Poulet de Guinée (Guinean Chicken)      Origin: Guinea	Pua’atoro aux Pommes de Terre Rissolées (Corned Beef with Fried Potatoes)      Origin: Tahiti
Potaje de Garbanzo e Collejas (Chickpea Stew with Bladder Campion)      Origin: Spain	Poulet Directeur Général      Origin: Cameroon	Puerto Rican Picadillo (Puerto Rican Stewed Minced Beef)      Origin: Puerto Rico
Potato and Bean Casserole with Tomatoes      Origin: Ireland	Poulet en Cocotte (French Chicken Casserole)      Origin: France	Puhādi (Mesopotamian Lamb Stew)      Origin: Mesopotamia
Potato Casserole      Origin: Ireland	Poulet Fafa (Chicken with Taro Leaves)      Origin: Tahiti	Pulled BBQ Pork Tacos with Wilted Cabbage Salad (Pulled BBQ Pork Tacos with Wilted Cabbage Salads)      Origin: Britain
Potée bretonne aux saucisses et poisson (Breton stew with sausages and fish)      Origin: France	Poulet Fafa (Chicken with Taro Leaves)      Origin: Wallis Futuna	Pultes (Meat Pottage)      Origin: Roman
Potes Cig Eidion (Beef Pottage)      Origin: Welsh	Poulet Kédjénou (Kédjénou Chicken)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Pultes Cum Iure Oenococti (Pottage with Wine Sauce)      Origin: Roman
Potes Cig Eidion II (Welsh Beef Stew II)      Origin: Welsh	Poulet Massalé (Chicken Massala)      Origin: Reunion	Pumpkin Chili      Origin: American
Potes Cregyn Gleision Gyda Ceirch (Mussel Stew with Oat Dumplings)      Origin: Welsh	Poulet Moambe (Chicken Moambe)      Origin: Congo	Pumpkin Curry      Origin: Britain
Potes Llysiau â Dwmplinau (Vegetable Stew with Dumplings)      Origin: Welsh	Poulet Véronique (Chicken Véronique)      Origin: France	Pumpkin Goulash      Origin: American
Potjeikos      Origin: Southern Africa	Poulet Yassa (Chicken yassa)      Origin: Senegal	Pumpkin Sambar      Origin: India
Potted Ox Cheek      Origin: Scotland	Poulet Yassa (Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Gambia	Pumpkin Vine Tips Tarkari      Origin: Nepal
Poularde à la D'Albufera (Chicken Albufera)      Origin: Spain	Poulet Yassa (Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Punjene Paprika (Stuffed Peppers)      Origin: Serbia
Poule au pot à l'ancienne (Old-Fashioned Chicken in a Pot)      Origin: France	Poulet Yassa Burkinabé (Burkinabe Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Purée d'Aubergines (Aubergine Purée)      Origin: Rwanda
Poulet à l'Arachide (Chicken with Peanuts)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Poulet Yassa de Guinée (Guinean Poulet Yassa)      Origin: Guinea	Purée d'Azinkokoui au Boudin (Azinkokoui Purée with Boudin Sausage)      Origin: Togo
Poulet à L'Indienne (Comoran Chicken Curry)      Origin: Comoros	Poulet Yassa Malienne (Malian Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Mali	Qatari Jareesh      Origin: Qatar
Poulet à la Basque (Basque-style Chicken)      Origin: France	Poulet Yassa Mauritanienne (Mauritanian Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Mauritania	Qatari Machboos      Origin: Qatar
Poulet à la Moutarde façon Burkina Faso (Chicken with Mustard in the Style of Burkina Faso)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Powsowdie      Origin: Scotland	Quabili Pilau (Lamb and Yellow Rice with Carrots and Raisins)      Origin: Afghanistan
Poulet à la N'Gatietro (Chicken in the Manner of N'Gatietro)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Prassa (Leek and Rice Stew)      Origin: Armenia	Queue de Boeuf Braisée (Braised Oxtail)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Poulet à la Noix de Coco et aux Arachides (Chicken with Coconut and Peanuts)      Origin: Gabon	Prawn Kofta Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Queue de Boeuf Pinon (Oxtail Pinon)      Origin: Togo
Poulet à la Provençale (Provence-style Chicken)      Origin: France	Prawn Patia      Origin: India	Quizaca (Cassava Leaf Stew)      Origin: Angola
Poulet à la Sauce Blanche (Chicken with White Sauce)      Origin: Benin	Prebranac (Serbian-style Baked Beans)      Origin: Serbia	Qurutob      Origin: Tajikistan
Poulet à la Sauce Tomate (Chicken with Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Gabon	Pressure Cooker Baked Beans      Origin: American	Quzi (Iraqi Lamb over Rice)      Origin: Iraq
Poulet à la mangue et fonio (Mango Chicken with Fonio)      Origin: Mali	Pressure Cooker Beef and Stout Stew      Origin: Ireland	Râgout de Boeuf aux Bananes (Beef Stew with Plantains)      Origin: Central African Republic
Poulet à la Moambe (Chicken Moambe)      Origin: DR-Congo	Pressure Cooker Beef in Pepper Sauce      Origin: American	Rabbit in Tomato and Emperor's Mint Sauce      Origin: Britain
Poulet à la Moutarde (Gabon Mustard Chicken)      Origin: Gabon	Pressure Cooker Cajun Meatball Stew      Origin: American	Rabbit in Tomato and Mint Sauce      Origin: Andorra
Poulet au Beurre de Cacahuète (Chicken with Peanut Butter)      Origin: Senegal	Pressure Cooker Curried Beef Stew      Origin: South Africa	Rabbit Pilaf      Origin: Uzbekistan
Poulet au Citron Vert (Chicken with Limes)      Origin: DR-Congo	Pressure Cooker Curried Squash      Origin: Fusion	Rabbit Pilaf      Origin: Uzbekistan
Poulet au Gingembre (Ginger Chicken)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Pressure Cooker Dhal      Origin: Fusion	Rabbit Stew with Mallow Cheeses      Origin: British
Poulet aux Arachides à la Togolaise (Chicken with Peanuts, Togo Fashion)      Origin: Togo	Pressure Cooker Jambalaya      Origin: American	Rabo Encendido (Spicy Dominican Oxtail Stew)      Origin: Dominican Republic
Poulet aux Arachides de Niger (Chicken with Peanuts, Niger Style)      Origin: Niger	Pressure Cooker Ratatouille      Origin: Britain	Rad Na Moo (Pork with Noodles in Gravy)      Origin: Thailand
Poulet aux Bananes Plantains (Chicken with Plantains)      Origin: Cameroon	Pressure Cooker Vegetable and Coconut Curry      Origin: Fusion	Ragoût aux épinards (Spinach Stew)      Origin: Central African Republic
Poulet aux Bananes Plantains (Chicken with Plantains)      Origin: Madagascar	Psarósoupa Kakavia (Cretan Seafood Stew)      Origin: Greece
Poulet Créole (Creole Chicken)      Origin: Mauritius	Psarossoupa Avgolemno (Fish Soup with Egg and Lemon)      Origin: Greece

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