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 2366 recipes in total:

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Thiou a la Viande (Senegalese Beef Stew)      Origin: Senegal	Trinidad Crab and Callaloo      Origin: Trinidad	Ugandan Curried Potatoes      Origin: Uganda
Thiou Curry (White Rice with Curry Sauce)      Origin: Senegal	Trinidad Curried Pineapple Rice      Origin: Trinidad	Ugandan Matooke      Origin: Uganda
Thiou Tiir (White Rice and Fish with Palm Oil)      Origin: Senegal	Trinidadian Chicken Curry      Origin: Trinidad	Ugandan Smoked Fish Stew      Origin: Uganda
Thon Curry Moutarde à la Mauricienne (Mauritian-style Tuna Mustard Curry)      Origin: Mauritius	Trinidadian Curried Goat      Origin: Trinidad	Ujeni Ndiwo      Origin: Malawi
Thukaree Riha (Maldives Vegetable Curry)      Origin: Maldives	Trinidadian Pepper Pot      Origin: Trinidad	Ukwa (Breadfruit Porridge)      Origin: Nigeria
Tibs Wet      Origin: Ethiopia	Trinidadian Turkey Curry      Origin: Trinidad	Umngqusho (Samp and Beans with Potatoes)      Origin: South Africa
Tieb au Poulet (Chicken and Rice)      Origin: Mali	Tripe and Onions      Origin: England	Un bon cassoulet (A Good Cassoulet)      Origin: France
Tiebe (Rice and Meat with Vegetables)      Origin: Togo	Trondro Gasy (Tilapia in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: Madagascar	Upma      Origin: Britain
Tiep bou wekh (White Senegalese Rice and Fish)      Origin: Senegal	Trooping Funnel with Cannellini Beans      Origin: Britain	Urulaikilangu Varuval (Potato Chip Curry)      Origin: India
Tiga Dégué (Beef in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Mali	Troskinti Raudoni Kopustai (Braised Red Cabbage with Sour Cream)      Origin: Russia	Usilampatti Kozhi Kuzhambu (Chicken Kuzhambu)      Origin: India
Tiga Dégué au Poisson Fumé (Smoked Fish in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Mali	Tsebhi Birsen (Spicy Lentils)      Origin: Eritrea	Usupu (Eddoe Purée with Fish)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Tigadeguena (Chicken in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Mali	Tsebhi Derho (Spicy Chicken)      Origin: Eritrea	V'sachy (Pumpkin Leaf Stew)      Origin: Zambia
Tiguadege Na      Origin: Mali	Tsebhi Sega (Spicy Minced Meat)      Origin: Eritrea	Végétarien Kansiyé (Vegetarian Kansiyé)      Origin: Guinea
Tishreeb Hummus (Chickpea Casserole)      Origin: Iraq	Tsebhi Shiro (Spicy Peanuts)      Origin: Eritrea	Vaca Atolada (Beef Ribs with Cassava)      Origin: Brazil
To Fricasey White Meat      Origin: British	Tsuivan (Stewed Vegetables, Meat and Fresh Noodles)      Origin: Mongolia	Valentine Pork au Poivre      Origin: Britain
To Make White Fricasey      Origin: British	Tuh'u (Mesopotamian Lamb and Beetroot Stew)      Origin: Mesopotamia	Vary Amin'anana (Rice with Greens and Minced Beef)      Origin: Madagascar
Tobago Curry Crab and Dumplings      Origin: India	Tuna alla Favignana (Favignana Tuna)      Origin: Italy	Vary Amin'Anana (Hot Pepper Beef)      Origin: Madagascar
Toborgee Beans      Origin: Liberia	Tuna with Safran and Coconut Milk (Tuna with Cumin and Coconut Milk)      Origin: Seychelles	Veal Curry with Bananas      Origin: Uganda
Tolma (Cabbage Stuffed with Lamb)      Origin: Georgia	Tunisian Byesar (Tunisian Broad Bean Dip)      Origin: Tunisia	Veal in Tomato Sauce      Origin: Andorra
Tom Brown      Origin: Nigeria	Tunisian Spiced Lamb Balls      Origin: Tunisia	Veal Pilaf      Origin: Fusion
Tomatillo and Beef Curry      Origin: Fusion	Tunisian Vegetable Couscous      Origin: Tunisia	Vegetable Alecha      Origin: Ethiopia
Tomato Keema (Tomato and Beef Curry)      Origin: Pakistan	Turbot in Kerala Red Curry Sauce      Origin: India	Vegetable Curry      Origin: Kenya
Tomato Rice      Origin: India	Turkey Beanpot      Origin: British	Vegetable Curry II      Origin: Britain
Topside Pot Roast with Port and Root Vegetables      Origin: Britain	Turkey Curry with Yams      Origin: Fusion	Vegetable Curry III      Origin: Britain
Toscanita de Ciuperci (Sautéd Mushrooms)      Origin: Romania	Turkey Etouffee      Origin: American	Vegetable Ndiwo      Origin: Malawi
Toto-kena Misy Anana sy Voanjo (Greens with Peanuts and Minced Beef)      Origin: Madagascar	Turkey Leftovers Curry      Origin: Britain	Vegetable Pilau      Origin: India
Touo du Niger (Nigerienne Touo)      Origin: Niger	Turkey Leftovers Hotpot      Origin: Britain	Vegetable Potjie      Origin: Botswana
Tourlu (Armenian Vegetable Casserole)      Origin: Armenia	Turkey Vindaloo Curry      Origin: Fusion	Vegetable Tagine      Origin: North Africa
Traditional Pot Roast      Origin: Britain	Türlü (Meat, Vegetable and Okra Stew)      Origin: Armenia	Vegetarian Chili Beans      Origin: American
Traditional Sloppy Joes      Origin: American	Türlüh (Mixed Vegetable Stew)      Origin: Armenia	Vegetarian Jollof Rice      Origin: Fusion
Trey Kho Manor (Caramelized Fish with Pineapple)      Origin: Cambodia	Tutu (Cornmeal Porridge with Black-eyed Peas)      Origin: Aruba	Vele in Bokenade (Veal in Sauce)      Origin: England
Trini Curried Pork      Origin: Trinidad	Tuvaluan Fish Curry      Origin: Tuvalu	Velvet Shank and Burdock Soup      Origin: Fusion
Trini Plantain Curry      Origin: Trinidad	Tweed Kettle      Origin: Scotland
Trinidad Chicken Pelau      Origin: Trinidad	Udang Masak Lemak Nenas (Pineapple Prawn Curry)      Origin: Malaysia

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