ragout

American  

[ra-goo] / ræˈgu /

noun

1. French Cooking. a highly seasoned stew of meat or fish, with or without vegetables.

---

verb (used with object)

ragouted, ragouting

1. to make into a ragout.

ragout British  

/ ræˈɡuː /

noun

1. a richly seasoned stew of meat or poultry and vegetables

---

verb

1. (tr) to make into a ragout

Etymology

Origin of ragout

1650–60; < French ragoût, derivative of ragoûter to restore the appetite of, equivalent to r ( e ) - re- + á (< Latin ad to) + goût (< Latin gustus taste)

Explanation

A ragout is a savory dish with chunks of meat and vegetables cooked together into a stew. An authentic ragout is cooked very slowly at a low heat. A ragout is essentially the same as a stew, except that most recipes for ragout are originally French, and often the meat and vegetables are cut into smaller pieces than in a typical stew. Ragouts vary in flavor and ingredients — you can skip the meat and make a vegetarian ragout, for example. In French, it's ragoût, from the Middle French ragoûter, "awaken the appetite," which has the root goût, or "taste."

Example Sentences

All of which makes this second memoir as rich as a mushroom ragout.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2022

The mandate to still provide all the necessary details of the watch — a ragout of numbers, abbreviations and surnames — requires some contortions.

From Washington Post • Sep. 27, 2022

It includes a dizzying array of dishes like faux brisket; gefilte "no" fish; matzo lasagna with tomato ragout and plant-starch cheese; potato onion kugel; and frosted chocolate deli cake.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2022

There was a warm tart of creamy crab ragout spiced with ’nduja in a brik shell, but it somehow didn’t work as well as the Basque txangurro that seemed to inspire it.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2021

Make a ragout of oysters, sweetbreads fried, a few morels and mushrooms, and lay in the bottom of your dish, and garnish with fried oysters and grated bread.

From The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory; In Which will Be Found a Large Collection of Original Receipts. 3rd ed. by Bury, Charlotte Campbell, Lady