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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Frango Zambeziana (Zambezi Chicken)      Origin: Mozambique	Gaeng Khiaw Waen (Green Curry with Pork)      Origin: Thailand	Gestowe Soetpatats (Slow-cooked Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: South Africa
Fresh Fish Pepper Soup      Origin: West Africa	Gaeng Ki Lek (Northern Thai Pork and Ki Lek Curry with Fingerroot)      Origin: Thailand	Ghanaian Cabbage Stew      Origin: Ghana
Fricase de Pollo (Cuban Chicken Fricassee)      Origin: Cuba	Gaeng Ki Lek (Northern Thai Pork and Ki Lek Curry with Fingerroot)      Origin: Thailand	Ghanaian Chicken Jollof Rice      Origin: Ghana
Fricasée de Gibier (Fricasee of Bushmeat)      Origin: French Guiana	Gaeng Pa-naeng (Panang Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Ghanaian Groundnut Soup      Origin: Ghana
Fricassée de Coq (Chicken Fricassee)      Origin: Mauritius	Gaeng Som (Thai Sour Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Ghanaian Pepper Soup      Origin: Ghana
Fricassé de chatrou (Chatrou Fricassee)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Gaeng Som (Thai Sour Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Gheema      Origin: Britain
Fricassé de lambis (Queen Conch Fricassee)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Galinha à Portuguesa (Macanese Portuguese Chicken)      Origin: Macau	Gheema Curry      Origin: South Africa
Fricassé de ouassous (Fricassée of Freshwater Prawns)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Gallo Pinto      Origin: Costa Rica	Gibelotte aux Amandes (Gibelotte with Almonds)      Origin: France
Fried Ata Sauce      Origin: Nigeria	Gallo Pinto II      Origin: Nicaragua	Gingko Rice      Origin: Fusion
Fried Bistort Greens      Origin: African Fusion	Galo Soup      Origin: Liberia	Glace de Viande      Origin: France
Fried Chicken Emirati Style      Origin: UAE	Gambas ou langoustines au pastis (Prawns or Langoustines with Pastis)      Origin: Monaco	Gnon de Fonio      Origin: Burkina Faso
Fried Lamb's Kidneys with Guinness and Mushroom Sauce      Origin: Ireland	Gambian Benachin      Origin: Gambia	Goan Crab Claw Curry      Origin: India
Frijoles Paisas      Origin: Colombia	Gambian Fish Pepper Soup      Origin: Gambia	Goan Lamb Xacutti      Origin: India
Frikkadel Curry      Origin: South Africa	Gambian Fish Yassa      Origin: Gambia	Goat curry      Origin: India
Frikkadels      Origin: South Africa	Gambian Oxtail Pepper Soup      Origin: Gambia	Goat Curry with Potatoes      Origin: Pakistan
Fruit and Bacon Braised Red Cabbage      Origin: Britain	Gambian Pepper Soup II      Origin: Gambia	Goat in the Burmese Style      Origin: Fusion
Fruity Beef Casserole      Origin: Britain	Gambian-style Okro Soup      Origin: Gambia	Goat Meat and Root Vegetable Stew in Ale      Origin: Britain
Fruity Chicken Curry      Origin: African Fusion	Garaasa be Dama (Sudanese Flatbread with Meat Sauce)      Origin: Sudan	Goat Meat Groundnut Soup      Origin: Ghana
Fruity Chicken Curry      Origin: India	Garbansos con salchichas (Chickpeas with Sausages)      Origin: Colombia	Goat Meat Pepper Soup with Calabash Nutmeg      Origin: Nigeria
Frumente yn lentyn (Frumenty in Lent)      Origin: England	Garden Eggs Stew      Origin: Ghana	Goat Meat Soup      Origin: Liberia
Fryplantain and Beans      Origin: Ghana	Gari aux Crevettes (Gari with Prawns)      Origin: Cameroon	Goat Water      Origin: Antigua
FSM Tinola      Origin: Federated States Micronesia	Gari Foto      Origin: Ghana	Goat Water      Origin: Saint Kitts
Ful Medames      Origin: Somaliland	Gari Piñon      Origin: Togo	Gombapaprikás (Mushroom Paprikash)      Origin: Hungary
Fulkopir Baati Jhaal (Potato and Cauliflower Stew)      Origin: Bangladesh	Garlic Roasted Chicken      Origin: American	Gombo et Kissar (Okra Stew with Kissar)      Origin: Chad
Funchi      Origin: Aruba	Gazpacho Manchego (Manchego Gazpacho)      Origin: Spain	Gombos au Boeuf (Beef and Okra)      Origin: Central African Republic
Funchi (Polenta)      Origin: Bonaire	Gbegiri (Bean Stew)      Origin: Nigeria	Gombos de Poisson Sec (Dried Fish with Okra)      Origin: Chad
Funchi (Polenta)      Origin: Curacao	Gboma Dessi (Spinach Sauce with Beef)      Origin: Togo	Goose Risotto      Origin: Fusion
Funchi      Origin: Sint Eustatius	Gebraaide Hoender (Spiced Roast Chicken)      Origin: South Africa	Gormeh Sabzi (Persian Lamb and Herb Stew)      Origin: Iran
Funges (Mushrooms)      Origin: England	Gelyne in Dubbatte (Hen in Wine Broth)      Origin: England	Gosht Pullao (Beef Pullao)      Origin: India
Furmente with porpays (Grain Pottage with Porpoise)      Origin: England	Gemfish in Chermoula Marinade      Origin: New Zealand	Goulash      Origin: Hungary
Futali      Origin: Malawi	Gentse Waterzooi      Origin: Belgium	Gourdes in Potage (Pottage of Gourd)      Origin: England
Futari (Sweet Potato and Pumpkin in Coconut Milk)      Origin: Tanzania	Gerollte Kalbsbrust (Rolled Veal Breast)      Origin: Liechtenstein	Govjadina Stroganov (Beef Stroganoff)      Origin: Russia
Fyletes in galyntyne (Fillets in a Sauce of Meat Juices)      Origin: England	Gesmoorde Vis (Salt Cod and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: South Africa
Fyletus in Galentyne (Fillets in a Sauce of Meat Juices)      Origin: England	Gestowe Soetpatats (Slow-cooked Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: South Africa

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