D&D General Sandwiches should exist in your fantasy world!

[TaranTheWanderer]

Corn is from the New World. Maize, specifically, A grass seed not terribly unlike Wheat that they cultivated into many varieties of what we now call Corn. Do you have Whiskey in your setting? It's often made of Corn. Bourbon is 100% corn booze. Rum? Okay that one's Sugar Cane which originated in the South Pacific and actually reached Europe when the Muslims conquered chunks of it in the 600-1400CE range. So I -guess- we can allow Sugar Cane to be in Medieval European Fantasy without it being an anachronism...

Just a nitpick: scotch whiskey is made of barley, not corn.

I'm not sure if barley originated from Europe. You'd know better than me.

 

[Steampunkette]

Eh, there are both soups and stews that are made covered, partially-covered, and uncovered. There are also both soups and stews made stovetop, in the oven, and in various specialized appliances like slow cookers and pressure cookers. I think the most significant difference is that soups are usually made with the solid ingredients fully submerged in the liquid and stews are usually made with the solid ingredients either just covered or partially covered in the liquid.

Really though, language is for communication. The ultimate test is, would someone be confused if you asked them to bring you a bowl of “that soup/stew” in reference to it.

In that case I think: There is no difference, at least in one direction. If you said "Bring me that soup" and pointed at a beef stew they'd probably just do it. Now if you pointed at a thin brothy soup like a consomme and called it stew they might argue.

Maybe it's a Square and Rectangle situation? Stews are Soups but Soups aren't Stews?

Just a nitpick: scotch whiskey is made of barley, not corn.

I'm not sure if barley originated from Europe. You'd know better than me.

Mesopotamia. The Sumerians cultivated Barley because of it's incredibly short growing cycle (2 months!) and would harvest it repeatedly throughout the year. From there, it spread into Europe and even as far East as to be found in Japan. All the same cultivar of domesticated barley!

 

[Tonguez]

Theoretically? Indefinite. You can keep a soup or stew going for as long as you have ingredients to replace what you eat and heat to keep them simmering. In actual practice, there’s a pretty high risk of foodborn illness if you keep it gong for too long.

I had an uncle that kept the same pot going for a year or so, he was eventually ordered by his sister to throw it out. He however seemed fine and if we were hungry, we'd pick stuff of the top layer, just be careful not to dig too deep.
They had particularly strong stomachs before the invention of refrigeration - my grandmother use to bury fishheads and then dig them up a month later to make her soup, I never tried that

 

[Demetrios1453]

I had an uncle that kept the same pot going for a year or so, he was eventually ordered by his sister to throw it out. He however seemed fine and if we were hungry, we'd pick stuff of the top layer, just be careful not to dig too deep.

"The diners delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-Stew. Shadow and flame."

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

"The diners delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-Stew. Shadow and flame."

It was the salmon moose!

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Alliaria petiolata - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

yay, mustard is indigenous to Europe. There are no excuses for a condiment. Sandwiches rejoice!

 

[Charlaquin]

In that case I think: There is no difference, at least in one direction. If you said "Bring me that soup" and pointed at a beef stew they'd probably just do it. Now if you pointed at a thin brothy soup like a consomme and called it stew they might argue.

I agree! And I would say that’s a good reason to consider stew a type of soup. Like squares and rectangles, one is a more specific example of the larger category to which they both belong. But, if someone is looking for a general guideline for assessing if something is likely to constitute a stew, I would say, stews usually have very thick broths, bordering on sauces.

 

[Tonguez]

I agree! And I would say that’s a good reason to consider stew a type of soup. Like squares and rectangles, one is a more specific example of the larger category to which they both belong. But, if someone is looking for a general guideline for assessing if something is likely to constitute a stew, I would say, stews usually have very thick broths, bordering on sauces.

technically stew is cooked via braising the meat (slow cooking with moist heat) until it softens and breaks down, although liquid is used in the braising process it is not the key ingredient as it is in soups. Soups are simmered in liquid, making the liquid a vital ingredient to the dish.
So while watery stews do end up looking like soups, soups and stews are cooked via different techniques

 

[Charlaquin]

technically stew is cooked via braising the meat (slow cooking with moist heat) until it softens and breaks down, although liquid is used in the braising process it is not the key ingredient as it is in soups. Soups are simmered in liquid, making the liquid a vital ingredient to the dish.
So while watery stews do end up looking like soups, soups and stews are cooked via different techniques

Looks like you missed the rest of the conversation, where I said that.

 

[aco175]

And here I was just thinking that a soup used a spoon and a stew used a fork.