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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Bourguignon de cerf (Venison Bourguignon)      Origin: New Caledonia	Burundian Beef and Greens in Peanut Sauce      Origin: Burundi	Calalou aux crabes (Crab Callaloo)      Origin: Guadeloupe
Bourride      Origin: Britain	Burundian Igitoke      Origin: Burundi	Calalu      Origin: Benin
Bozartma (Lamb Stewed with Vegetables and Cherry Plums)      Origin: Azerbaijan	Burundian Isombe (Cassava Leaf Stew)      Origin: Burundi	Calco Stoba (Conch Stew)      Origin: Aruba
Braf (Broth)      Origin: Dominica	Burundian Ubugali (Cassava Porridge)      Origin: Burundi	Caldeiraa de Cabrito (Goat Meat Stew)      Origin: Mozambique
Braised Egg Dumplings in Chilli Broth      Origin: China	Butternut Squash and Pea Risotto      Origin: Britain	Caldeirada de Lulas a Madeirense (Madeira Squid Stew)      Origin: Portugal
Braised Lamb Shanks with Cannellini Beans      Origin: Britain	Bygan Dhal      Origin: India	Caldo Branco (White Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Braised Meatballs      Origin: China	Bœuf à la bretonne (Breton-style beef)      Origin: France	Caldo de Bicuda (Barracuda Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Braised Monkfish Provençal      Origin: Fusion	Cëebu Jen II      Origin: Senegal	Caldo de Camarâo de Cabo Verde (Cape Verdean Prawn Stew)      Origin: Cape Verde
Braised Pigeons with Cherries      Origin: Zambia	Cà Ri Gà (Vietnamese Chicken Curry)      Origin: Vietnam	Caldo de Chabéu (Palm Nut Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Braised Pork Ribs and Taro Stew      Origin: Hong Kong	Caçarola de Frango com Cominho (Chicken Casserole with Cumin)      Origin: Angola	Caldo de Citi (Red Palm oil Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Bratwurst im Bier, Berin-art (Bratwurst in Beer, Berlin Style)      Origin: Germany	Cabbage and Bacon      Origin: Ireland	Caldo de Peixe (Cape Verdean Fish Soup)      Origin: Cape Verde
Brewet of Almayn (Bruet of Almonds)      Origin: England	Cabbage Bredie      Origin: South Africa	Caldo de Peixe de Guiné-Bissau (Guinea-Bissau Style Fish Stew)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Brined Cabbage Sarma      Origin: North Macedonia	Cabbage Egusi Soup      Origin: Ghana	Caldou au Bissap (Flatfish with Hibiscus Flowers)      Origin: Senegal
Brinjal Casserole with Cheese      Origin: Zimbabwe	Cabbage Jambalaya      Origin: Cajun	Callaloo Soup      Origin: Saint Lucia
British Virgin Islands Peas Soup      Origin: British Virgin Islands	Cabbage with Chicken      Origin: Guyana	Callaloo Soup      Origin: British Virgin Islands
Brodet na Dalmatinski Nacin (Fish, Dalmatian Style)      Origin: Serbia	Caboches in Potage (Cabbage Stew)      Origin: England	Callaloo Soup      Origin: US Virgin Islands
Bruet Sarcenes (Saracen Brewet)      Origin: England	Cabri aux Gombos et Patates Douces (Goat with Okra and Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: Senegal	Calulu Carne Seca (Dried Meat Calulu)      Origin: Angola
Bruine Bonen (Suriname-style Kidney Bean Stew)      Origin: Suriname	Cabri Massalé (Kid Goat Massala)      Origin: Reunion	Calulu de Cabara (Goat Meat Calulu)      Origin: Angola
Bruine Bonen met Rijst (Brown Beans with Rice)      Origin: Suriname	Cabrito com Inhame (Kid Goat with Yam)      Origin: Cape Verde	Calulu de Peixe (Fish Calulu)      Origin: Angola
Brunswick Stew      Origin: American	Caccabinam Fusilem (Fluid Casserole)      Origin: Roman	Camarâes à Guineense (Guinean Prawns)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Buckwheat Kasha      Origin: Ukraine	Caccabinam Minorem (Small Casserole)      Origin: Roman	Camarão na Abóbora (Prawns in Pumpkin Shells)      Origin: Mozambique
Buckwheat Kasha      Origin: Kazakhstan	Cachupa Rica      Origin: Cape Verde	Camarones Guisados (Stewed Prawns)      Origin: Puerto Rico
Bufuke with Onion Sauce      Origin: Uganda	Cachupa Rica II      Origin: Cape Verde	Camel Chubbagin      Origin: Mauritania
Bukharan Pilaf      Origin: Uzbekistan	Cachupinha      Origin: Cape Verde	Cameroonian Jollof Rice      Origin: Cameroon
Bukkeande      Origin: England	Cactus Chili      Origin: America	Canard au cidre (Duck with Cider)      Origin: France
Bulgarian Beef and Potato Moussaka      Origin: Bulgaria	Cafriela de Frango      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Canard au curry (Curried Duck)      Origin: DR-Congo
Bulgur Pilaf      Origin: Turkey	Cajun Bean and Potato Stew      Origin: America	Canarian Ropa Vieja      Origin: Spain
Bulgur Wan Pot      Origin: Sierra Leone	Cajun Brew Pork'n'Beans      Origin: American	Cane Rat Pepper Soup      Origin: Ghana
Bunyoro Stew      Origin: Uganda	Cajun Chicken and Seafood Gumbo      Origin: Cajun	Canja      Origin: Cape Verde
Burkinabé Riz au Gras      Origin: Burkina Faso	Cajun Chili Pork      Origin: Cajun	Canja      Origin: Cape Verde
Burrida Ligure (Genoese Fish Stew)      Origin: Italy	Cajun Tofu Gumbo      Origin: Cajun	Canja de Angola (Angolan Canja)      Origin: Angola
Bursen      Origin: England	Calabrese Mushroom Chili      Origin: American	Canja de Gahlinha (Cape Verdean Chicken Stew)      Origin: Cape Verde
Burseu (A Dish of Minced Meat)      Origin: England	Calalou (Beninese Callaloo)      Origin: Benin
Burundi Beans and Plantains      Origin: Burundi	Calalou      Origin: French Guiana

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