In my house, not much! Well, stew has bigger pieces and not as much juice. How's that?

Soup is thinner and stew is thicker.

At least the way I cook 'em! LOL

Linda

And stew involves meat, I think. "Soup" covers a much broader range of dishes, chowders, purees, broths, and everything else. Could it be said that stew is a variety of soup, not vice versa?

Oyster stew, in my experience anyway, is sort of thin in consistency and has quite a lot of "juice".

And what about chowder? Is that a soup, a stew or a category of its own?

Just trying to make trouble. :-)

Jim

Soup is served in a soup bowl and .
eaten with a soup spoon.
Stew is served on a plate and eaten with a fork....and a spoon.....except for oyster stew.
AND....stew is made on purpose....soup just happens.
BUT...I have made Vegetable Stew, with no meat, and have lots of recipes for fancy soups.

Also :
Stew is usually made by Browning the meat well and adding water to the Pan.
This will make the Stew juices, which can be seasoned with the Spices of your choice.
Veggies are added and Potatoes, which will thicken the stew.
Lou
Here is a Photo taken last year. ( Olives are Optional )

Linda, I serve stew in a bowl.

PS:
You are all right , even the troublemaker !!!

When I hear Stew, I think of Meat and Potatoes.

But !!! I did say " Usually "
LOU

The mental image of oyster stew being eaten off a plate with a fork has me ROTFLMAO!

Jim

I also associate meat and potatoes with stew, but then chowder has meat and potatoes, and I don't consider it to be a stew. For me, soups are often thicker than stews, especially split pea, lentil, cream of mushroom, and potato soups. I've never had stew that didn't have meat as one of the main ingredients, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility. Personally, I never make stew - I only make soups and chowders (and gumbo).

Lars

Hmmm, Lars, you are right... a lot of my soups are just as thick as my stews.

Well, I guess that leaves me to think of it in terms of larger chunks of meat and vegetables. That's the only difference I can see. And the addition of pasta to soups. Never had pasta in a stew.

Jim :
It's not funny !!!
Lou
ROTFLMAO !!!!!!!!!!

PS:
I always thought of Stew, as meat or fish served with Vegetables and Gravy.

what about French onion soap?

When a stew gets thicker, is that a casserole?

dcarch

I meant soup LOL

dcarch

My stew is thicker than any of my soups are, and the pieces of meat and vegetables are larger. Mine gets served in a bowl or on a plate, depending on what I am eating it with.

If I add dumplings to the stew, I'll usually put it into a bowl, but if I baked biscuits on the top I'll put the biscuit on a plate and ladle the stew over it because it's easier to cut the biscuits into pieces that way.

I always thicken the liquid in stew so it's more like gravy and I seldom thicken soup, it's.....soupier. (grin)

I know that Ann T's stew, however, is more broth than gravy and my split pea soup is even thicker than my stew.

And if a single person here says "stoup", like Rachel Ray, I'm probably gonna gag, geez. It wouldn't be so bad if she'd just SAY it, she doesn't have to explain it every single time "thinner than stew, thicker than soup". Yeah, we know.

Which reminds me, I have some venison in the freezer, I swapped grass fed beef for it. I ought to make some stew.

Annie

Recently I cooked beef daube. In researching recipes, I found that often it is called a stew. Personally, I would call it pot roast, with a more elaborate sauce. It is somewhere between the two, closer to one or the other depending on how much the sauce is reduced. Anyway, it has chunks of meat and is served on a plate and eaten with a fork.

Jim

The difference is in the amount of liquid they contain. Stew has less, soup has more.
Joann

The stew I have eaten was served in a bowl and eaten with a fork, except for some beef stews, which was served over bread on a plate and eaten with a fork and a knife. I would say stew is chunkier, but that isn't necessarily the case. Think of chicken stew or brunswick stew. You want the meat cooked to tiny bits.

And don't get me started on that "stoup" word!! And the same with "sammie."

In a way, Rachel is hard to defend. I can't say much about her cooking. Thirty minute meals is a pretty trite theme for a show. But, to us guys anyway , there is something appealing about her presentations. At first I thought I was the only one who noticed. It surprised me when her popularity soared.

Jim

That's a good question. Soup, to me, is thinner than stew; stew has the gravy consistency. My soup is always in liquid form. But again, what do I know? LOL Al

Jim:
I thought Chowder was a thicker Soup.
Maybe in between Soup and Stew ???

Only watched Rachel a couple times. She seemed nice to me.
That was a while ago. Don't know what she was cooking but she seemed nice.

Popularity can soar easily, or crash easily.
All according to what the big " Who " votes.
Yea!!! or Nay !!!

If it ia a " Nay " you don't have much of a chance.
Lou

In the fourth post of this thread, Sushipup made a lot of sense, but didn't mention bisque. Anyone want to tackle that definition?

Jim

Stew is what you make out of left over pot roast LOL at least thatÂs the only stew I ever make it. Soup is just well soup and it could be as thick as a stew or not. Both served in a bowl with a plate underneath for bread or crackers.

Claudia

Jim:
Not right now . I'm headed for the Sack.
LOU

Annie, I can't believe you can stand to watch Her Cuteness long enough to know how she says it. LOL! Five minutes of her is about three more than I can stand. (Which is one minute less than I can watch Emeril.)

One of my goals for this year was to better organize my recipes on the computer. I just had this converstaion with myself as i tried to figure out if stews went in the Soup folder or the Main Course folder. I finally decided that stews went under Mains not because of the ingredients or the thickness, but because they are often the central part of the meal and because I'm more likely to look a stew up under Mains than Soups. (The only stew I could think of that is commonly served as a side dish was Brunswick Stew.)

I'm still not fully satisfied with my decision, but I realized I was starting to overthink it.

Well, I tell ya.... If I have any left over beef stew I toss in a can of stewed tomatoes and an extra can or two of water and call it soup... LOL

Rita

As for Rachael Ray... Is it delicious or delishious...

Rita, so do I! Stew, the completely versitile dish.

If Rachel cooked it, it's probably neither. It would be "Yum-O". (gag)

For all practical purposes, the difference between "soup" and "stew" is which three letters follow the "s" when you write the recipe out. I did find a more elaborate definition and linked it for anyone who cares to look.

I love them both, and don't care what they're called.

As for Rachael Ray...it seems to me that her popularity is based on how well she understands the intimidation felt by many people who don't know how to cook but would like to. She tosses in her cutesy exclamations and such by way of showing that cooking can be fun rather than scary. She manages to connect with timid, inexperienced cooks and convince them that putting decent, tasty and attractive food on the table doesn't have to be stressful and take hours. I say more power to her, she's found a way to make a darn good living and help people at the same time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soup or Stew?

Renee, I think Rachel Ray is too "cute" for my taste and I can't watch her for long, but Ashley and Amanda both like her, maybe it's the age thing? Anyway, I could listen to her more comfortably if she'd stop with the little abbreviations and nick names and cook something. And how in the world is "sammie" shorter than sandwich, they both have two syllables, geez...

Now, please note that I said the girls like to watch her show. They've never cooked a single one of her recipes, they both say she has too many ingredients to ever make anything in half an hour.

As for Soup v Stew, here's what "LaRousse Gastronomique, The world's Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia" has to say. Yup, I have it right here, the boss bought it for me for Christmas!

Soup: A liquid savory food served at the beginning of a meal or as a light meal in itself. There are many soups which make a heavy meal, including Italian minestrone and chunky seafood chowder.

Originally in France the soupe was the piece of bread on which was poured the contents of the cooking pot (potage). Soupe and Potage are now often synonymous....

Stew: The term stewing means long slow cooking in liquid. This may be done on the stovetop or in the oven. In either case the heat should be low enough to prevent the liquid from doing more than barely simmering. Ingredients are covered with liquid and a generous portion of flavouring ingredients, such as root vegetables.

Stews should be always be rich, an intensity resulting from the mingling of flavors, extraction of juices and breaking down of connective tissue and gelatinous substances. The extended cooking time usually results in significant evaporation...

In other words, I don't know. (grin)

Annie

The difference between the two is..... I like soup but can't abide stew.

rachelellen:
" As for Rachael Ray " I like your synopsis, of the show.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

I liked the Weather Channel; on TV, a while back, because of my business.
Now I go in and get the info I need and turn it off.

Can't take the Fast Talkers and the Dramatics.
They talk at 1000 miles an hour and I can only listen at 100 miles an hour.

One woman can go from Miami Fla., up to Washington State and back to the East Coast,
In one sentence, and 5 seconds flat. All the while waving her hands as if doing a Magic Act.

So if a show isn't what you like, why watch it ??? or comment, if others like it?

I'm accustomed to this, I'm from Philly.

My daughter brought me a Delaware Co. News Paper today,
( Just outside of Philly )
with a Quote:

" If you're not any good, they tell you, you're no good.
If you're really good, they tell you, you're no good.

It's just growing up in Philly "
LOU

Oh Sharon,
that's so sad.
Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago that you were trolling for stew recipes for DH?
Now I need some support from my fellow PA Dutch folk. Only they know what chicken pot pie (Bott Boi) is and it's not soup and it's not pie, and it's definitely NOT stew.

Yes that was me nosnow the stew worked out very well. DH loved it. I had pot stickers !

I have a Mennonite recipe for a dish they call Hingle Pot Pie. I think it is like the PA Dutch recipe. Excellent!

It's sliced potatoes chicken, thickened chicken broth and homemade noodles cut in squares. Also has peas and baby carrots.

I'm at the cottage right now, returning to the city today and will post the recipe if it's what you are looking for.

Okay Ms Chase.... you of the Stew hating variety... LOL! I would definitely put your Chicken and Sliders in a stew category. Lots of yummy thick sauce and chunks of meat and starch. LOLOLOL!

Yea, I think the stew/soup line of demarkation for me is the size of the stuff. Bigger chunks = stew.

Alexa

nosnowtn:
Isn't Pot pie a Stew , wrapped in dough and baked ???

Lou