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 2379 recipes in total:

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Scottish Rabbit Curry      Origin: Scotland	Sidvudvu (Pumpkin Porridge)      Origin: eSwatini	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Bonaire
Sea Spaghetti alla Bolognese      Origin: Fusion	Sieden Hähnchen (Simmered Chicken)      Origin: Germany	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Curacao
Seafood Amok      Origin: Cambodia	Sierra Leonean Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew      Origin: Sierra Leone	Sorrel Sarma      Origin: North Macedonia
Seafood Chili      Origin: American	Sierra Leonean Style Couscous      Origin: Sierra Leone	Souko Dounguouri (Meat Stew with White Beans)      Origin: Niger
Seaweed Ribollita      Origin: Fusion	Sierra Leonian Egusi Soup      Origin: Sierra Leone	Soupa Canja (Okra and Palm Oil Soup)      Origin: Gambia
Seco de Chivo (Dry-fried Goat Meat)      Origin: Ecuador	Siga Wot (Ethiopian Beef Stew)      Origin: Ethiopia	Soupe aux Lentilles et Legumes (Lentil and Bean Soup)      Origin: Burundi
Seengre ke Satha Tori Kari (Courgette Curry with Radish Pods)      Origin: India	Simboro (Meat with Taro Leaves and Coconut Milk)      Origin: Vanuatu	Soupe aux pois et la viande (Pea Soup and Meat)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Sehriyeli Pilav (Pilaf with Orzo)      Origin: Turkey	Simple Mole Poblano      Origin: Mexico	Soupe de mouton (Mutton soup)      Origin: Saint-Martin
Seitan Nyembwe      Origin: African Fusion	Sindhi-style Pilau      Origin: Pakistan	Soupe de Porc Fume (Smoked Pork Soup)      Origin: Burkina Faso
Semizotu Yemegi (Turkish Purslane Stew)      Origin: Turkey	Sint Eustatian Goat Water      Origin: Sint Eustatius	Soupe Kandja      Origin: Mali
Semolina Gnocchi      Origin: Italy	Sint Eustatius Rice and Black Beans      Origin: Sint Eustatius	Soupou Gertö (Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: Guinea
Sepias Elixas a Balineo (Boiled Cuttlefish from the Tank)      Origin: Roman	Sint Maarten Lokri      Origin: Sint Maarten	Soupou Konkoé (Smoked Fish Soup)      Origin: Guinea
Serekunda Fish Benachin      Origin: Gambia	Sint Maarten Whelk Soup      Origin: Sint Maarten	Soupou Tehou (Beef Soup)      Origin: Guinea
Seswaa (Pounded Meat)      Origin: Botswana	Skirlie      Origin: Scotland	Souse      Origin: Saint Lucia
Setsamandi (Lamb, Rice and Herb Gruel)      Origin: Georgia	Skoudehkaris (Djibouti Rice)      Origin: Djibouti	Sousi Pa (Fish with Coconut Cream)      Origin: Laos
Sewin yn y Badell (Pan-fried Sea Trout)      Origin: Welsh	Slow Cooker Mushy Peas      Origin: England	South African Cape Malay Curry      Origin: South Africa
Seychelles Fish Curry II      Origin: Seychelles	Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken      Origin: America	South African Rhus Bukhari      Origin: South Africa
Shahi Chicken Korma      Origin: India	Slow Cooker Vegetable Curry      Origin: Britain	South African Vegetable Biryani      Origin: South Africa
Shalgham Korma (Turnip Curry)      Origin: India	Slow-cooked Ox Cheek Rendang      Origin: Singapore	Southern Style Pot of Greens      Origin: American
Shattoo Water      Origin: Dominica	Slow-roasted Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives      Origin: Australia	Southern Succotash      Origin: America
Shellfish Seaweed Pudding      Origin: Ancient	Slow-simmered Beefsteak Fungus      Origin: Britain	Spanagh Geragoor (Spinach and Rice Stew)      Origin: Armenia
Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli)      Origin: Bangladesh	Smoked Fish Light Soup      Origin: Ghana	Sphondylos Elixatos (Boiled Parsnips)      Origin: Roman
Shi Zi Tou (Lion’s Head Meatballs)      Origin: China	Smoked Fish Stew      Origin: Ancient	Spiced Guinea Fowl Peppersoup      Origin: Nigeria
Shishwala (Maize Porridge)      Origin: eSwatini	Smoked Sausage and Bean Casserole      Origin: British	Spiced Lima Beans with Garlic and Coconut      Origin: Nepal
Shito (Dark Chilli Sambal)      Origin: Ghana	Smoky Pumpkin Chili      Origin: American	Spicy Braised Cabbage      Origin: Tanzania
Shitor Din      Origin: Ghana	Soganli Yahni (Mutton Stew with Onions)      Origin: Turkey	Spicy Chicken Gizzards      Origin: South Africa
Shoko (Nigerian Beef and Spinach)      Origin: Nigeria	Sokossoko de Rognon (Sokossoko with Kidneys)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Spicy Potatoes      Origin: Ireland
Shorbet Ads (Sudanese Lentil Soup)      Origin: Sudan	Solachi Kadhi (Kokam Sauce)      Origin: India	Spinach and Peanut Butter Stew      Origin: West Africa
Shtitha Batata (Potato Stew)      Origin: Algeria	Somerset Pork with Apples      Origin: England	Spinach and Simsim      Origin: Uganda
Shukto      Origin: Bangladesh	Somlar Mochu Sachko (Sour Beef Stew)      Origin: Cambodia	Springbok Potjekos      Origin: South Africa
Shurpa      Origin: Uzbekistan	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Aruba	Squash Stuffed with Freekah and Peppers      Origin: Lebanon
Shuwa II      Origin: Oman	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Bonaire	Sri Lanka Style Jackfruit Seed Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Sibirskie Jeskimosy (Siberian Huskies)      Origin: Siberia	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Curacao
Sicilian Fish Sauce      Origin: Italy	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Aruba

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