What is the difference between a stew, soup or casserol?

Answer 1

A soup has a liquid base to which solid ingredients are added.

Example: Chicken soup starts with a pot full of chicken stock, basically water with chicken flavoring.

A stew has solid ingredients, and forms liquid while cooking.

Example: Beef stew starts with pieces of meat, which you brown, then add potatoes and carrots, with only a small amount of liquid. Most of the liquid comes from the meat and veggies.

A casserole is usually made by putting ingredients in a shallow dish and baking.

Answer 2

Stew is just a thicker version of soup. Casserole is completely different, and just means something baked all together in one dish, but it doesn't usually involve a broth like soup or stew does. (Although I suppose it could, and then it would be simialr to a stew other than it's cooking methods)

Answer 3

Stew is a thicker version of a soup and a casserole is baked

Answer 4

I would say a stew is mainly beef ,lamb etc cooked slowly with veg onions and gravy in a pot on top of the stove.
Casserole can be same type of meets but this is cookly longer in an oven casserole having a lid.

Soup is nicy and tasty on a winters day made in a big soup pot ,consists of liquid beeing a veg stock or chicken ,beef of your choice.

Pulses onion and veg.

A good link to try for soup recipes is
www.soupsong.com. good luck and hope this has been of some help.

Answer 5

A Stew is cooked in a pot on top of stove or fire,it is usually but not always meat based, but if you add no water it is a stew,if you add water it is a soup. A casserole is baked in an oven.

Answer 6

A stew genearlly has larger stuff in it, and is in a creamier base. Soup is generally more watery, with smaller chunks of stuff, and a casserol is baked, and the main ingredient is usually a starch, and has almost no liquid.

Answer 7

Good question!

Merriam Webster defines
Soup:
a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food

Soups are generally broths, or creamed-base sauces used as a vehicle to showcase other flavors. i.e. Cream of broccoli soup...lots of broccoli flavor made by boiling the otherwise unusable parts of the broccoli to flavor the sauce while using a small amount of the broccoli florettes for added texture and exclamation points to the overall flavor.
i.e. Chicken noodle soup:
It only takes a small amount of actual chicken presented in a full-flavored chicken broth with savory vegetables and noodles for added flavor and bulk...making it a more satisying meal and yet relatively inexpensively accomplishing a meal from left-overs.

Bisques/consumees would be exceptions to this in that they typically are more concentrated on individual flavors.

Stew:
Fish or meat usually with vegetables prepared by stewing

"Stews" are usually employed to make tougher chunks of meat more tender through slow-cooking with vegetables/mushrooms and often some type of lightly acidic liquid to aid in the tenderizing (tomatoes/tomato paste/wines). Braised with vegetables/supporting ingredients slow-cooked together. Often the meat is braised first with a flour coating so that through the cooking process a sauce or gravy is acheived. It is a satisfying meal in one dish.

Casserole:
a dish in which food may be baked and served, or, food cooked and served in a casserole

Foods "en casserole" are typically a combination of foods often primarily cooked in a lidded cooking vessel in an oven. Mostly it is a starch based dish with small amounts of other ingredients blended with a sauce and/or cheese baked to incorporate all the flavors again, in one satisfying/filling dish.

All 3 of these processes are used to economically stretch smaller amounts of proteins with starches and vegetables.

Answer 8

Soups are the most liquid based of these three.
Stews are somewhat liquid based, but have larger and more chunks of vegetables and meat in it, then soups do.
Casseroles are usually layered dishes, baked in a pan or dish - think lasagna as an example.

Answer 9

stew has lots of fluids and a casserol doesn't

Answer 10

stew has thin gravy, soups have no gravy, and casseroles have a thick gravy, and now i'm hungry.