Perpetual stew is when you keep a stew, well, stewing for days, weeks — maybe even years.
You may serve a portion or two, and keep replenishing the broth and ingredients. Somehow, it stays good. Or — that's the goal.
Aubrea Ashe, Zachary Leavitt and Alex Thompson have been documenting their perpetual stew journeys on TikTok. They've named their perpetual stews Soupina, Stewtheus and Stewpies, respectively.
Perpetual stew went viral in 2023 when Annie Rauwerda, who runs the Depths of Wikipedia social media pages, started serving it out of a slow cooker in Brooklyn. This type of stew is still making its rounds on social media.
But — is it safe?
"Unless you maintain the stew at a safe temperature, which is about over 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you can get bacterial growth in that stew," said James Rogers, director of product safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.
"You should be using a food thermometer to measure what the temperature is, and you must keep it at all times above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, even overnight," he added.
Rogers doesn't recommend you try it at home. But if you do:
"You might wanna consider when you're adding new ingredients, especially vegetables, that you clean them well and that you may pre-cook them before you add them," Rogers said, "because they could be a source of new bacteria that you'll be introducing into this stew."
If your stew dips below the one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit threshold, Rogers recommends you throw out the whole pot. Don't try to reheat it!
"Sometimes, some bacteria will release toxins when they grow, and these toxins are resistant to heat. So when you reheat the food, the bacteria may die, but the toxins may still be there," Rogers said.
Alex Thompson, who lives in Arizona, took the risk.
"I started doing the perpetual stew because it helps [to] have a meal ready every night with very little dishes since it stays in the same pot," Thompson said.
He thinks "Stewpies" will save him money in the long run.
"On low, the crock pot uses about 125 watts, which for a month costs about $20," Thompson said.
Zachary Leavitt, who lives in California, has been tending to "Stewtheus" (named after the Ship of Theseus, a philosophical thought experiment which asks if an object which has had all of its components replaced is still the same object) in his childhood bedroom for over a month and a half.
Leavitt has invested in an infrared thermometer to ensure ingredients that stick out remain at a safe temperature, a sous vide cooker, and a 3D printed enclosure that vents outside to control the smell.
He's unemployed and has made the soup his full-time job. In about a month, he says he has earned around $5,000 from the TikTok fund that pays creators for viral videos.
"I want it going indefinitely," Leavitt said. "And then I want to be put into the stew. It's the circle of life."
But if you try it, don't hold us responsible if you get sick.
This story was edited for radio by Reena Advani and edited for digital by Suzanne Nuyen.
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