New York cooking - Wine and Ale Beef Stew
The practice of taking the meat of an animal and cooking it in a liquid base goes back as far as recorded history. And it is done in some form everywhere that people cook food. That is right, the stew is ubiquitous. The website - www.Foodtimeline.org gives a short but comprehensive history of soups and stews here . One point that they make is that main difference between a soup and a stew is where in the meal the dish is served. Soups are an early course, while stews are a main course. The other difference they give is that the act of stewing is to cook in the smallest possible amount of water: [1952] The Master Dictionary of Food & Cookery , Henry Smith [Philosophical Library:New York] "Soup as a food consists of water in which meat, fish, poultry, game, vegetables or even fruits are stewed, to extract all the food value with the least possible loss of vitamins and flavour. Cereals and thickening agents are sometimes added to give body."---(p. 225) ...