I saw Alton Brown make this beef stew recipe last night on Food Network and I was dying to try it. I’m braising the beef all evening tonight and will finish the stew tomorrow.

Alton’s recipe calls for cooking beef short ribs, with seasonings and a small amount of water, in an aluminum foil pouch, with the pouch resting in a metal pan. But when I checked my oven just now, my pouch — which I hadn’t crimped well enough — had started to leak. At first, I thought I could pour a little of the leaked broth back into the pouch and reseal it, but as I moved the pouch I poured more and more liquid into the pan.

I finally gave up and put everything — meat and rescued broth — into a round casserole with a heavy glass lid, where it will spend the last hour of its cooking time. I can only hope Alton will understand.