Courses & dish types
Stews recipes
Slow, forgiving, better the next day.
A stew is a long, wet, low cook, and its whole purpose is to convert connective tissue into gelatine — which is why it wants the cheap cuts and why an expensive one is wasted in it. The two rules that decide the result are browning the meat properly first, in batches, so the pan stays hot enough to sear rather than steam, and then keeping the liquid at a bare tremble rather than a boil, because a hard boil tightens muscle fibre and squeezes out the moisture the long cook is meant to protect. Every stew here is better on the second day, and the recipes say so rather than pretending otherwise.
10 recipes
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb shoulder browned hard then cooked for two hours in yogurt and Kashmiri chilli, until the sauce is red, glossy and clinging rather than soupy.
Red-Braised Pork Belly
Pork belly caramelised in sugar and braised in soy and wine until the fat turns to jelly and the sauce to lacquer.
Chickpea and Spinach Stew
Dried chickpeas cooked from scratch and thickened with fried bread pounded to a paste, which is how Seville gets body without cream.
Curry Goat
Goat shoulder burned into curry powder and then cooked for two hours, until the meat gives and the sauce is thick enough to coat rice.
Brown Stew Fish
Fried whole fish simmered briefly in a dark sweet-savoury gravy built on browning, onion and thyme, and served with the sauce spooned over.
Pisto
Courgette, pepper, onion and tomato cooked separately, then together, until everything collapses into something sweet and jammy.
Kimchi Jjigae
The stew that exists because kimchi got too sour to eat straight. Old kimchi is not a compromise here — it is the whole point.
Fabada Asturiana
Big white beans stewed slowly with chorizo, morcilla and pork until the broth turns thick and orange.
Birria de Res
Beef braised in a deep red chilli broth until it shreds, served as a stew or folded into tacos dipped in its own fat.
Beef and Ale Stew with Herb Dumplings
Chuck steak simmered in dark ale until it gives, with suet dumplings steamed on the surface of the pot for the last half hour.