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[Osmosis Jones]

Also a huge variety of herbs (basil, thyme, dill, fennel, rosemary, etc.) and certain spices (like cumin, juniper and celery powder) were widely available, being actually native to parts of Europe. Cumin in particular was huge during the greek and roman eras, kept on the table like we use pepper, and grew in the Mediterranean.

[majikero]

When you say spice, people think of flavor that can burn your tongue off, not those weird smelling leaves.

[Osmosis Jones]

So... horseradish then?

Also, from the context of DT's post, I'd say he means spice in the more traditional sense; an actual spice, not necessarily something spicy.

[Arx]

So I made a stew. Screw the Northern Hemisphere, it's winter here!

Ingredients: carrot, potato, onion, beef, flour, salt, pepper.

Step 1: Take carrots, potatoes, onions and beef.
Step 2: Peel and chop the carrots and potatoes. The potatoes don't have to be peeled.
Step 3: Peel and chop onions and transfer directly to pot with oil. Add a little salt to draw out the flavour.
Step 4: Make sure the beef is in small chunks. Once the onions are translucent, add it in.
Step 5: Add a little more salt, a generous quantity of black pepper, and herbs of your choice.
Step 6: Once the beef is browned, add potatoes and carrots.
Step 7: Cook for a few minutes, then coat with a handful of flour, cook for 30 seconds, and cover with boiling water.
Step 8: For optimal results, cook for a couple of hours over low heat. For excellent but faster results, cook for an hour over medium heat. For good and fast results, cook for 30-40 minutes over high-ish heat, stirring regularly.
Step 9: Serve hot.

Your results may vary. The cooking maestri may have better ideas.

[Loud Whispers]

What distinguishes a soup from a stew?

[Jopax]

Soup is clearer and runnier I guess. Tho the spring soup my mother makes is both thick and not exactly clear. It's stilly fuckin' tasty though.

[RedKing]

I tend to think of soup as hot liquid (yes, I know there are such things as cold soups) with food added, while stew is cooked food plus the liquid it was cooked in (especially meat or starchy vegetables, because the proteins, fats and/or starches they release while cooking thicken the liquid). If you cook potatoes then add them to a broth, that's a potato soup. If you cook the potatoes in the broth (which generally takes a lot longer time and lower heat), then you get a potato stew.

Another test I've heard is "If you need a bowl, it's a soup. If you could eat it off a plate, it's a stew." 

[Sappho]

I don't know that I agree with that definition. I never cook vegetables before adding them to soups. At least once or twice a week I make a soup with onion/leek/spring onion, carrot, daikon radish, fresh chili, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, and noodles. Everything is cut fresh and cooked in the liquid for half an hour or longer before eating, and there is definitely not much liquid left since the noodles soak most of it up, but there's no way I'd call that a stew. In fact, I've never heard the word "stew" used for anything not containing meat, almost always beef with potatoes.

I do agree that something called a "stew" is more solid than liquid, like gulash. But I think the word really only applies to certain types of food. And certainly a soup is not necessarily something where the food was cooked first and added to the liquid after. I've never made soup that way. There are also things like squash/pumpkin soup, where the vegetables are boiled for a long time then the result is blended to give it a thick consistency without any chunks.

Actually, according to Wikipedia, it's food cooked in liquid for a long time over low heat and served with that liquid, like gravy, and it usually contains the least tender cuts of meat (toughest, containing the most fat) so it's best for long, slow cooking. In fact, it sounds like the definition of gulash. On the other hand, it says soup is made by boiling solid ingredients in a pot until the flavors are extracted - essentially the same thing as "stew" but without the note on it being servable on a plate. I think it comes down more to the types of ingredients used and the ratio of solid to liquid, though even something more solid than liquid could be called soup depending on what's in it.

[Osmosis Jones]

I don't know that I agree with that definition.

Likewise; for me, I love soup AND stew because both are everything-in-one-pot meals. Since my soups are usually pretty thick, I can't divide by that... so I generally categorize it by the size of the ingredients in the liquid; soup I'll shred up into small chunks (or cook until it falls apart) to yield a pretty even mix, while stew will have large chunks of beef/potato/etc. in a gravy.

On that note, one of my favourite soups;

1 carrot, chopped as fine as you can be bothered.
2 leeks, split then sliced.
Bacon... I'm not sure of actual amount, I just wing it, so let's say 1/2-1/3 a cup, diced.
1/3-1/2 a bulb of garlic (thats... 3-4 cloves, I guess?)
Salt to taste.
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced into <1 cm cubes.
2-3 twigs of thyme.
2 cups of chicken stock.
1 cup combined of frozen peas and corn.

Fry off everything upto and including the garlic in some butter. Once the leeks are just starting to colour, add potato, stock, thyme, and cook for the next 2-3 hours (if necessary, add a little extra liquid). Then, remove the thyme stalks (strip off any leaves, just get rid of the woody bits) and mash/blend the soup to an even consistency. Add the peas, corn, and pepper to taste (if it needs liquid at this stage, milk or cream works best, but water's fine), and then serve with crusty white bread.

[Caz]

Since tomatoes, potatoes, sugar, chocolate and bananas

I started reading this and thought it was a recipe. "tomatoes, sugar AND chocolate? okthen.jpg"

[Helgoland]

Since tomatoes, potatoes, sugar, chocolate and bananas

I started reading this and thought it was a recipe. "tomatoes, sugar AND chocolate? okthen.jpg"

Challenge accepted! Once I get back to Bonn (and my hands on some good tomatoes), I'll be making tomaclate sauce.

[Bauglir]

Chocolate cake actually tastes pretty good with a skinned and puree'd tomato thrown in. A buddy has a recipe that involves doing that for some reason. And, of course, you can always do something with a mole sauce, which I think would work fine with tomatoes and sugar.

[Mesa]

Who thought that simple bread, cheese, tomato and pepper sandwiches would be so tasty.
Although I keep adding too much pepper which results in my tongue burning for half an hour, but it's worth it.

[Arx]

Cheese and tomato add 100% extra awesome to basically any cold dish. Cheese adds 50-100% awesome to any dish by itself.

Re: soumantics, what I made was definitely a stew, on account of half the water being boiled off. I believe you can make a soup according to the same recipe, just with more water, but my version is stew.

[GiglameshDespair]

Slowcooked a large lump of bacon joint in coke yesterday.

You could say it's turned out well.