Stew (pronounced stoo or styoo)
(1) A
preparation usually of meat, fish, or other food cooked by stewing, especially
a mixture of meat and vegetables (recipes exist for vegetarian & vegan
stews).
(2) In
informal use, a state of agitation, uneasiness, or worry.
(3) A
term for a brothel; a whorehouse (archaic), in the collective “the stews” was a
neighborhood in which there were many brothels (the red light district).
(4) A
cooking vessel for boiling or stewing (obsolete since the early eighteenth
century); a cauldron; still seen as a modifier (stew pot).
(5) To
cook food by simmering or slow boiling; to undergo cooking by simmering or slow
boiling.
(6) In
informal use, to fret, worry, or fuss, often in the phrases “in a stew” or “to
stew over” (synonyms include agitation, confusion, dither, flap).
(7) In
informal use, to feel uncomfortable due to a hot, humid, stuffy atmosphere, as
in a closed room; to swelter.
(8) A
fishpond or fish-tank (often as stew-pond); (mostly archaic UK use with origins
in Sussex).
(9) An
artificial oyster bed (in US regional use).
In the
preparation of tea, to cause the tea to become bitter by infusing or drawing
for too long
(10) As
a general descriptor, a mix (usually of heterogeneous objects, substances,
people etc).
(11) In
slang (commercial flight crew, cruise ship crews, military mess staff), a
clipping of steward or stewardess.
(12) A
public room for hot steam baths (obsolete).
Circa
1300: From the Middle English stew, stue, stewen & stuwen (to take a
sweat bath) and stuen (to take a very
hot bath), from the Anglo-Norman estouve,
from the Old & Middle French estuver
(étuve in modern French), a verbal
derivative of estuve (sweat room of a
bath) (thought related to the Medieval Latin stupha, of uncertain origin), from the unattested Vulgar Latin extūfāre (evaporate), the construct
being ex- (out of; from) + the unattested
tūfus (vapour), from the Ancient
Greek τῦφος (tûphos) (smoke, steam), from τύφω (túphō) (to smoke). It was cognate with the Italian stufare, the Spanish estufar and the Portuguese estufar.
In the Old English there was stuf-bæþ
(a hot-air bath, vapor bath). Stew in
the sense of fish tanks was from the Old French estui, from estoier (to
shut up, confine), ultimately from the Latin studium (study). Stew is a
noun & verb, stewable is an adjective, stewed is a verb & adjective and
stewing is a noun. The noun plural is stews.
The intransitive
use dates from the 1590s while the meaning "to boil slowly, to cook meat
by simmering it in liquid" came into use in the early fifteenth
century. The meaning "to be left to
the consequences of one's actions" is from 1650s, especially in figurative
expression “to stew in one's own juices”. The use of stewed to suggest a state of
drunkenness dates from 1737. As a noun dating
from circa 1300, a stew was first a "vessel for cooking" from the
verb while the meal (stewed meat with vegetables) wasn’t so described until 1756
and the coordinate terms (which emerged or were over the centuries borrowed)
included brew, simmer, hash, jumble, medley, mishmash, potpourri, pottage, pot
pie, stroganoff, salmagundi, casserole, hotpot (also hot-pot), hot-dish, cassoulet, goulash & ragout. Modifiers are common (beef stew, chicken
stew, Irish stew, cowboy stew, son-of-a-bitch stew, son-of-a-gun stew,
hillbilly stew etc, army stew, prison stew etc). Stews are probably among the oldest prepared
& combined dishes cooked by man, the original cooking vessels including
animal skulls and turtle shells.
The
apparently curious use to refer to brothels dates from the mid-fourteenth
century (often in the plural as stews and whole districts could be describes as
“the stews” if thought to contain many brothels or be the haunt of
prostitutes. It was a carry-over of the
earlier use of stew (from the Old French estuve
"bath, bath house; bawdy house) to refer to a bath house (a heated room
designed for public bathing) and the parallel reflected the apparently not
undeserved reputation of medieval bath houses.
In late fourteenth century Middle English, Ionete-of-the-steues (Janet of the Stews) was common slang for a
prostitute. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945;
Nazi head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) was Austrian
and must have liked stew-favored idioms.
When he heard the British government had provided a security guarantee
to Poland, he became enraged and shouted "I'll cook them a stew (einen
Eintopf kochen) they'll choke on!"
Casserole (pronounced kas-uh-rohl)
(1) A baking dish of glass, earthenware etc, often with a
cover and sometimes used also as a serving dish.
(2) Any food, usually a mixture, cooked in such a dish.
(3) To bake or cook (food) in a casserole.
(4) A small (metal, glass, carbon fibre or ceramic) dish
with a handle, used in chemical laboratories.
1706: From the sixteenth century French casserole (ladle-like
pan), the construct being casse (small
saucepan; pan for dripping) (from the Old Provençal cassa (large spoon), akin to the Medieval Latin cattia (pan, dipper; crucible) (influenced by the Provençal caça
but the ultimate source may be the ancient Greek kyathion or kuathion, a diminutive
of kuathos (cup for the wine bowl) +
-role (the diminutive suffix)). Similar (and related formations include cassole (without the -er-) and casseron (using the diminutive suffix -eron, from -on). The Middle French was casserolle. Casserole is a
noun and verb, casseroled is an adjective and casseroling a verb; the noun
plural is casseroles.
The word exists in many European languages including Danish (kasserolle),
German (Kasserolle), Norwegian Bokmål
(kasserolle), Norwegian Nynorsk (kasserolle) & Russian (кастрю́ля (kastrjúlja)). The word for centuries described only the
cooking vessel but by the late nineteenth century (some sources say explicitly
1889 but it’s likely the oral use pre-dates this) it was applied also of the dishes cooked in one, under the influence of chefs’ jargon
such as en casserole & à la casserole. As need be, modifiers are added (tuna
casserole, chicken casserole, vegetarian casserole etc). In situations where confusion might arise, it’s
recommended the meals be called “casseroles” and the cooking vessels “casserole
pans”.
Stews and casseroles are
frequently indistinguishable (although by tradition stews have a thicker gravy),
especially when served although there are techniques in cooling which allow as
chef to produce a casserole with a crusty surface whereas a stew tends to be
wholly amorphous. Both are slow-cooked, one-pot
dishes, the difference being that stews are cooked on a stovetop while casseroles
are oven-baked. Chefs insist a casserole
should be baked uncovered in the oven but many leave the lid on and the
differences can make a difference in that in an oven, heat circulates all
around whereas on a stovetop it’s applied only from the bottom. For this reason stews are usually cooked in
pots made from earthenware, cast-iron or some other material with high
heat-retention properties; this will tend to equalize the temperature and when cooking
a stew, it should be covered from the point when the liquid is added onto the
solid ingredients and left to simmer for a few hours until the gravy thickens. For a stew, chefs recommend frying the meat
to the point of crustiness before adding other ingredients and, although the
view is not universal, many suggest that if adding onions (an essential ingredient
for many), they too should be pre-cooked.
With casseroles, meat may need to be pre-cooked depending on the cut.
Preparation time: 15 minutes (plus overnight soaking).
Cooking time: 8-10 hours.
Serves: 4-6.
Dig out the slow cooker to make this healthy stew. Topped
with toasted pine nuts and served with flatbreads, it makes a wonderfully
nutritious vegan meal
Ingredients
200g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (plus extra to
serve (to taste)
2 onions, finely sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon baharat
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, stalks finely
chopped, leaves roughly chopped (to serve)
3 medium aubergines (eggplant), sliced into 20 mm (¾ inch) rounds
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
1 lemon, juiced
50g pine nuts, toasted (to serve)
Selection of pitta breads or flatbreads, to serve
(optional)
Method
(1) Drain the chickpeas and bring to the boil in a pan of
salted water. Cook for 10 minutes, then drain.
(2) Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry
the onions for 10 mins, or until beginning to soften. Stir in the garlic, baharat and cinnamon and
cook for 1 minute. Tip the onion mixture into a slow cooker and add the
chickpeas, parsley stalks, aubergines (eggplant), tomatoes and 2 cups of water. Season to
taste.
(3) Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, then turn the heat to low and cook for 6-8 hrs more until the mixture has reduced slightly and the chickpeas and aubergines are really ten
(4) Stir in lemon juice, then scatter the pine nuts and parsley leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with pitta breads or flatbreads.
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