This.The chemical reactions that create new flavors continue while the stew, lasagna, etc., are cooling and refrigerated, albeit at a slower rate than when the food is warm. So yes, the flavor does improve while it sits. I always make my lasagna sauce in advance for this reason.
In my experience, a properly cooked stew should be 'fully flavored' and leaving it in the fridge overnight shouldn't make a difference. If cooking the ingredients for a couple of hours doesn't extract all the flavors, why would sitting overnight in the fridge make a difference?
That's one of the very few topics on which I disagree with Kenji. It doesn't match my experience. But it is quite subjective, so YMMV.Here is a link to the Serious Eats article on this topic. Take from it what you will. You are justified in saying, "See I told you there was a difference!". Or you can take the position that any difference is so minor it doesn't matter. What I got out of it is that it's impossible to create an absolutely foolproof test of the theory so it's probably not a relevant test.
Stew Science: Is It Really Better the Next Day?
It's a phrase you hear all the time: "This [stew] [soup] [long-cooked-thing-X] will be even better the next day!" It's an appealing prospect. Most foods are best when they're at their freshest, but a dish you can make in one large batch that doesn't just hold up, but actually improves with time...www.seriouseats.com
You can debunk misunderstandings of facts (salt in beans, potatoes absorbing salt, searing sears in juices)I'm with Andy. I don't usually like leftovers, and stews are no exception. I think they lose a lot texturally, and for me texture is part of the eating experience.
One of the major food sites (maybe either Kenji or Serious Eats) did testing on this and debunked it. It's an old wives' tale that we all buy into because we've heard it all our lives, and therefore believe it.
I think you can debunk an opinion on what tastes good, even to a specific person. Blind taste tests can do that. But, I don't think it's possible with fresh stew vs day old stew, as I wrote in a comment, not far back. We simply don't have a method (for now) that will let you properly taste test day old stew vs fresh stew.You can debunk misunderstandings of facts (salt in beans, potatoes absorbing salt, searing sears in juices)
You can’t debunk an opinion on what tastes good.