If you need an English word that can refer to either a combination of food items or a random assortment of things, there's no shortage of options on the menu. If you're in the mood for a stew, there's hodgepodge (formerly "hotchpotch"), olla podrida, or gallimaufry. Perhaps you'd rather start with a palate cleanser, like macédoine or salmagundi. We also have gumbo or jambalaya, if Southern cooking is more your thing, or smorgasbord if you prefer words of Swedish descent. Then there's ragout, which comes from French ragoûter, meaning "to revive the taste," and ultimately from Latin gustus, meaning "taste."
the movie is an uncertain ragout of fantasy, science fiction, and old-fashioned romance
Recent Examples on the WebVia Vite The Easter buffet at Via Vite includes a mix of breakfast offerings and classic Italian dishes, such as scrambled eggs, French toast with berries compote, handmade crispy gnocchi, and Italian sausage and bean ragout.—Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 11 Mar. 2024 This might go down alongside the rustic pappardelle with wild boar ragout at Forno as one of my favorite pasta dishes in town.—Keith Pandolfi, The Enquirer, 19 Jan. 2024 Escargots arrive in a ragout of eggplant puree, crisp julienne trumpet mushrooms, and a suggestion of bacon and cumin.—Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2023 In between courses of roasted lemon chicken, pasta with forest mushroom ragout, and kale with garlic, Christensen caught up with seatmates like Julianne Moore, Adrien Brody, Haley Logan, Georgina Chapman, Camilla Staerk, and Tina Leung.—Mario Abad, Vogue, 21 Oct. 2023 For entrees, there’s fried catfish with black-eyed peas, collards, sauteed crawfish and a pancetta-lemon aioli; shrimp and grits with roasted corn, sauteed kale and summer tomato ragout; and the Chef Harvey Burger, topped with gruyere, housemade dijonaise and caramelized onions on onion brioche.—Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 3 Apr. 2023 Now a brunch fixture as well as an occasional dinner special, beef short rib brought complex Eastern European flavors to the table in a fork-tender braise of Georgian tomato ragout perfumed with fenugreek and tarragon and crowned with pungent sauerkraut and red cabbage slaw.—Mike Sutter, San Antonio Express-News, 31 Mar. 2022 But the dish of the day was the short rib ragout.—Mara Severin, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Sep. 2020 Appetizers include salad, crispy maitake mushroom, crab salad toast, tuna tartare, foie gras mousse and short rib ragout.—Susan Dunne, courant.com, 28 Mar. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ragout.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
French ragoût, from ragoûter to revive the taste, from Middle French ragouster, from re- + a- ad- (from Latin ad-) + goust taste, from Latin gustus; akin to Latin gustare to taste — more at choose
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