Perpetual stew

Perpetual stew

A Cantabrian version of perpetual stew
Origin
Alternative name(s)	Hunter's pot, hunter’s stew
Type	Stew

A perpetual stew, also known as hunter's pot or hunter's stew, is a pot into which whatever one can find is placed and cooked. The pot is never or rarely emptied all the way, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary. The concept is often a common element in descriptions of medieval inns. Foods prepared in a perpetual stew have been described as being flavorful due to the manner in which the foodstuffs blend together, in which the flavor may improve with age.

Examples

Medieval cooking:

bread, water or ale, and a companaticum ('that which goes with the bread') from the cauldron, the original stockpot or pot-au-feu that provided an ever-changing broth enriched daily with whatever was available. The cauldron was rarely emptied out except in preparation for the meatless weeks of Lent, so that while a hare, hen or pigeon would give it a fine, meaty flavour, the taste of salted pork or cabbage would linger for days, even weeks.

 – Tannahill

Pepperpot is commonly eaten in Guyana and parts of the Caribbean. It uses Cassareep as a flavouring and preservative. In 2015, a New York restaurant had been serving the same perpetual stew for four months.

Ingredients

Various ingredients can be used in a perpetual stew, such as root vegetables and tubers (onion, carrot, potato, garlic, parsnip, turnip, etc.) and various meats and game meats.

See also

• Bigos
• List of stews
• Master stock
• Mother dough, used to make sourdough bread with fermented dough from a previous batch, the original starter culture potentially being many years old
• Pot-au-feu
• Potjiekos
• Pottage
• Slow cooker
• Stone soup
• Potcake dog, a dog breed named for the leftover cake at the bottom of the stew traditionally fed to them

Further reading

• Food in History, by Reay Tannahill. New York : Crown Publishers, 1989. 424 p. ISBN 0-517-57186-2