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 2530 recipes in total:

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Beans with Tomatoes, Onions and Green Bell Pepper      Origin: Zambia	Beshbarmak (Meat and Pasta Dish)      Origin: Kazakhstan	Boeuf et Feuilles de Manioc (Beef and Cassava Greens in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Gabon
Bébélé (Tripe and Plantain Stew)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Beshbarmak (Meat and Pasta Dish)      Origin: Kyrgyzstan	Boiled Beef and Carrots      Origin: Britain
Beef and Coconut Cream Curry      Origin: Fusion	Betaceos Varronis (Beets à la Varro)      Origin: Roman	Boiled Ham      Origin: Britain
Beef and Dhal Curry      Origin: India	Betas (Beetroot with Leeks in Wine)      Origin: Roman	Boko Boko Harees (Chicken with Bulgur Wheat)      Origin: Burundi
Beef and Green Tomato Jalfrezi      Origin: Fusion	Betas Minutas et Porros (Young Beetroot and Leeks)      Origin: Roman	Boletos Aliter (Boletes, Another Way II)      Origin: Roman
Beef and Mushroom Tshoem      Origin: Bhutan	Bhuna Khichuri      Origin: Bangladesh	Bolo and Trotter Potjie      Origin: Namibia
Beef and Mushrooms in Peanut Sauce      Origin: Central African Republic	Big Bowl Chili      Origin: American	Bonava (Meat and Potatoes Stew)      Origin: Mauritania
Beef and Stout Stew      Origin: Ireland	Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)      Origin: Poland	Bonava (Mauritanian Lamb Stew)      Origin: Mauritania
Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes      Origin: South Africa	Bigos (Lithuanian Hunter's Stew)      Origin: Lithuania	Bonito con Cebolla y Tomate (Bonito with Onion and Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Spain
Beef Cameroon      Origin: Cameroon	Binyewa (Ugandan Groundnut Sauce)      Origin: Uganda	Boo with Okra      Origin: Uganda
Beef Enchiladas      Origin: Britain	Birch Sap and Cleavers Risotto      Origin: Britain	Borulce (Black-eyed Pea Stew)      Origin: Turkey
Beef in Bistort Leaves      Origin: Britain	Biriani de Poulet (Chicken Biriani)      Origin: Mauritius	Boston Baked Beans with Marmite      Origin: Britain
Beef in Bitter      Origin: Britain	Biscuit-topped Lamb Casserole      Origin: America	Botswanan Cabbage      Origin: Botswana
Beef in Claret      Origin: Scotland	Bisort Bolognese      Origin: Fusion	Botswanan Chicken Groundnut Stew      Origin: Botswana
Beef in Stout      Origin: Ireland	Bissap Beuguedj (Hibiscus Leaf Paste)      Origin: Senegal	Bottle Masala Chicken Curry      Origin: Britain
Beef in the Burmese Style      Origin: Fusion	Bissara      Origin: Morocco	Bougna      Origin: New Caledonia
Beef Madras      Origin: India	Bistecca di San Marino (Steak San Marino)      Origin: San Marino	Bougna      Origin: Wallis Futuna
Beef Mechado      Origin: Philippines	Black Bean Huevos Rancheros      Origin: Mexico	Bouillabaisse      Origin: France
Beef Picadillo      Origin: Dominican Republic	Black Beans      Origin: Mexico	Bouillabaisse with Rouille and Croutons      Origin: France
Beef Rendang      Origin: Indonesia	Black-eyed Pea Gumbo      Origin: Cajun	Bouillon d'awara (Awara Broth)      Origin: French Guiana
Beef with Paprika and Potatoes      Origin: Ireland	Blaff de poisson (Fish Blaff)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Bouillon de Crabes (Swimmer Crab Bouillon)      Origin: Mauritius
Beefsteak Mushroom and Hen of the Woods Risotto      Origin: Britain	Blaff de poisson (Fish Blaff)      Origin: French Guiana	Bouillon de Petits Crabes (Stew of Small Crabs)      Origin: Mauritius
Belizean Rice and Beans      Origin: Belize	Blancs de Poulet au Gingembre et à la Cardamome (Chicken Breasts with Ginger and Cardamom)      Origin: Madagascar	Boulgour aux Fruits Secs (Bulgur Wheat with Dried Fruit)      Origin: Mauritania
Bengali Chicken Curry      Origin: India	Blank Dessorre      Origin: England	Bourguignon de cerf (Venison Bourguignon)      Origin: France
Bengali Fish Curry      Origin: India	Blanquette de Porc (Pork in White Sauce)      Origin: France	Bourguignon de cerf (Venison Bourguignon)      Origin: New Caledonia
Bengali Turkey Curry      Origin: Britain	Blanquette de Veau (Veal in White Sauce)      Origin: France	Bourride      Origin: Britain
Benin Red Sauce      Origin: Benin	Blue Bayou Jambalaya      Origin: Cajun	Bozartma (Lamb Stewed with Vegetables and Cherry Plums)      Origin: Azerbaijan
Beninese Beef Stew      Origin: Benin	Bo Kho (Spicy Beef Stew)      Origin: Vietnam	Braf (Broth)      Origin: Dominica
Beninese Goat Stew      Origin: Benin	Bobor Taro (Taro Root Pudding)      Origin: Cambodia	Braised Egg Dumplings in Chilli Broth      Origin: China
Beninese Jollof Rice      Origin: Benin	Boerwors Maalvleis Kerrie (Boerwors Minced Meat Curry)      Origin: South Africa	Braised Lamb Shanks with Cannellini Beans      Origin: Britain
Berenjena con Queso al Horno (Aubergine with Almonds and Cheese)      Origin: Spain	Boeuf aux Chocolat Gabonnaise (Beef with Gabon Chocolate)      Origin: Gabon	Braised Meatballs      Origin: China
Beriani      Origin: Brunei	Boeuf aux Graines de Courge (Beef with Egusi Seeds)      Origin: Cameroon	Braised Monkfish Provençal      Origin: Fusion
Berkoukes      Origin: Algeria	Boeuf Bourguignon      Origin: France
Berry Compote      Origin: New Zealand	Boeuf en Daube      Origin: France

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