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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St Helena Curry and Rice      Origin: St Helena	Sudanese Rice      Origin: Sudan	Tagine bal Ghalmi wa Gharraa wa Na'Na' (Lamb Tagine with Courgette and Mint)      Origin: Morocco
St Kitts Seasoned Breadfruit      Origin: Saint Kitts	Sugar Bean Curry      Origin: South Africa	Tagine bel Ghamli wal Barkouk wa Geijlane (Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Sesame Seeds)      Origin: Morocco
St Kitts Stewed Fish      Origin: Saint Kitts	Sukuma Wiki      Origin: Kenya	Tagine de Daurade (Tagine of Sea Bream)      Origin: Morocco
St Lucian Pepper Pot      Origin: Saint Lucia	Sukuma Wiki      Origin: South Sudan	Tagine Lahm bil Beleh (Lamb Tagine with Dates)      Origin: Morocco
Steak Cooked in Milk      Origin: Malawi	Summer Lamb Casserole      Origin: Britain	Tagine of Lamb with Pumpkin      Origin: North Africa
Steamed Crawfish      Origin: Liberia	Summer Vegetable Stew      Origin: Britain	Tagine of Yam, Carrots and Prunes      Origin: Algeria
Stew Peas      Origin: Jamaica	Sunday Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup      Origin: Taiwan
Stewed Beef in Coconut Milk with Dumplings      Origin: Trinidad	Superkanja      Origin: Gambia	Tajin Sibnekh (Chicken and Egg Tagine)      Origin: Tunisia
Stewed Beeff (Stewed Beef)      Origin: England	Suqaar (Somali Beef Stew)      Origin: Somalia	Tajine de chameau aux abricots secs (Camel tagine with dried apricots)      Origin: Mali
Stewed Japanese Knotweed and Angelica      Origin: Britain	Suriname Masala Chicken      Origin: Suriname	Tajine de Poulet au Miel et Abricots (Chicken Tagine with Honey and Apricots)      Origin: Morocco
Stewed Oxtail      Origin: Zimbabwe	Şurpa (Shurpa)      Origin: Turkmenistan	Tajine Kefta aux Oeufs (Vegetarian Koftas with Eggs)      Origin: Algeria
Stewed Partridge      Origin: Britain	Suss-Saures Rotkraut (Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage)      Origin: Germany	Tajine Msir Zeetoon (Chicken with Lemon and Olives)      Origin: Middle East
Stewed Pork in Red Sauce      Origin: Sao Tome	Suya Beef Heart Curry with Beans and Wild Greens      Origin: Fusion	Tamal de Olla      Origin: Panama
Stewed Pork with Chickpeas      Origin: Fusion	Svelkonik      Origin: Belarus	Tamarillo and Beef Curry      Origin: Fusion
Stewed Rhubarb and Angelica      Origin: Britain	Svinsko S Bel Bob (Pork with Beans)      Origin: Bulgaria	Tanzanian Curried Okra      Origin: Tanzania
Stewed Smoked, Sun-dried Fish      Origin: Montenegro	Swahili Aubergine Curry      Origin: East Africa	Tanzanian Meat Curry      Origin: Tanzania
Stewed Taro Leaves      Origin: Palau	Sweet Coconut Pumpkin with Pandan Leaves      Origin: Kiribati	Tanzanian Meat Stew      Origin: Tanzania
Stiw Cig Oen Cymreig (Welsh Lamb Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Sweet Potato and Peanut Curry      Origin: Fusion	Taro aux Fruits de Mer (Taro with Seafood)      Origin: Cote dIvoire
Stiw Eidion Cymreig (Welsh Beef Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Sweet Potato Pottage      Origin: Nigeria	Taro Guisado (Taro Stew)      Origin: Easter Island
Stiw Pysgotwr (Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Welsh	Sweet Potato Stew      Origin: African Fusion	Taro Leaf Stew      Origin: Pitcairn Islands
Stockfish Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Sweet Potatoes with Groundnuts      Origin: Zambia	Tarten Oen a Bricyll gyda Crwst Persli (Lamb and Apricot Pie with Parsley Crust)      Origin: Welsh
Stone Age Venison and Bulrush Stew      Origin: Ancient	Székely Gulyas (Székely Goulash)      Origin: Hungary	Tas-Kebab (Lamb Cooked in Wine)      Origin: Bulgaria
Stoved Chicken      Origin: Scotland	Szalonnas Savanyu K'pszta (Sauerkraut with Bacon)      Origin: Hungary	Tasqebap (Fried Lamb with Tomatoes)      Origin: Albania
Stoved Howtowdie wi' Drappit Eggs      Origin: Scotland	Szeged Gulyasz (Pork Goulash with Sauerkraut)      Origin: Czech	Tass Kebab (Fried Lamb in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Armenia
Stovies      Origin: Scotland	Szureti Birkaporkolt (Mutton Porkolt)      Origin: Hungary	Tatws a Chig Mewn Popty Araf (Potatoes and Meat in the Slow Cooker)      Origin: Welsh
Stracotto alla Romana      Origin: Italy	Tô      Origin: Burkina Faso	Tatws Pum Munud (Five-minute Potatoes)      Origin: Welsh
Studenetz (Jellied Ham Hocks)      Origin: Ukraine	T'fina Aricha (Beef and Wheat Stew)      Origin: Tunisia	Tavče Gravče      Origin: North Macedonia
Stufato del Pescatore (Italian Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Italy	Tabah Moostafah (Tagine of Marrakech Lamb)      Origin: Morocco	Tavuklu Bamya (Chicken with Okra)      Origin: Turkey
Stuffat Tal-Fenek (Rabbit Stew)      Origin: Malta	Tacos de Comida Callejera (Mexican Street-food Tacos)      Origin: Mexico	Telo met Bakkeljauw (Fried Cassava with Salt Cod)      Origin: Suriname
Stuffat Tal-Qarnit (Octopus Stew)      Origin: Malta	Tadjine Zdef (Mutton and Cheese Tagine)      Origin: Benin	Terrine Mauritanienne (Mauritanian Terrine)      Origin: Mauritania
Stuffed Pheasant Breasts with Prune Sauce      Origin: Scotland	Tagalia      Origin: South Sudan	Texas Chili      Origin: American
Suaasat      Origin: Greenland	Tagin Lisan 'asfur (Orzo Casserole)      Origin: Egypt	Texas Red Chili      Origin: America
Suani Tadjine (Kitchen Garden Tagine)      Origin: Algeria	Tagine Almaaz bil Beleh (Goat Tagine with Dates)      Origin: Morocco
Succotash      Origin: America	Tagine bal Ghalmi wa Aflour (Lamb Tagine with Broad Beans)      Origin: Morocco

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