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Once upon a time, when my sister was just learning to cook, she found a recipe for Beef Ragout and decided to try it on her family. She shopped for the proper ingredients - beef being primary, of course. Some beer, a little red wine, onion, garlic, Worcestershire Sauce.

Young and eager to please her 5 year-old daughter, 10 year-old son and appreciative husband, she prepped, chopped, mixed, and cooked all day. According to directions. It smelled strong, she remembers, but kinda ok.

At 5 pm sharp, she put the dish on the table. Everyone took a sniff. Nodded. Ok. Then - each family member took a bite. Daughter wrinkled her nose. Son spat it back. Husband grimaced. My sister said, “Oh my Gawd, that’s awful!”

No one has any clue what went wrong. I’ve never made ragout, it seems straight forward - a Flemish stew, I’m told, by Global Gourmet.

The idea of beer, wine and Worcester could be off-putting. Let me know if you’ve ever tried ragout - and what your experience was. If you haven’t tried it, click the recipe above and see how it works for you, or find another. Keep me posted.

Good luck. By the way - my sister’s kids grew up happily and her culinary skills matured, too. It was just that danged ragout!