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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Moyo de Poulet Fume (Moyo of Smoked Chicken)      Origin: Benin	Mykai (Mushrooms in Honey)      Origin: Roman	Nigerian Spiced Grasscutter Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Mozambique Peri-Peri      Origin: Mozambique	N'dolé (Bitterleaf Stew)      Origin: Cameroon	Nigerian Spiced Mixed Meat Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Mozambique Prawns      Origin: Mozambique	N'dolé avec Poisson (Fish and Bitterleaf Stew)      Origin: Gabon	Nigerian Spicy Scrambled Eggs      Origin: Nigeria
Mpotompoto (Ghanaian Yam Porridge)      Origin: Ghana	N'dolé avec Poulet (Chicken N'Dolé)      Origin: Cameroon	Nihari Lamb      Origin: Pakistan
Mr Arnott's Currie      Origin: Britain	Naatukodi Pulusu (Country Chicken Sour Curry)      Origin: India	Nila Bumbu Acar (Sour Spicy Carp)      Origin: Indonesia
Mrefisa      Origin: Western Sahara	Naeamia bel Dakwa      Origin: Sudan	Njahi in Coconut Sauce (Kenyan Black Beans in Coconut Sauce)      Origin: Kenya
Mtsolola à la viande (Bananas and Meat)      Origin: Mayotte	Naengi-guk (Shepherd's Purse Soup)      Origin: Korea	Njanga Rice      Origin: Cameroon
Mû Elamūtum (Elamite Broth)      Origin: Mesopotamia	Naga Curry      Origin: Fusion	Nkatenkwan (Ghanaian Peanut Soup)      Origin: Ghana
Muamba de Cabara (Goat Meat Muamba)      Origin: Angola	Namibian Black-eyed Peas      Origin: Namibia	Nkrakrakwam (Ghanaian Light Soup)      Origin: Ghana
Muamba de Galinha (Chicken Muamba)      Origin: Angola	Nandji      Origin: Mali	Nohutlu Pilav (Pilaf with Chickpeas)      Origin: Turkey
Muamba de Galinha (Angolan Chicken Muamba)      Origin: Angola	Nandji de Boeuf (Nandji of Beef)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Noteye (Nutty)      Origin: England
Mughlai Beef Biriani      Origin: India	Nanē Pia (Niuean Porridge)      Origin: Niue	Nowmbyls of Muskyls (Mussels in Almond Milk Sauce)      Origin: England
Mughlai-style Camel Curry      Origin: India	Ndambé à la Sauce Tomateh (Bean and Meat Stew in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Senegal	Numb-fish (Electric Ray)      Origin: Roman
Muhogo ya andzi Na nyama (Cassava with Meat)      Origin: Mayotte	Ndambé Blanc (White Bean and Meat Stew)      Origin: Senegal	Nyaba      Origin: Sudan
Muland Saangi Ambat (Radish Pod Gravy)      Origin: India	Ndengu (Lentil Stew)      Origin: Kenya	Nyama ya Figo (Beef and Kidneys)      Origin: Tanzania
Mullah Bamyah (Beef and Okra Stew)      Origin: Sudan	Ndizi na Nyama (Plantains with Meat)      Origin: East Africa	Nyama yeMbudzi (Traditional Zimbabwean Goat Meat Stew)      Origin: Zimbabwe
Mullangi Sambar (White Radish Sambar)      Origin: India	Ndolé à la Viande (Bitterleaf with Meat)      Origin: Cameroon	Nyebbeh with Oli Gravy      Origin: Gambia
Mumu      Origin: Papua New Guinea	Nettle Greens and Peanut Stew      Origin: African Fusion	Nyekoe (Lesotho Sorghum and Beans)      Origin: Lesotho
Musakhan (Chicken with Sumac and Caramelized Onions)      Origin: Syria	Nevis-style Turkey Roti      Origin: Saint Kitts	Nyeleng (Beef and Peanut Gumbo)      Origin: Senegal
Musakhan (Chicken with Sumac and Caramelized Onions)      Origin: Jordan	New noumbles of dere (Fresh Deer Offal)      Origin: England	Nyete Greens with Peanut Butter      Origin: South Sudan
Musakhan (Chicken with Sumac and Caramelized Onions)      Origin: Lebanon	New Year's Hopping John      Origin: American	Nyma ye Huku (Zimbabwean Chicken Stew)      Origin: Zimbabwe
Musakhan (Chicken with Sumac and Caramelized Onions)      Origin: Palestine	Nga Myin Hin (Butter Fish Curry)      Origin: Myanmar	Obe Ata (Nigerian Pepper Soup)      Origin: Nigeria
Mushroom and Burdock Soup      Origin: Fusion	Ngukassa (Plantain Soup)      Origin: Central African Republic	Obe Ata Dindin (Nigerian Red Sauce)      Origin: Nigeria
Mushroom Goulash      Origin: British	Nhopi (Corn Meal with Pumpkin)      Origin: Zimbabwe	Obe Efo Elegusi (Egusi Soup)      Origin: Nigeria
Mushrooms à la Greque      Origin: France	Nhopi Dovi (Pumpkin with Groundnut Sauce)      Origin: Zimbabwe	Obe Eja Dindin (Fried Fish Stew)      Origin: Nigeria
Mushrooms Risotto      Origin: Italy	Nigerian Catfish Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Obe Eja Tutu (Fresh Fish Stew)      Origin: Nigeria
Muskels in Bruet (Mussels in Bruet)      Origin: England	Nigerian Chicken Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Obe-Onigba (Garden Egg Sauce)      Origin: Nigeria
Mutabbaq Samak (Fried Pomfret with Rice)      Origin: Kuwait	Nigerian Fresh Fish Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria	Ock-lam (Barbecued Pork with Mushrooms and Beans)      Origin: Laos
Mutton and Coconut Cream Curry      Origin: Fusion	Nigerian Goat Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Octopus Curry      Origin: Seychelles
Mutton in the Burmese Style      Origin: Fusion	Nigerian Groundnut Soup      Origin: Nigeria	Ofadà (Green Soup)      Origin: Nigeria
Mutton Kulambu (Pondicherry Mutton Curry)      Origin: India	Nigerian Guinea Fowl Stew      Origin: Nigeria	Ofe Achara (Elephant Grass Stew)      Origin: Nigeria
Mutton Pilau      Origin: India	Nigerian Guineafowl Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria	Ofe-Owerri Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Mutton Rendang      Origin: Indonesia	Nigerian Spiced Chicken Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Mutton Saag      Origin: India	Nigerian Spiced Goat Meat Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria

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