Ragout fin facts for kids
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| Type | Soup |
|---|---|
| Course | Entrée |
| Place of origin | Germany/Berlin |
| Main ingredients | Veal, sweetbread, calf brain, tongue, bone marrow, chicken breast, fish; vinegar stock or butter; roux, button mushrooms, egg yolks |
Ragout fin is a special kind of stew that comes from Germany, especially Berlin. Even though its name sounds French (Ragout fin means "fine stew" in French), it's believed that French people called Huguenots who moved to Berlin created it. It's often served as a starter dish before the main meal. In East Germany, there's a similar dish called Würzfleisch, but it uses pork or chicken instead of veal.
Contents
What is Ragout Fin?
This classic German dish is a creamy, flavorful stew. It's known for its rich taste and the special ingredients used to make it. Making real Ragout fin takes a lot of time and care.
Traditional Ingredients
The original Ragout fin is made with a mix of interesting ingredients. These include:
- Veal (meat from a young cow)
- Sweetbread (a type of gland meat)
- Calf brain
- Tongue
- Bone marrow
- Chicken breast
- Fish
These ingredients are either boiled in a special vinegar broth or cut into small pieces and cooked slowly in butter.
How It's Made
After cooking the meats and fish, a thick sauce is prepared. This sauce is called a Roux, which is a mix of fat (like butter) and flour. Cooked button mushrooms are added to the roux. Then, egg yolks are mixed in to make the sauce even thicker and creamier.
The cooked meat and fish pieces are then combined with this rich sauce. The mixture is gently heated in water. Finally, it's often topped with Parmesan cheese and a little more butter. Sometimes, a dash of Worcestershire sauce is added for extra flavor.
Modern Ragout Fin
Today, you'll most likely find Ragout fin sold in cans. These canned versions are usually quite different from the old, traditional recipe.
Changes Over Time
Instead of veal, offal (like brain or tongue), and fish, modern canned versions often use chicken puree. This chicken puree is then thickened with egg whites.
After the late 1980s, there was a health concern called BSE (often called "mad cow disease"). Because of this, using calf brain in food became very rare, even in high-quality Ragout fin. This change helped make the dish safer for everyone.
See also
In Spanish: Ragout fin para niños
