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 2485 recipes in total:

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Arroz con Dulce (Puerto Rican Coconut Rice Pudding)      Origin: Puerto Rico	Ayam Masak Lemak (Spicy Fenugreek Meat)      Origin: Malaysia	Banana Porridge      Origin: Jamaica
Arroz con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice and Beans with Sofrito)      Origin: Puerto Rico	Ayam Masak Lemak (Chicken in Creamy Coconut)      Origin: Malaysia	Banana Stobá (Stewed Plantains)      Origin: Curacao
Arroz con Leche (Ecuadorian Rice Pudding)      Origin: Ecuador	Ayam Panggang      Origin: Christmas Island	Banankou Fida (Sokossoko with Kidneys)      Origin: Guinea
Arroz con Leche (Rice with Milk)      Origin: Colombia	Ayimonlou (Togolese Rice and Beans)      Origin: Togo	Banda (Smoked fish in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Chad
Arroz con Pollo (Chicken with Saffron Rice)      Origin: Spain	Ayimonlou et N'gbagba (Togolese Rice and Beans with N'gbagba)      Origin: Togo	Banga Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Arroz Con Pollo (Costa Rican Arroz con Pollo)      Origin: Costa Rica	Azindéssi aux Boeuf (Beef in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Togo	Bangladeshi Garlic Daal      Origin: Bangladesh
Arroz con Pollo Guatemalteco (Chicken with Rice, Guatemalan Style)      Origin: Guatemala	Baamiye Suqaar (Meat and Okra Stew)      Origin: Somalia	Bangladeshi Goat Curry      Origin: Bangladesh
Arroz Con Pollo Panameño (Panamanian Arroz con Pollo)      Origin: Panama	Bacalao a la Crema de Espárragos y Pimientos (Salt Cod with Cream of Asparagus and Peppers)      Origin: Spain	Barbecued Fish Rolls      Origin: Jamaica
Arroz de Coco e Papaia (Rice with Coconut and Papaya)      Origin: Angola	Bacalao Encebollado con Almendras al Estilo Canario (Cod with Onions and Almonds, Canary Style)      Origin: Spain	Barbecued Ratatouille      Origin: British
Arroz de Moringa (Rice with Moringa Leaves)      Origin: Mozambique	Bachalu à Gomes (Salt Cod with Potatoes)      Origin: Angola	Bariis Iskukaris      Origin: Somalia
Arroz Integral com Mantiega de Amendoim e Bananas (Brown Rice with Peanut Mantiega and Bananas)      Origin: Angola	Bacon and Cabbage      Origin: Ireland	Barkly Mount Eagle Madras Curry      Origin: Scotland
Arroz Negro con Marisco (Black Rice with Seafood)      Origin: Spain	Baekse Karē (Korean Curry Rice)      Origin: Korea	Barley Kail      Origin: Scotland
Aruba Chicken      Origin: Aruba	Bagobe Jwa Lerotse (Sorghum Porridge with Cooking Melons)      Origin: Botswana	Baru Fida (Spinach Sauce with Peanuts and Beef Shank)      Origin: Guinea
Aruban Curried Chicken      Origin: Aruba	Bahamian Crab and Rice      Origin: Saint Barthelemy	Basic Cajun Jambalaya      Origin: Cajun
Aruban Curried Goat      Origin: Aruba	Bahamian Lobster Curry      Origin: Bahamas	Basic Jollof Rice      Origin: Nigeria
Aruban Curried Mutton      Origin: Aruba	Baianas (Baian Beans)      Origin: Roman	Basico (Sudanese Sesame Seeds, Greens and Smoked Meat)      Origin: South Sudan
Asado de Tenera (Roast Veal)      Origin: Spain	Bajan Curry Powder      Origin: Barbados	Basto and Suugo      Origin: Somalia
Asaro (Special Yam Pottage)      Origin: Nigeria	Bajan Pepperpot      Origin: Barbados	Basto and Suugo      Origin: Djibouti
Asaro II (Yam Porridge)      Origin: Nigeria	Bakalca (Slovenian Lamb Stew)      Origin: Slovenia	Batabate      Origin: Mayotte
Ashlyamfu (Noodles, Stew and Omelette)      Origin: Kyrgyzstan	Bakeapple Chicken Curry      Origin: Canada	Batak Raichat (Duck Raichat)      Origin: India
Asian Duck Curry      Origin: Fusion	Baked Beans with Nigerian Seasonings      Origin: African Fusion	Batar Da'an (Maize, Mung Bean and Squash Stew)      Origin: East Timor
Assegas n Tajin s Ifrawen (Camel tagine with dried apricots)      Origin: Western Sahara	Baked Chicken in Guava Sauce      Origin: Jamaica	Bayerische Schweinekotletts (Bavarian Pork Chops)      Origin: Germany
Atún con Pimientos y Tomate (Tuna with Chillies and Tomatoes)      Origin: Spain	Baked Parsnips Irish Style      Origin: Ireland	Bayrisch Kraut (Pickled Bavarian Cabbage)      Origin: Germany
Atar Alecha (Spiced Split Green Peas)      Origin: Ethiopia	Baked Tilapia with Pineapple and Black Beans      Origin: Costa Rica	Bean and Wild Mushroom Stew      Origin: Britain
Atar Allecha (Spiced Green Pea Purée)      Origin: Egypt	Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Aruba	Bean Foogath      Origin: India
Atklit (Ethiopian Cabbage Potato Bowl)      Origin: Ethiopia	Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Bonaire	Bean Goulash with Beef      Origin: Czech
Atok Ohwono (Dried Fish in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Bakiou Stobá (Salt Cod Stew)      Origin: Curacao	Beans and Bananas      Origin: Burundi
Attiéké du Mali (Malian Attiéké)      Origin: Mali	Balchão de Camarão (Goan Prawn Pickle)      Origin: India	Beans Gravy      Origin: Liberia
Aurangabadi Naan Qaliya      Origin: India	Balti Chicken Pasanda      Origin: Britain	Beans With Rum      Origin: Montserrat
Australian Camel Stew      Origin: Australia	Bamia (Okra in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Egypt	Beans with Tomatoes, Onions and Green Bell Pepper      Origin: Zambia
Avocado Leaf Flavoured Bean Stew      Origin: Fusion	Bamieh (Okra Stew)      Origin: Iraq	Bébélé (Tripe and Plantain Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe
Awaze Tibs (Ethiopian Beef and Peppers)      Origin: Ethiopia	Bamies Yiahni (Okra with Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Cyprus	Beef and Coconut Cream Curry      Origin: Fusion
Ayam Begana (Chicken Begana)      Origin: Cocos Islands	Bamijas, Ulcinj Style (Ulcinj style Okra)      Origin: Montenegro
Ayam Bumbu Rujak (Chicken with Rujak Gravy)      Origin: Indonesia	Banana and Corn Casserole      Origin: eSwatini

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