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 2198 recipes in total:

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Pemahun      Origin: Sierra Leone	Pilao (Comorian Pilau)      Origin: Comoros	Plasas (Sierra Leonean Chicken Peanut Stew)      Origin: Sierra Leone
Penang Prawn Curry      Origin: Thailand	Pilao ou Riz au Poulet (Mahoran Chicken Pilau)      Origin: Mayotte	Plat Songhay (Songhay Dish)      Origin: Mali
Penfras Cymraeg Wedi Pobi (Welsh Cod Bake)      Origin: Welsh	Pilao ou Riz au Poulet (Comorian Chicken Pilau)      Origin: Comoros	Plat Tradicional Fula (Traditional Fulani Dish)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau
Penne with Fresh Pumpkin Sauce      Origin: American	Pilau Mouton de Comores (Comorian Mutton Pilau)      Origin: Comoros	Plays in Cynee (Plaice in Spiced Bread Sauce)      Origin: England
Penne with Mushroom Cream Sauce      Origin: Italy	Pilav Limon (Lemon Pasta Pilaf)      Origin: Georgia	Plokkfiskur (Icelandic fish stew)      Origin: Iceland
Pèpè Soupe (Ivorian Pepper Soup)      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Pink Leg of Lamb      Origin: Turkey	Plov S Mindalyom, Izyumom I Apelsinovoy Tsedroy (Fruit Pilaf)      Origin: Georgia
Peperonata      Origin: Italy	Pinon au Dindon (Pinon with Turkey)      Origin: Togo	Point-and-kill      Origin: Nigeria
Pépésup (Pepper Soup)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Pintade à l'Afrique (African Guinea Fowl)      Origin: Guinea	Pois d'Angole (Pigeon Peas)      Origin: Guadeloupe
Pepián      Origin: Guatemala	Pintade de Guinée (Guinean Guineafowl)      Origin: Guinea	Poisson au Fúmbwa (Fish with Fumbwa)      Origin: Central African Republic
Pepones et Melones (Water and Honey Melons)      Origin: Roman	Pipián (Chicken in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Philippines	Poisson Yassa Mauritanienne (Mauritanian Fish Yassa)      Origin: Mauritania
Pepper Soup      Origin: Liberia	Pisam Adulteram Versatilem (Peas Turnover)      Origin: Roman	Poissons en sauce aux arachides (Fish in Groundnut Sauce)      Origin: Gabon
Pepper Soupe de Poisson (Fish Pepper Soup)      Origin: Cameroon	Pisam coques (Peas in Herb Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Pollo Alla Cacciatora (Sammarinese Chicken Cacciatore)      Origin: San Marino
Pepperpot      Origin: Antigua	Pisam Farsilem (Pressed Peas)      Origin: Roman	Pollo Borracho Chileano (Chilean Drunken Chicken)      Origin: Chile
Perch Benachin      Origin: Gambia	Pisam Vitellianam sive fabam (Peas or Broad Beans Beans in a Herb Sauce)      Origin: Roman	Pollo con Salsa de Cacahuetes (Chicken with Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Perdicem cum pluma (Sauce for Wood Pigeon or Partridge)      Origin: Roman	Pisca Hasa (Fried Fish)      Origin: Aruba	Pollo de Chocolate (Chocolate Chicken)      Origin: Mexico
Peri Peri Kari Camarão (Fiery Prawn Curry)      Origin: Mozambique	Pisca Stoba (Fish Stew)      Origin: Puerto Rico	Pollo en Salsa (Pollo en Sals)      Origin: Costa Rica
Peri-Peri Chicken with Peri-Peri Rice      Origin: Mozambique	Pisces Zomoteganon II (Fish Stewed in its Own Juice)      Origin: Roman	Pollo Guisado (Dominican Stewed Chicken)      Origin: Dominican Republic
Persian Lentils with Orange Juice and Angelica      Origin: Iran	Pisken Balyk (Boiled Fish)      Origin: Kazakhstan	Pollo Guisado (Dominican Chicken Stew)      Origin: Dominican Republic
Peruvian Goat Stew      Origin: Peru	Pisupo      Origin: Samoa	Pollo Mexicana (Chicken Mexicana)      Origin: Mexico
Perys en Composte (Pears in Compote)      Origin: England	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Papua New Guinea	Polvo à São Tomé (Sao Tomean Octopus)      Origin: Sao Tome
Peson of Almayne (German Peas)      Origin: England	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Fiji	Polvo a Modo ze de Lino (Octopus Stew)      Origin: Cape Verde
Phaksha Pa      Origin: Bhutan	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Niue	Pondu      Origin: Congo
Phaksha Paa (Bhutanese Pork with Chillies)      Origin: Bhutan	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Papua	Porc aux Choux de Chine (Pork with Chinese Leaf)      Origin: Madagascar
Phane Stew      Origin: Botswana	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Samoa	Porc Palmiste (Pork with Heart of Palm)      Origin: Reunion
Phool gobhi Achari      Origin: India	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Tonga	Porc Wedi ei Bobi'n Araf (Slow-roast Pork)      Origin: Welsh
Picadillo      Origin: Cuba	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Vanuatu	Pork and Beans      Origin: American
Picadillo de Vainicas (Green Bean Picadillo)      Origin: Costa Rica	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Kiribati	Pork and Yam Pepper Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Picado à Madeirense (Beef Tips, Madeiran Style)      Origin: Portugal	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Federated States Micronesia	Pork Black Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Pick a Pepper Soup      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Cook Islands	Pork Fing      Origin: Bhutan
Pied de Veau aux Pois Chiches (Calf's Feet with Chickpeas)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: New Caledonia	Pork Fong      Origin: Bhutan
Piezly Mukhat (Chickpea and Onion Stew)      Origin: Tajikistan	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Wallis and Fortuna	Pork Korma      Origin: India
Pig Tail Bouillon with Dumplings      Origin: Saint Lucia	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Society Islands	Pork with Cabbage and Bananas      Origin: eSwatini
Pigeon Breasts      Origin: Scotland	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Marshall Islands
Pigeon Peas and Rice      Origin: Anguilla	Pit Pit in Coconut Cream      Origin: Marquesas Islands

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