A stew is a combination of solid
foodingredients that have been
cooked in
liquid and served in the resultant
gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of
vegetables and may include
meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as
beef,
pork,
venison,
rabbit,
lamb,
poultry,
sausages, and
seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid,
stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour.
Seasonings and
flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (
simmered, not
boiled), allowing flavours to mingle.
Stewing is suitable for the least tender cuts of meat that become tender and juicy with the slow, moist heat method. This makes it popular for low-cost cooking. Cuts with a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry.
Stews are thickened by reduction or with
flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing or by using a
roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts fat and flour. Thickeners like
cornstarch,
potato starch, or
arrowroot may also be used.
History
Stews have been made since ancient times. The world's oldest known evidence of stew was found in Japan, dating to the
Jōmon period.[1][2]
Amazonian tribes used the shells of turtles as vessels, boiling the entrails of the turtle and various other ingredients in them.
There are recipes for lamb stews and fish stews in the Roman cookery book Apicius, believed to date from the 4th century AD. Le Viandier, one of the oldest cookbooks in
French, written in the early 14th century by the French chef known as
Taillevent, has
ragouts or stews of various types in it.[3]
The first written reference to '
Irish stew' is in
Byron's "The Devil's Drive" (1814): "The Devil ... dined on ... a rebel or so in an Irish stew."[4]
Types
Meat-based white stews also known as blanquettes or fricassées are made with lamb or veal that is
blanched or lightly
seared without browning, and cooked in stock. Brown stews are made with pieces of red meat that are first seared or browned, before a browned
mirepoix and sometimes browned flour, stock and wine are added.
Eintopf, (one pot) the German word for a stew: many different regional specialty
recipes for Eintopf are known in Germany. For example, the
Kassel area has a type called Lumben un Fleeh in the local dialect (Standard German: Lumpen und Flöhe – rags and fleas), which is quite similar to
Irish stew. There are thicker German stews such as
Hasenpfeffer or
Labskaus; these would not usually be considered an Eintopf, though the technical difference is minor (longer cooking times and fewer vegetables)
A stew is a combination of solid
foodingredients that have been
cooked in
liquid and served in the resultant
gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of
vegetables and may include
meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as
beef,
pork,
venison,
rabbit,
lamb,
poultry,
sausages, and
seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid,
stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour.
Seasonings and
flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature (
simmered, not
boiled), allowing flavours to mingle.
Stewing is suitable for the least tender cuts of meat that become tender and juicy with the slow, moist heat method. This makes it popular for low-cost cooking. Cuts with a certain amount of marbling and gelatinous connective tissue give moist, juicy stews, while lean meat may easily become dry.
Stews are thickened by reduction or with
flour, either by coating pieces of meat with flour before searing or by using a
roux or beurre manié, a dough consisting of equal parts fat and flour. Thickeners like
cornstarch,
potato starch, or
arrowroot may also be used.
History
Stews have been made since ancient times. The world's oldest known evidence of stew was found in Japan, dating to the
Jōmon period.[1][2]
Amazonian tribes used the shells of turtles as vessels, boiling the entrails of the turtle and various other ingredients in them.
There are recipes for lamb stews and fish stews in the Roman cookery book Apicius, believed to date from the 4th century AD. Le Viandier, one of the oldest cookbooks in
French, written in the early 14th century by the French chef known as
Taillevent, has
ragouts or stews of various types in it.[3]
The first written reference to '
Irish stew' is in
Byron's "The Devil's Drive" (1814): "The Devil ... dined on ... a rebel or so in an Irish stew."[4]
Types
Meat-based white stews also known as blanquettes or fricassées are made with lamb or veal that is
blanched or lightly
seared without browning, and cooked in stock. Brown stews are made with pieces of red meat that are first seared or browned, before a browned
mirepoix and sometimes browned flour, stock and wine are added.
Eintopf, (one pot) the German word for a stew: many different regional specialty
recipes for Eintopf are known in Germany. For example, the
Kassel area has a type called Lumben un Fleeh in the local dialect (Standard German: Lumpen und Flöhe – rags and fleas), which is quite similar to
Irish stew. There are thicker German stews such as
Hasenpfeffer or
Labskaus; these would not usually be considered an Eintopf, though the technical difference is minor (longer cooking times and fewer vegetables)