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 2116 recipes in total:

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Semizotu Yemegi (Turkish Purslane Stew)      Origin: Turkey	Slow Cooker Mushy Peas      Origin: England	Sphondylos Elixatos (Boiled Parsnips)      Origin: Roman
Sepias Elixas a Balineo (Boiled Cuttlefish from the Tank)      Origin: Roman	Slow-cooked Ox Cheek Rendang      Origin: Singapore	Spiced Lima Beans with Garlic and Coconut      Origin: Nepal
Serekunda Fish Benachin      Origin: Gambia	Slow-roasted Lamb Shanks with Tomatoes and Olives      Origin: Australia	Spicy Braised Cabbage      Origin: Tanzania
Seswaa (Pounded Meat)      Origin: Botswana	Slow-simmered Beefsteak Fungus      Origin: Britain	Spicy Potatoes      Origin: Ireland
Sewin yn y Badell (Pan-fried Sea Trout)      Origin: Welsh	Smoked Fish Light Soup      Origin: Ghana	Spinach and Peanut Butter Stew      Origin: West Africa
Seychelles Fish Curry II      Origin: Seychelles	Smoked Fish Stew      Origin: Ancient	Spinach and Simsim      Origin: Uganda
Shahi Chicken Korma      Origin: India	Soganli Yahni (Mutton Stew with Onions)      Origin: Turkey	Springbok Potjekos      Origin: South Africa
Shalgham Korma (Turnip Curry)      Origin: India	Sokossoko de Rognon (Sokossoko with Kidneys)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Squash Stuffed with Freekah and Peppers      Origin: Lebanon
Shattoo Water      Origin: Dominica	Solachi Kadhi (Kokam Sauce)      Origin: India	Sri Lankan Chicken Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Shellfish Seaweed Pudding      Origin: Ancient	Somlar Mochu Sachko (Sour Beef Stew)      Origin: Cambodia	Sri Lankan Curried Okra      Origin: Sri Lanka
Shemai (Sweet Vermicelli)      Origin: Bangladesh	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Aruba	Sri Lankan Fish Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Shi Zi Tou (Lion’s Head Meatballs)      Origin: China	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Bonaire	Srpska Corba ot Graha (Serbian Bean Stew)      Origin: Serbia
Shishwala (Maize Porridge)      Origin: eSwatini	Sopa di Bonchi Korá (Red Kidney Bean Soup)      Origin: Curacao	St Columba's Broth      Origin: Ancient
Shito (Dark Chilli Sambal)      Origin: Ghana	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Aruba	St Helena Curry and Rice      Origin: St Helena
Shitor Din      Origin: Ghana	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Bonaire	St Kitts Seasoned Breadfruit      Origin: Saint Kitts
Shoko (Nigerian Beef and Spinach)      Origin: Nigeria	Sopi di Piská (Fish Soup)      Origin: Curacao	St Kitts Stewed Fish      Origin: Saint Kitts
Shorbet Ads (Sudanese Lentil Soup)      Origin: Sudan	Sorrel Sarma      Origin: North Macedonia	St Lucian Pepper Pot      Origin: Saint Lucia
Shtitha Batata (Potato Stew)      Origin: Algeria	Souko Dounguouri (Meat Stew with White Beans)      Origin: Niger	Steamed Crawfish      Origin: Liberia
Shukto      Origin: Bangladesh	Soupa Canja (Okra and Palm Oil Soup)      Origin: Gambia	Stew Peas      Origin: Jamaica
Shurpa      Origin: Uzbekistan	Soupe aux Lentilles et Legumes (Lentil and Bean Soup)      Origin: Burundi	Stewed Beef in Coconut Milk with Dumplings      Origin: Trinidad
Sibirskie Jeskimosy (Siberian Huskies)      Origin: Siberia	Soupe aux pois et la viande (Pea Soup and Meat)      Origin: Guinea-Bissau	Stewed Beeff (Stewed Beef)      Origin: England
Sicilian Fish Sauce      Origin: Italy	Soupe de mouton (Mutton soup)      Origin: Saint-Martin	Stewed Japanese Knotweed and Angelica      Origin: Britain
Sidvudvu (Pumpkin Porridge)      Origin: eSwatini	Soupe de Porc Fume (Smoked Pork Soup)      Origin: Burkina Faso	Stewed Partridge      Origin: Britain
Sierra Leonian Egusi Soup      Origin: Sierra Leone	Soupe Kandja      Origin: Mali	Stewed Pork in Red Sauce      Origin: Sao Tome
Siga Wot (Ethiopian Beef Stew)      Origin: Ethiopia	Soupou Gertö (Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: Guinea	Stewed Pork with Chickpeas      Origin: Fusion
Simboro (Meat with Taro Leaves and Coconut Milk)      Origin: Vanuatu	Soupou Konkoé (Smoked Fish Soup)      Origin: Guinea	Stewed Rhubarb and Angelica      Origin: Britain
Simple Mole Poblano      Origin: Mexico	Soupou Tehou (Beef Soup)      Origin: Guinea	Stewed Taro Leaves      Origin: Palau
Sindhi-style Pilau      Origin: Pakistan	Souse      Origin: Saint Lucia	Stiw Cig Oen Cymreig (Welsh Lamb Stew)      Origin: Welsh
Sint Eustatian Goat Water      Origin: Sint Eustatius	Sousi Pa (Fish with Coconut Cream)      Origin: Laos	Stiw Eidion Cymreig (Welsh Beef Stew)      Origin: Welsh
Sint Eustatius Rice and Black Beans      Origin: Sint Eustatius	South African Cape Malay Curry      Origin: South Africa	Stiw Pysgotwr (Fisherman's Stew)      Origin: Welsh
Sint Maarten Lokri      Origin: Sint Maarten	South African Rhus Bukhari      Origin: South Africa	Stockfish Stew      Origin: Nigeria
Sint Maarten Whelk Soup      Origin: Sint Maarten	South African Vegetable Biryani      Origin: South Africa	Stoved Chicken      Origin: Scotland
Skirlie      Origin: Scotland	Southern Style Pot of Greens      Origin: American
Skoudehkaris (Djibouti Rice)      Origin: Djibouti	Southern Succotash      Origin: America

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