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:

Page 8 of 25

Dal Makani (Black Dal Curry)      Origin: India	Dominica Calypso Chicken      Origin: Dominica	Dulcia Domestica (Home-made dessert)      Origin: Roman
Dal Makhani      Origin: Pakistan	Dominica Crab Callaloo      Origin: Dominica	Dulse and Beans      Origin: Britain
Dama be Potaatas (Beef and Potato Stew)      Origin: Sudan	Dominica Curried Goat      Origin: Dominica	Dumpling Mix      Origin: Britain
Damaa      Origin: Sudan	Dominica Curry Prawns      Origin: Dominica	Durban Bunny Chow      Origin: South Africa
Dambou (Rice Couscous with Moringa)      Origin: Niger	Dominica Red Beans Soup      Origin: Dominica	Dušené kysané zelí (Braised Sauerkraut)      Origin: Czech
Dandelion and Orange Curry      Origin: Britain	Dominica Sancocho      Origin: Dominica	East African Prawn Curry      Origin: East Africa
Daqoos (Tomato, garlic and coriander sauce)      Origin: UAE	Dominican Codfish Sancoche      Origin: Dominica	East African Shrimp Curry      Origin: East Africa
Daraba      Origin: Chad	Dominican Souse      Origin: Dominica	East African Vegetable Soup      Origin: East Africa
Date Sauce      Origin: Niger	Domoda      Origin: Gambia	Eba      Origin: Nigeria
Daube de Banane Plantains (Daube de Banane)      Origin: Seychelles	Domoda Dieune (Domoda with Fish)      Origin: Senegal	Eba Piron Rouge (Beef and Red Gari)      Origin: Cameroon
Daube de chevreuil (Venison Daube)      Origin: France	Domoda II      Origin: Gambia	EbunuEbunu Soup      Origin: Ghana
Daube de Provençale (Provençal Daube)      Origin: France	Domoda III      Origin: Gambia	Ecrevisses au Curry (Crayfish Curry)      Origin: Cote dIvoire
Daube de Thon (Tuna Daube)      Origin: Mauritius	Dongo (Fish with Cassava Leaves)      Origin: Congo	Edikang Ikong Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Dawadawa Jollof Rice with Guinea Fowl      Origin: Ghana	Dongo-Dongo Gabonnaise      Origin: Gabon	Editan Soup II      Origin: Nigeria
Deccan Chicken Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka	Dongouésde bananes plantain à la morue et lait de coco (Plantain Dongoués with Salt Cod and Coconut Milk)      Origin: Martinique	Efere Usung Udia      Origin: Nigeria
Demok (Taro Leaves in Coconut Milk)      Origin: Palau	Dopiazeh      Origin: Iran	Efo Riro      Origin: Nigeria
Dengu (Green Lentil Stew)      Origin: Kenya	Doro Alicha      Origin: Ethiopia	Efo-riro (Vegetable Stew)      Origin: Nigeria
Desayuno Charquicán (Charquicán Breakfast)      Origin: Chile	Doro Wot (Red Chicken Stew)      Origin: Ethiopia	Egg Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian
Dessi Lamoumou (Fresh Fish Sauce)      Origin: Togo	Doro Zigini (Zesty Chicken Stew)      Origin: Eritrea	Egg Pilau      Origin: India
Dhal      Origin: India	Dou-louf en Daube (Cow's Feet Stew)      Origin: Chad	Egredouce (Meat in Sweet and Sour Sauce)      Origin: England
Dhan Saag Dhal      Origin: India	Double Bean and Roasted Pepper Chili      Origin: Britain	Egredouce of fysche (Fish in Sweet and Sour Sauce)      Origin: England
Dhiafora Parayiemista (Mixed Stuffed Vegetables)      Origin: Cyprus	Dounguouri Soko (Meat Stew with White Beans)      Origin: Niger	Egusi Soup      Origin: Nigeria
Diced Beef Chili Con Carne      Origin: American	Dovi (Peanut Butter Stew)      Origin: Zimbabwe	Egusi with Efo      Origin: Nigeria
Dikgobe (Mixed Beans Porridge)      Origin: Botswana	Drepee (Small Birds in Almond Milk)      Origin: England	Eight-day Spiced Beef      Origin: Britain
Dippy      Origin: England	Driblws (Turkey Giblets, Chinese Style)      Origin: Welsh	Eirin Mair Hufennog Gwent (Gwent Gooseberries and Cream)      Origin: Welsh
Diri Ak Pwa (Haitian Rice and Beans)      Origin: Haiti	Dromedary Tibs      Origin: Djibouti	Eisbein mit Sauerkraut (Ham hock with Sauerkraut)      Origin: Germany
Djibouti Lentils      Origin: Djibouti	Drunken Chili      Origin: American	Ekpang Nkukwo      Origin: Nigeria
Djim'bre      Origin: Cote dIvoire	Dry Rice      Origin: Liberia	Ekpang Nkukwo (Cocoyam Pottage)      Origin: Nigeria
Djouka Fonio      Origin: Mali	Dublin Coddle      Origin: Ireland	El Cocido      Origin: Spain
Dobrada      Origin: Portugal	Dublin Coddle      Origin: Ireland	El Indio Viejo      Origin: Nicaragua
Dograma (Meat and Pasta Dish)      Origin: Turkmenistan	Dublin Lawyer      Origin: Scotland	Elaichi Gosht (Lamb With Cardamom)      Origin: India
Domatesli Pilav (Pilaf with Tomato)      Origin: Turkey	Duck and Green Pea Curry      Origin: India	Elumas Curry (Mutton Curry)      Origin: Sri Lanka
Dombrés de Morue Salé (Salt Cod Dombres)      Origin: Martinique	Duck with Plums and Burdock      Origin: Fusion
Dombrés haricots rouges (Red Bean Dombrés)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Duckling Dar es Salaam      Origin: Tanzania

Page 8 of 25