Use of Plain Gelatin in Stew?

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I dont even use gelatin when i make hogs head cheese.

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It's not something I've tried before, either.

While you may not be using powdered gelatin, if you ever use bone-in meat and poultry, you end up with gelatin in your soup. The connective tissues yield up their gelating in long cooking....think about how a good meat or poultry broth will gel after chilling. Powdered gelatin is just a short cut way of improving mouthfeel while using boneless, faster cooking cuts of meat.

Gelatin is naturally occurring when you cook with animal bones. A chicken stock that has cooked overnight gets thicker and silky. To mimic that, I have seen ATK use instant gelatin in their recipes. Usually, just disolve a packet or two in warm water and add before serving.

Sounds awful

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I've not used it for thickening,

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Doesn't gelatin have to be refrigerated for it to thicken. It doesn't make sense to use this to thicken a dish that is served hot/warm.

Using it for mouthfeel seems like a winner though. A french onion soup made with oxtails is amazing.