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 2485 recipes in total:

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Vary Amin'anana (Rice with Greens and Minced Beef)      Origin: Madagascar	Vulvae Steriles (Sterile Sows' Wombs)      Origin: Roman	Yam Curry      Origin: Vanuatu
Vary Amin'Anana (Hot Pepper Beef)      Origin: Madagascar	Vulvae [et] Steriles (Sterile Sow's Womb)      Origin: Roman	Yam with Greens, Onion, and Okra      Origin: Nigeria
Veal Curry with Bananas      Origin: Uganda	Vulvae [et] Steriles (Sterile Sow's Womb)      Origin: Roman	Yambo      Origin: Aruba
Veal in Tomato Sauce      Origin: Andorra	Vyannd Cypre of Samon (A Cypriot Dish of Salmon)      Origin: England	Yangon Kyet Thar Hin (Yangon Chicken Curry)      Origin: Myanmar
Veal Pilaf      Origin: Fusion	Vyne Grace      Origin: England	Yassa Poulet (Chicken Yassa)      Origin: Senegal
Vegetable Alecha      Origin: Ethiopia	Vyolette (Violet Pudding)      Origin: England	Yataklete Kilkili (Ethiopian Ginger Vegetables)      Origin: Ethiopia
Vegetable Curry      Origin: Kenya	Waakye      Origin: Ghana	Yebeh (Yam and Fish in Red Palm Oil)      Origin: Sierra Leone
Vegetable Curry II      Origin: Britain	Wagasi in Sauce      Origin: Benin	Yebeh (White Yam Porridge)      Origin: Sierra Leone
Vegetable Curry III      Origin: Britain	Wardonys in syryp (Pears in Syrup)      Origin: England	Yebeh Stew      Origin: Sierra Leone
Vegetable Ndiwo      Origin: Malawi	Waykaab (Milk with Okra Powder)      Origin: Sudan	Yellow Coconut Rice      Origin: Tanzania
Vegetable Pilau      Origin: India	Werewere Soup (Melon Seed Soup)      Origin: Cameroon	Yellow Rice with Raisins      Origin: Southern Africa
Vegetable Potjie      Origin: Botswana	West Sumatran Fish Curry      Origin: Sumatra	Yemiser W'et (Spicy Lentil Stew)      Origin: Ethiopia
Vegetable Tagine      Origin: North Africa	Wet Thar Hin (Pork Curry)      Origin: Myanmar	Yetakelt W'et (Spiced Vegetable Stew)      Origin: Djibouti
Vegetarian Chili Beans      Origin: American	White Chili      Origin: America	Yétissé de Poisson (Fish Yetisse)      Origin: Mali
Vegetarian Jollof Rice      Origin: Fusion	White Nile Fish      Origin: South Sudan	Ysgwydd Cig Oen Cymreig wedi ei bobi'n araf â chyri (Slow-cooked curried shoulder of Welsh Lamb)      Origin: Welsh
Vegetarian Somerset Stew      Origin: Britain	Wild Food Tacacá      Origin: Fusion	Yuk Gae Jang (Spicy Beef and Vegetable Soup)      Origin: Korea
Vele in Bokenade (Veal in Sauce)      Origin: England	Wild Greens Gnocci in Tomato Sauce      Origin: Britain	Zürcher Eintopf (Zürich Style Hotpot)      Origin: Switzerland
Velvet Shank and Burdock Soup      Origin: Fusion	Wild Mushroom Stew      Origin: Britain	Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (Cut Meat, Zürich Style)      Origin: Switzerland
Venison and Dark Chocolate Chili      Origin: Fusion	Wild Mustard Greens with Ham Hocks      Origin: American	Zamé      Origin: Mali
Venison Stew with Elcampane      Origin: France	Winter Parsnip Stew      Origin: Czech	Zanzibar Pilau      Origin: Tanzania
Venison, Potato and Mushroom Stew      Origin: Britain	Wonchoi      Origin: Ghana	Zarzuela de Mariscos (Seafood Zarzuela)      Origin: Spain
Venyson in Broth (Venison in Broth)      Origin: England	Wouré Burakhè Magilinri (Sweet Potato Leaf Sauce)      Origin: Guinea	Zereshk Polo      Origin: Iran
Vermicelles (Vermicelli)      Origin: Mauritania	Xarém      Origin: Portugal	Zereshk Polo ba Morgh (Saffron Chicken with Barberry Rice)      Origin: Iran
Vert desire      Origin: England	Xerem de Festa (A Feast Dish)      Origin: Cape Verde	Zigni (Eritrean Spiced Meat Stew)      Origin: Eritrea
Verulam-style Curried Jackfruit      Origin: South Africa	Xiao Long Xia (Garlic-braised Crayfish)      Origin: China	Zom (Bitter Greens with Meat)      Origin: Cameroon
Viande Nyembwe (Meat Nyembwe)      Origin: Gabon	Xinjiang Lamb Casserole      Origin: China	Zuppa di Ciliege (Stewed Cherries)      Origin: San Marino
Vodhino Stfadho (Grilled Pork Cutlets)      Origin: Cyprus	Yétissé de Chèvre (Yétissé of Goat)      Origin: Guinea	Zurbiyaan      Origin: Yemen
Vospov Khema (Lentil Dish)      Origin: Armenia	Yétissé de Poulet (Chicken Yétissé)      Origin: Guinea
Vospov Pilaf (Lentil Pilaf)      Origin: Armenia	Yam and Beans      Origin: Nigeria

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