A dish of meat, vegetables, and liquid cooked slowly together.
From Old French 'estuver' meaning to bathe in hot water or steam, related to 'estuve' (a heated room or bath house). Medieval people 'stewed' by cooking in enclosed heated chambers, similar to a sauna. The cooking method was named after the hot, steamy environment rather than the food itself - you were creating a little steam bath for your ingredients.
Stewing was originally named after medieval bath houses - those steamy, enclosed rooms where people went to get clean. Cooks realized that giving food the same hot, moist, enclosed treatment that people enjoyed in bath houses created incredibly tender and flavorful results.
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