The History of Chicken Stew what a Fascinating Journey

Chicken stew is a delicious, warming meal. It is simple to make and you can make a lot of different variations of this tasty dish. Chicken stew actually has a fascinating history and this dish has been enjoyed for many centuries.

A stew is a combination of two or more foods simmered in a liquid. Coq au vin, Hungarian goulash, beef bourguignon, and beef stroganoff are all examples of stews.

The oldest cookbook to survive, the "Apicius de re Coquinaria", features lamb and fish stew recipes. It is not known who penned the book but there were three Romans with that name living between 1 BC and 2AD and the book is believed to date from that time.

You can actually go back even further because primitive tribes used to boil foods together, which is what a stew essentially is. Amazonian tribes uses turtle shells as pans and would boil the turtle entrails with some other ingredients. Other cultures used large shells, such as clamshells, instead of pans. Archeological evidence points to this type of cookery going back seven or eight thousand years. The invention of pottery, about ten thousand years ago, made cooking stews easier.

Chicken has been domesticated for thousands of years and chicken stew recipes have been enjoyed throughout history too. Different cultures have different types of chicken stews. Examples include spicy Indian curry chicken stew and the chicken in black bean sauce, which is favored in Cuba.

The Many Different Kinds of Chicken Stew Recipes

One type of chicken stew, which is a couple of hundred years old, is chicken booyah. This is like a thick soup or a thin stew and is eaten in northeast Wisconsin. The first Belgian immigrants came to Wisconsin in 1853 and they spoke a language called Walloon, which is nothing like English or French. It is thought that the Belgian wrote down booyah because he did not know how to spell bouillon and the name stuck.

What is Southern Chicken Stew Anyway?

You might have heard of southern chicken stew too and it is still a very popular dish in some states, especially North Carolina. To make this dish, a whole chicken is parboiled in a milk or cream based broth and butter, salt, and pepper are added as well as other ingredients. This stew varies from thin to thick in consistency and from white to yellow in color, depending on the amount of butter or margarine used. Saltine crackers are often served with this dish.

This stew is often served in late fall and winter and "chicken stew" can refer to a gathering where this dish is served, rather than the dish itself. Chicken stew is often regarded as a comfort food because it is warming and economical to prepare. It is a common dish at social gatherings such as family reunions, church fellowships, and community fundraising events.

At these events, the chicken stew will often be prepared in a big stainless steel or cast iron cooking pot, perhaps outdoors over an open fire. You might get rice, coleslaw or grilled cheese sandwiches served on the side.

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