A stew is a common dish made of vegetables, meat, poultry, or seafood cooked in some sort of broth or sauce. The line between stew and soup is a fine one, but generally a stew's ingredients are cut in larger pieces and retain some of their individual flavours, a stew may have thicker broth, and a stew is more likely to be eaten as a main course than as a starter. There are exceptions; for example, an oyster stew is more like a soup.
Written records of stews go back as far as written cookbooks. There are recipes for lamb stews & fish stews in Apicius de re Coquinaria, whose identity is uncertain, there having been three Romans by that name in the period 1st century BC to 2nd century AD. What is known is that the book has survived, and there are recipes for stews of lamb and fish in it. (An English translation is available 'Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome', A Bibliography, Critical Review and Translation of the Ancient Book known as Apicius de re Coquinaria by Joseph Dommers Vehling, which is available in reprint paperback from Dover Publications.)
Los Angeles chefs are happy to be in a pickle Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Chefs are reviving the old-school art of pickling to create zingy accents for rich brasserie dishes -- sorry, sommeliers.
Pickles might be scarcer in contemporary home kitchens than they were a century ago, but scan a brasserie menu, or order a bar special at a gastropub or a charcuterie plate at an urban steakhouse, and everywhere: pickles.
Pickles add punch to summertime meals Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700 Russ Parsons' favorites include pickled radishes, peppers, zucchini -- and even grapes.
WHERE have all the pickles gone?
The artisan jams and jellies of E. Waldo Ward & Son Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700 For decades, this Sierra Madre clan has made local, artisanal, delicious foods.
"PEOPLE'S tastes change," says Richard Ward of Sierra Madre's E. Waldo Ward & Son Inc. "My dad used to make lots of pickled watermelon. But people don't use as much sugar as they used to." His son Jeff nods. "But we still make pickled peaches and other fruits, like kumquats."
