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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Gaeng Pa-naeng (Panang Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Gheema      Origin: Britain	Green Beans in Coconut Sauce      Origin: Fusion
Gaeng Som (Thai Sour Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Gheema Curry      Origin: South Africa	Green Duck Curry      Origin: Anglo-Indian
Gaeng Som (Thai Sour Curry)      Origin: Thailand	Gibelotte aux Amandes (Gibelotte with Almonds)      Origin: France	Green Pea and Liver Curry      Origin: Sri Lanka
Galinha à Portuguesa (Macanese Portuguese Chicken)      Origin: Macau	Gingko Rice      Origin: Fusion	Green Stew      Origin: Nigeria
Gallo Pinto      Origin: Costa Rica	Glace de Viande      Origin: France	Grenada Callaloo Soup      Origin: Grenada
Gallo Pinto      Origin: Nicaragua	Goan Crab Claw Curry      Origin: India	Grenada Curry Goat      Origin: Grenada
Galo Soup      Origin: Liberia	Goan Lamb Xacutti      Origin: India	Grenada Oil Down      Origin: Grenada
Gambas ou langoustines au pastis (Prawns or Langoustines with Pastis)      Origin: Monaco	Goat curry      Origin: India	Grenadian Chicken Curry      Origin: Grenada
Gambian Benachin      Origin: Gambia	Goat Curry with Potatoes      Origin: Pakistan	Grenadian Coconut Curry Chicken      Origin: Grenada
Gambian Fish Pepper Soup      Origin: Gambia	Goat in the Burmese Style      Origin: Fusion	Grenadian Nutmeg Chicken Curry      Origin: Grenada
Gambian Fish Yassa      Origin: Gambia	Goat Meat and Root Vegetable Stew in Ale      Origin: Britain	Grenadian Pelau      Origin: Grenada
Gambian Pepper Soup II      Origin: Gambia	Goat Meat Groundnut Soup      Origin: Ghana	Grewel Forced (Meat Gruel)      Origin: England
Gambian-style Okro Soup      Origin: Gambia	Goat Meat Pepper Soup with Calabash Nutmeg      Origin: Nigeria	Grilled Mackerel with Spicy Dahl      Origin: South Africa
Garaasa be Dama (Sudanese Flatbread with Meat Sauce)      Origin: Sudan	Goat Meat Soup      Origin: Liberia	Grima Fish Curry      Origin: Kenya
Garbansos con salchichas (Chickpeas with Sausages)      Origin: Colombia	Goat Water      Origin: Antigua	Gronden Benes (Ground Beans)      Origin: England
Garden Eggs Stew      Origin: Ghana	Goat Water      Origin: Saint Kitts	Gruel of almanndes (Gruel of Almonds)      Origin: England
Gari aux Crevettes (Gari with Prawns)      Origin: Cameroon	Gombo et Kissar (Okra Stew with Kissar)      Origin: Chad	Gruyau (A Gruel of Husked Barley)      Origin: France
Gari Foto      Origin: Ghana	Gombos au Boeuf (Beef and Okra)      Origin: Central African Republic	Guam Chicken Curry      Origin: Guam
Garlic Roasted Chicken      Origin: American	Gombos de Poisson Sec (Dried Fish with Okra)      Origin: Chad	Guatita (Ecuadorian Tripe Stew)      Origin: Ecuador
Gazpacho Manchego (Manchego Gazpacho)      Origin: Spain	Goose Risotto      Origin: Fusion	Guiana Rice and Peas      Origin: French Guiana
Gbegiri (Bean Stew)      Origin: Nigeria	Gormeh Sabzi (Persian Lamb and Herb Stew)      Origin: Iran	Guinaar (Fried Chicken)      Origin: Senegal
Gboma Dessi (Spinach Sauce with Beef)      Origin: Togo	Gosht Pullao (Beef Pullao)      Origin: India	Guinea Fowl with Coconut Cream      Origin: Zimbabwe
Gebraaide Hoender (Spiced Roast Chicken)      Origin: South Africa	Goulash      Origin: Hungary	Guineafowl with Grapes      Origin: Britain
Gelyne in Dubbatte (Hen in Wine Broth)      Origin: England	Gourdes in Potage (Pottage of Gourd)      Origin: England	Guinean Avocado Sauce      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Gemfish in Chermoula Marinade      Origin: New Zealand	Govjadina Stroganov (Beef Stroganoff)      Origin: Russia	Guinean Spinach Sauce      Origin: Equatorial Guinea
Gentse Waterzooi      Origin: Belgium	Govjadina Tblisi i Griby (Tblisi Beef and Mushrooms)      Origin: Georgia	Guinness Bottle Chicken Stew      Origin: Saint Vincent
Gerollte Kalbsbrust (Rolled Veal Breast)      Origin: Liechtenstein	Grain Mustard Based Fish Curry      Origin: India	Guisado de carne de porco com Amêijoas (Pork Stew with Cockles)      Origin: Angola
Gesmoorde Vis (Salt Cod and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce)      Origin: South Africa	Grannat Chop      Origin: Sierra Leone	Guisado de la Quinoa (Quinoa Stew)      Origin: Peru
Gestowe Soetpatats (Slow-cooked Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: South Africa	Grape Jelly Meatballs      Origin: American	Guisado del Inca (Inca Stew)      Origin: Peru
Gestowe Soetpatats (Slow-cooked Sweet Potatoes)      Origin: South Africa	Grasscutter Soup with Okra      Origin: Ghana	Guisado Perviuano de la Calabaza (Peruvian Pumpkin Stew)      Origin: Peru
Ghanaian Cabbage Stew      Origin: Ghana	Grasscutter Stew      Origin: Ghana	Guiso de Conejoa (Rabbit Stew)      Origin: Peru
Ghanaian Chicken Jollof Rice      Origin: Ghana	Gratin Christophine (Chayote Gratin)      Origin: Guadeloupe	Gulai Kambing (Sumatran Goat Curry)      Origin: Martinique
Ghanaian Groundnut Soup      Origin: Ghana	Gratin de pommes de terre des Antilles (Antilles Potato Gratin)      Origin: Guadeloupe
Ghanaian Pepper Soup      Origin: Ghana	Green Bean Bredie      Origin: South Africa

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