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 2308 recipes in total:

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Carne Mechada (Venezuelan Shredded Beef)      Origin: Venezuela	Chardwardon      Origin: England	Chicken Pepper Soup      Origin: Sierra Leone
Carne Mechada (Venezuelan Shredded Beef)      Origin: Venezuela	Charquicán (Traditional Chilean Stew)      Origin: Chile	Chicken Potjie with Dumplings      Origin: Botswana
Carne na Cerveja (Beef in Beer)      Origin: Brazil	Chaudage (Pork and Beef Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Chicken Rice      Origin: Malaysia
Carne Porco Vinho D'alhos (Pork in Garlic and Wine)      Origin: Portugal	Chefy Umngqusho (Chefy Samp and Beans)      Origin: South Africa	Chicken Rice      Origin: Singapore
Carnes Vaccinae (Byzantine Beef Stew)      Origin: Roman	Chelo Nachodo (Chicken and Chickpea Stew with Rice)      Origin: Afghanistan	Chicken Rice      Origin: Christmas Island
Carotae et pastinacae (Fried Carrots with Peppered Wine Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Cherupayar Curry (Whole Green Lentil Curry)      Origin: India	Chicken Seychelles      Origin: Seychelles
Carri Tripes Gros Pois (Butter Bean and Tripe Curry)      Origin: Mauritius	Chicken Afritada      Origin: Philippines	Chicken Shashlick      Origin: Pakistan
Cassava Leaf Soup      Origin: Liberia	Chicken and Broccoli in a Curried Yoghurt Sauce      Origin: India	Chicken Suprême      Origin: France
Cassava Life      Origin: Sierra Leone	Chicken and Dumplings      Origin: Ireland	Chicken Tagine with Honey and Apricots      Origin: Morocco
Casserol Ceredigion (Cardiganshire Casserole)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken and Leek Hotpot      Origin: Ireland	Chicken Vindaloo      Origin: India
Cassoulet à Moda Brasileira (Brazilian-style Cassoulet)      Origin: Brazil	Chicken and Peanut Thai Curry      Origin: Thailand	Chicken White Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Cassoulet Mauricien (Mauritian Cassoulet)      Origin: Mauritius	Chicken and Vegetable Curry      Origin: Senegal	Chicken with Potatoes, Tomatoes and Fennel      Origin: Ireland
Cattail Hearts with Wild Oyster Mushrooms      Origin: America	Chicken Benachin      Origin: Cameroon	Chicken with Spiced Rice      Origin: Australia
Caudel of almannd mylke (Caudle of Almond Milk)      Origin: England	Chicken Boileen      Origin: Saint Vincent	Chicken with Spices and Soy Sauce      Origin: Malaysia
Cauliflower with Dorsa Sauce      Origin: Algeria	Chicken Bonnie Prince Charlie      Origin: Scotland	Chicken-Sausage Jambalaya      Origin: Cajun
Cawdel of Samoun (Caudle of Salmon)      Origin: England	Chicken Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Chickennat      Origin: Uganda
Cawl (Soup)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Curry with Greens      Origin: India	Chile con Queso (Chili with Cheese)      Origin: American
Cawl Cig Oen (Lamb Broth)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Curry with Potatoes      Origin: Malaysia	Chile Verde (Green Chili)      Origin: Mexico
Cawl Cynhaeaf (Harvest Broth)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Curry with Potatoes (FChicken Curry with Potatoes)      Origin: Cocos Islands	Chili Beans      Origin: American
Cawl Tregaron (Tregaron Broth)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Curry with Potatoes      Origin: Christmas Island	Chili Chicken      Origin: American
Cawl Wstrys Bro Gŵyr (Gower Peninsula Oyster Broth)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Curry with Yams      Origin: Fusion	Chili Con Carne      Origin: Fusion
Cawl y Carolwyr (Carollers' Broth)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Dupiaza      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Chili Con Carne II      Origin: Fusion
Cayman Fish Rundown      Origin: Cayman Islands	Chicken Gravy      Origin: Liberia	Chili Marrakech      Origin: Britain
Cazuela Chilena (Chilean Cazuela)      Origin: Chile	Chicken Guisado      Origin: India	Chilli Crab      Origin: Singapore
Cazuela de Mariscos Chilena (Chilean Seafood Cazuela)      Origin: Chile	Chicken Imoyo II      Origin: Nigeria	Chilli Crab      Origin: New Caledonia
Cazuela Fiestera (Festival Casserole)      Origin: Ecuador	Chicken Kabsa      Origin: Saudi Arabia	Chipirones à la Criolla (Creole-style Squid)      Origin: Mexico
Ceebu Jën (Rice and Fish)      Origin: Senegal	Chicken Machboos      Origin: Bahrain	Chitoumou      Origin: Burkina Faso
Celtic Pork and Apple Stew      Origin: Ancient	Chicken Machboos      Origin: Oman	Chivichanga de Machaga      Origin: America
Cennin mewn Saws Oren (Leeks in Orange Sauce)      Origin: Welsh	Chicken Machbous (Chicken Machboos)      Origin: Iraq	Chivo Guisado Liniero (Spicy Goat Meat Stew)      Origin: Dominican Republic
Ceviche de Pollo (Chicken Ceviche)      Origin: Peru	Chicken Madrouba      Origin: Oman	Chivo Picante (Dominican Spicy Goat)      Origin: Dominican Republic
Chabéu de Carne (Meat with Palm Oil)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Chicken Madrouba      Origin: Qatar	Cholent Dafina (Moroccan Sabbath Stew)      Origin: Morocco
Chabéu de Tainha (Palm Soup of Mullet)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Chicken Madrouba      Origin: Bahrain	Choroko Sauce      Origin: Uganda
Chakapuli (Georgian Lamb and Tarragon Stew)      Origin: Georgia	Chicken Makhani      Origin: Bangladesh
Chakhchoukha      Origin: Algeria	Chicken Pepper Soup      Origin: West Africa

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