Here’s a question, though: where does ramen fall using these metrics? Like, the actual Japanese dish, specifically, as opposed to Cup Noodle or what have you—it’s definitely got Chunks, but I’ve only ever seen the full dish itself referred to as “ramen soup.” I think I fundamentally agree with chunkiness being a defining factor of stew versus soup, but the ramen thing is giving me some pause.
I think noodles are anti-Chunks, negating the presence of chunks and rendering the foodstuff in question as a soup, not a stew.
I agree with chunks, but Stew doesn't have to be thick. Like they usually end up that way because starchy ingredients (POTATO) cooking down, but i've had thinner things that i would still classify as 'stew' instead of soup Imo it's a sliding scale continuum with some middle portion where the stew/soup definition gets murky
Yes and no, I would say that if you got enough chunk and small noodles you could have a stew that happens to include noodles, but it's a thin line
See, I personally feel like…noodles aren’t Chunks, but they’re vaguely Chunk-adjacent? I think we might need to more clearly define Chunks here before we can progress further.
disagree, as long as the noodles have a certain amount of surface area (especially egg noodles, which come in square shape as well) they can be Chunks
I feel like a dish that's assembled over a bowl of noodles counts as a noodle soup, regardless of how chunk-like the toppings are, aka ramen. however a dish with noodles mixed in, aka chicken noodle soup, is soup until it starts getting in to the thick n chunky end of the spectrum, at which point it's either 'campbell's chunky chicken noodle soup tm' or a stew western chili and japanese curry are both close relatives of stew, imo
I don't know how to feel about this re:western chili, especially since I'm still very much in the wheelhouse that beans don't belong in chili and is basically meat goop. Like, I'm not gonna start shit over that, yes you can put beans in chili but it's not Real chili to me personally as I tend to go off Texas official chili competition rules. Beans is beans and chili is chili. Anyways. You'd think a thick meat goop does indeed sound like a stew cousin, but I'm just stubborn I guess. To me it feels more like a barbecue cousin, like shredded brisket or fall-off-the-bone pork butt (also because it's usually present at a lot of barbecues) I have a lot of chili feels Edit: also don't get me started on sloppy joe, it's not chili or chili related and I know that makes no sense whatsoever but I will die on this illogical fighting hill
I would class barbecue hash as very stew adjacent (apparently this is a super regional specialty, it looks like this and is bbq meat, sometimes yesterday's pulled pork leftovers, onion, and sort of optionally assorted offal) and that's definitely barbecue. The only thing keeping it from being a stew is that I have trouble cladding bbq sauce as a broth base.
I would also say that indian curry is a stew? it's got lots of chunks and can be eaten with bread or without any extra starch
Mmmaybe for some types of curry? But not all since many have meat cooked separately and are sauced toward the end of cooking time. Daal and chana dishes, though? Stew. Despite not having chunks or particularly thick sauces... (It was actually a daal that kicked this train of though off and I love everyone's responses so far, thank you!)
soups have broth, stew does not. stew is not a liquid. if you drop a scoop of stew in a bowl it will remain at least partly in a mound rather than taking the shape of the bowl. chunks have nothing to do with it. also stew is cooked for longer, so everything kind of blends together, whereas in soups the ingredients remain separate within the broth. and chili IS a stew, it is a spicy meat and tomato-based stew, I will die on this hill I've just decided
While this is all good and logical, I'm still disagreeing on both principle and the name. If it's a stew don't you think people would call it that? It's a hash if anything, maybe even a condiment or topping. It is not stew.
Definitely disagree with this. Eintopf is a stew and Eintopf has broth and is a liquid. Considering naming conventions: no. Something can be a stew by definition without being just called a stew, imo
That makes sense now that I think about it. Chili is still not stew, though. I just have less reasoning now Oh, something that crossed my mind just now, where does chowder fall? Is it yet another thing of its own or is it included in the soup/stew dichotomy?
I would class it as a soup. I feel like the soup/stew dichotomy is badly delineated in most cases but really badly done here in the case of chowders.
I could consider chili a condiment in certain contexts—chili fries or chili dogs, for instance, effectively use it as such—but I feel like, just in its own right, it’s honestly kinda its own thing? I wouldn’t really consider it a soup OR a stew, but I also wouldn’t call it a condiment in the same way I would, say, mayo or nacho cheese.
see to me that wouldn't make it a condiment, that would make the fries or whatever the base starch of the meal. if pressed, I might concede to call that kind of chili a sauce.
