The French word potage , which can be translated as “cooked” or “stew” , came to Spanish as stew . A Gallic word that, in turn, emanates from the Latin “pottus”, which was the term used to refer to what was put into the “pot”, the “pot” or the “olla”.
The concept refers to a stewed dish .
The idea of stew usually refers specifically to a stew that is prepared with various legumes and vegetables. The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) indicates that stew is generally eaten on days of abstinence.
There is no single way to make stew: in fact, there is no single stew. Its preparation method is linked to the time of damage and the availability of the ingredients .
That is why it is common to talk about lentil stew , chickpea stew or corn stew , for example. The preposition can also be used with : stew with lentils , stew with chickpeas , stew with corn .
One of the best-known stews in Spain is, for example, chickpeas with spinach and fish.
In general, the first step of the stew consists of cooking the legumes (the most commonly used are chickpeas , although lentils or beans can be used). Then a sauce made with tomato , onion , garlic and other ingredients is added, resulting in a kind of broth .
In some cases, the stew includes beef or pork . This does not happen with the so-called vigil stew that is served during Good Friday , when according to the precepts of Christianity , red meat or white meat cannot be eaten. That is why, in this stew, cod is used.
In addition to cod, this stew is made with chickpeas or white beans, onion, olive oil, spinach, paprika, bay leaf and hard-boiled egg.
It is considered that among the main tips to obtain a good vigil stew are having a very tasty broth, using good quality Pedrosillano type chickpeas and even using good olive oil. Not forgetting to use spices such as cumin, pepper and paprika.
In the same way, we cannot ignore that there is also the so-called Canarian stew, which is prepared with onion, pepper, garlic, pumpkin, potatoes, pepper, chard, zucchini or watercress, among other ingredients.
In countries other than Spain, the term in question is also used to refer to a typical local dish. A good example of this is that in Cuba, for example, there are several types of stew. Thus, there is the pea stew, the black bean stew, the bean stew or even the lentil stew.
In Mexico, for its part, the stew is prepared using onion, pork, chili, red tomato, sausage, lentils and potatoes as well as rutabaga.
The RAE points out, finally, that stew can refer to a drink that is prepared with multiple ingredients or to the set of different useless elements that are mixed.