Soup, Stew, Chili and Gumbo Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Is gumbo a soup or a stew? ›

Gumbo is a hearty stew made from combinations of seafood, meat (such as andouille, chicken and ham) or vegetables that's served hot over cooked rice. Gumbo can be thickened with okra, file, or a roux, a French and Creole method of cooking equal parts flour and fat.

If chili is prepared by braising meat, such as brisket or beef chuck, with beans and vegetables added toward the end of cooking time, it's considered a stew. If chili is made by browning ground meat, and then adding liquid, beans and vegetables, then it is a soup.

Soup Uses More Liquid

In soup, the liquid is the primary ingredient. Soup can be completely liquified or it can consist of other elements (like meat and vegetables) that are fully submerged in water, stock, or broth. Stew, meanwhile, is typically "chunkier." It contains just enough liquid to cover the main ingredients.

Another way to look at it: Soup is any combination of ingredients cooked in liquid. Stew is any dish that's prepared by stewing—that is, submerging the ingredients with just enough liquid to cook them through at a simmer in a covered pot for a long time.

Thou Shalt Always Use a Bowl. If you use a plate, it is not gumbo it is rice and gravy! Thou Shalt Only Use a Wooden Spoon. There is only one kind of spoon that can enter a gumbo pot and that is a wooden one.

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

Generally speaking, if there is so much liquid that the ingredients are fully submerged, it's a soup. If the chunks dominate the dish, it's a stew.

The root of stew is the Old French estuver, "bathe or stew." Back in the fourteenth century, stew was also a slang word meaning "brothel or bath house." thick stew made of rice and chicken and small game; southern U.S.

Chili is often considered a separate type of dish in itself, with many different varieties falling under its umbrella. But technically, it's a stew. No matter which ingredients you include, you'll never see a recipe asking you to puree a chili, like you often do with a soup.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

Do you boil potatoes before putting them in stew? ›

Pre-cooking the potatoes is not necessary for most stew recipes. When added raw, the potatoes will absorb the flavors from the stew, creating a rich and delicious taste. However, if you prefer your potatoes to be softer and creamier, you can parboil them for a few minutes before adding them to the stew.

A potage is a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges, in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form a thick mush. Bisques are heavy cream soups traditionally prepared with shellfish, but can be made with any type of seafood or other base ingredients.

Paprika. Use regular or hot paprika if you want a little warmth and Smoked Paprika if you're after more of a barbeque style smoky flavour. Chilli and paprika work well with tomato based dishes where as herbs work best with gravy based stews.

Go for the chuck

The most common beef used for stew is chuck steak, also known as gravy beef or braising steak. Beef chuck comes from the forequarter of the animal consisting of parts of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm. It is easy to find and it's affordable, making it a great choice for your stew.

The Ideal Stew Ratio: Two Parts Meat, One Part Vegetable

Most meat-based stews call for tough, inexpensive cuts of meat, while vegetarian recipes include the same onions, carrots, and celery typical of a beef stew. Two parts meat to one part vegetables is the perfect ratio for a meaty stew.

Gumbo is served over rice, but the rice is not cooked with the rest of the dish. "Gumbo is more like a soup, but for the Cajun people it's not considered a soup; it's a gumbo," says Goldsmith.

Gumbo is primarily a form of stew. Never a soup. Some few people who do not want to make or taste the standard roux that thickens the stew make it more similar to a soup. But most gumbo heads (purists) never consider that as gumbo but a soup.

Gumbo is much denser than a simple soup; the broth has a thick, almost viscous consistency. And that characteristic is most commonly created by making a roux, cooking flour and oil together until they thicken and darken. Otherwise, gumbo can be thickened with file, which is just powdered dried sassafras leaves.

Louisiana gumbo is either a soup or a stew depending on your personal tastes, with a soup having a thinner consistency (less viscous) than a stew. In Louisiana, I've not heard it called either. It's just gumbo, a huge favorite down there and just about all around the US.