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I make a fairly tasty lasagna but it's a bit...dry.
I want that authentic runny Ragu thing going on! Your tips and tricks are most welcome.
Cheese sause alternate layers?
Lasagne always seemed to be one of those things that was a lot of trouble for the reward. Ok, pasta and a sauce...why not just eat it there and then rather than laboriously assemble and put in an oven and wait for ever, then take out and cut portions?
(Obvs if doing pasta and a sauce to eat immediately I wouldn't choose lasagne sheets!)
Cheese sause alternate layers?
Lots of cheese sauce, probably double what most recipes say.
Yeah, During the construction phase... more cheesy sauce if you find it too dry, or maybe a fattier type of mince meat if you are using super lean stuff, or a carefull increase of both... but it's a fine line between too dry and sloppy mess.
Like anyting else in cooking...all about balance of ingredients.
Chicken livers chopped into the sauce are the answer for the taste.
I married my late wife on the strength of her Lasagne who didn't cook it for 2 years into our marriage!! I almost told her I was conned into marriage 😉
Lasagne should indeed be "cutable" (says the Italian missus), however it's a contentious issue between the north and south if you use bechamel sauce or not. What does work is to crack a few eggs in to the layers.. also add a bit of spice and don't scrimp in seasoning... It's not supposed to be healthy.
I love my lasagne, just cheese on the top for me with flour, butter and milk basic bechamel sauce. I've paid for it in cafes and yet to get one I like as much as mine
Roasted veg lasagne is also great along with rocket and some crusty bread
also add a bit of spice and don’t scrimp in seasoning
it's not 'proper' but halving the mince and replacing that half with haggis is fantastic.
The one dish that's a team effort in our house and benefits from a division of labour: I do the ragu sauce whilst my wife does the bechamel sauce before we work together on the building phase.
Sacrilege, but… I find it impossible to make enough cheese/bechemel sauce. But a roasted butternut squash blended up with a sautéed onion and a touch of vegetable stock makes a great orange base. Stir your white/cheese sauce into it and you end up with loads of orange creamy cheesy sauce without using endless amounts of butter and milk.
Try fresh lasagna sheets
+1 this is your problem
Also check you have enough water in the sauce before the bake. But fresh pasta is rule no.1 in pasta!
Oddly enough, I'm cooking a ragu right now. My wife does the lassagne bit and puts mozzarella on the top, no sauce. I bought some pork cheek last week in Bologna, that seems to add a little magic. If your ragu gets dry, add more wine or water or stock. We've never found dryness a problem.
Is it just me having had a couple of beers but a lasagne thread full of double entendres
try making it with haggis instead of mince. 🏴
Rob
My other half makes it with cottage cheese, instead of bechamel sauce. Its rank!
I appreciate I'm a voodoo vegetarian so unqualified to comment but, I thought cheese went on top? The white layers are béchamel or variants thereof, surely?
I'd soak veggie protein (usually Quorn mince) in some form of veggie stock or gravy for a little while before making what is essentially a bolognaise sauce. If it's dried pasta sheets then either parboil them first or make the sauce wetter than you normally would as they'll suck all the moisture out of the dish. I usually do the latter as it's easy to overcook otherwise and it's supposed to be al dente.
@BillMC Try using some Buratta instead of Mozzarella, it's not as stringy when melted and quite a bit creamier.
Doesn't matter how you make it, lasagna just never tastes right on the first day.
Reheated is where its at.
I appreciate I’m a voodoo vegetarian so unqualified to comment but, I thought cheese went on top?
Correct.
On both counts.
@mattyfez touche.
But seriously any tips on the lasagne?
It's not the bechamel I'm struggling with its that Ragu.🤗
Cheese sause alternate layers?
Don’t be daft - lasagne isn’t a cheese dish, it’s ragu, pasta and bechamel sauce (flour, butter and milk with seasoning). Bunging a shit-load of Cheddar in it might be tasty but it is not authentic.
It’s not the bechamel I’m struggling with its that Ragu.🤗
Don’t over-complicate, long and slow, wine and milk.
Lots of recipes around this sort of approach…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rag_alla_bolognese_51842/amp
Milk!? I've got the wine in there but milk!
Ragu is just a middle class phrase for tomato sauce.
no it is not, ragú is a meat sauce.
Milk!? I’ve got the wine in there but milk!
Yup - reduce the ragu with the wine, add the milk then reduce again.
My wife's aunt uses 8 tins of tomatoes in her lasagne. It's the best lasagne I've ever tasted. You can slice it into perfect squares that are many layers deep. She was taught by her Italian mother in-law.
Milk is used by Italians to reduce the acidity of the tomato sauce. You add it towards the end for better results.
https://www.taste.com.au/food-news/you-know-classic-bolognese-should-always-made-milk/w2e3onqf
Make sure your soffrito is finely chopped.
Only use ever use fresh basil, only ever dried oregano.
Salt pepper.
50/50 beef and Pork or lamb mince. You need the fat.
Plenty of olive oil it's an ingredient in the ragu it's not for frying.
A decent tannic barbera if you're cooking it today for tomorrow, a trebbiano if it's for today.
No tomatoes. If you must, puree.
Soak the lasagne sheets in a bit of milk until soft, then add butter in lumps when you layer them.
Skimp on the ragu it isn't supposed to be mainly meat sauce, it should be mostly pasta.
Bechamel or no but again, skimp.
There is no cheese in or on lasagne unless you intend to serve with chips, peas, and quarter of a French baguette.
(it should be pointed out there are a lot of "lasagne" too, it's just a type of pasta, they're all good but the recipes are completely regional and the lasagne al forno we tend to get in the UK is just the least Italian one of the lot, a bit like spaghetti bolognese.)
But fresh pasta is rule no.1 in pasta!
My Italian colleague begs to differ. He says that delicate sauces, and cream based ones go better with fresh egg pasta but oilier and heavier sauces and ragus are better with stronger dried pasta as a base.
My Italian colleague begs to differ. He says that delicate sauces, and cream based ones go better with fresh egg pasta but oilier and heavier sauces and ragus are better with stronger dried pasta as a base.
Absolutely, some types of pasta should be dried, some should be fresh.
Also fresh pasta is not the stuff you buy in the supermarket in a bag that says "fresh" which is often still made only with durum wheat and sometimes no eggs,it's also not dusted and isn't starchy enough when cooked.
Eg You use tagliatelle (dried) with ragu because it coats the pasta better rather than sticking to it in clumps as it does with fresh.
You use spaghetti (fresh) when making carbonara because the starchyness is what makes the sauce silky and the pasta holds the water better than a dried pasta which encourages the sauce to split.
There is no cheese in or on lasagne
How does one bake it, then?
(Genuine question. I can't eat cheese, so I foil-wrap it otherwise it scorches. Is there a better way?)
How does one bake it, then?
There should be Bechamel on top if you're a with.
If not there's still quite a bit of fat from the ragu and butter
so I foil-wrap it otherwise it scorches.
Not a terrible solution - bake it slowly and with a lid, if it's starting to burn, brush it with a bit more olive oil.
The only crispy bits should be the edges.
(a slow cooker works very well for lasagne, especially if you're not a bechamelist.)
Mrs Fatmax makes the Jamie Oliver recipe, with creme fraiche...superb, highly recommended 👌
I used to work in an Italian restaurant and our lasagne was fantastic. Individually portioned off and each dish went into the pizza oven to bake. It was the temperature of the sun, but it went so well with a pizza base garlic bread dripping in garlicky butter.
Who adds nutmeg to their Bechamel?
That's made me reet peckish now! I'm imagining hot garlic butter!!!
Yeah should be thick enough that cold the next day you can slice it into glorious carb bricks. Mix of pork and beef mince works really well and almost twice as much bechamel as the recipe suggests. Always add nutmeg to that as well.
I am really tempted to try that butternut squash trick though. In full pumpkin and squash cooking mode right now as they are super cheap at the farmshop.
On the effort involved... My preference these days is to do pasta make. Cook pasta shapes of choice (some kind of tube works well to fill with squelchy sauce ), mix in the Ragu, into an oven dish, tip over cheese bechamel cheese sauce, bit more cheese on top, grill to get crispy / burny bits. All the flavour, less faff.
Who adds nutmeg to their Bechamel?
The recipe I use says mace in with the milk then boil it and strain before adding to the butter and flour.
There should be Bechamel on top if you’re a with.
Sorry, there's a typo there I can't parse. If what?
I have béchamel as the top layer. This is the recipe I use unless I'm lazy and buy a jar of white Dolmio / Ragu lasagne sauce. Is there a better béchamel?
We don't worry about being authentic and have béchamel cheese sauce throughout, the more layers the better. It's my favourite..
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There should be Bechamel on top if you’re a with.
Sorry, there’s a typo there I can’t parse. If what?
Sorry, lazy typing.
A with bechamel person as opposed to a without.
Your ragu appears to be ketchup 😉
What on earth is going off there??
Your ragu appears to be ketchup 😉
It's crushed tomatoes with a couple of dollops of my home-made pizza sauce. I couldn't get chopped ones that weren't awful and it's enough work already without messing about with fresh ones.
Well it looks alright.
Are we losing posts again?
Looks pretty decent to me.. I'd eat that.
@cougar I always buy whole plum tomatoes instead of chopped, they tend to be tastier and come with a thicker sauce, they break down just the same. <br /><br />
as for lasagne the trick is more layers and spread the bechemel and ragu as thin as possible. Yes to nutmeg
I always buy whole plum tomatoes instead of chopped
I almost did that. Duly noted.
as for lasagne the trick is more layers and spread the bechemel and ragu as thin as possible. Yes to nutmeg
It's only so thin you can spread stuff with lumps in.
As it happened, the white layers were thinner that I would have liked because the béchamel yield was far lower than I was expecting. Also, I'd forgotten what a pain in the arse it is to make, it's coming out of a jar next time. 😁
I made lasagne tonight. I forgot to take pictures but it was nice. I also did air-fried chips with it . Yum.
As it happened, the white layers were thinner that I would have liked because the béchamel yield was far lower than I was expecting.
Hence my earlier suggestion to make far more than most recipes say.
Also, I’d forgotten what a pain in the arse it is to make
Give over. A balloon whisk makes the sauce come alive.
Anyway your finished product looks excellent.
Make chilli lasagne. Chili mix, lasagne sheets and substitute bechemel for fresh chillies and guacamole finished with crushed nachos and lots of cheese. Heaven.
Food coming alive? Nope, I want mine well cooked with no movement capable unless it is done by me with my eating utensils. Is this the kind of thinking people who have a rare steak hope to happen and they then need to give chase? 😉
Is this the kind of thinking people who have a rare steak hope to happen and they then need to give chase? 😉
Everyone wants to be a rodeo star.
This is probably my favourite lasagne recipe, and not a tomato in sight:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-pesto-lasagne
(I do cook normal lasagne too, but this vegetarian version is even better...)
OK so lasagne is done, what's for portata principale?
Give over. A balloon whisk makes the sauce come alive.
My roux definitely needs work.
Anyway your finished product looks excellent.
Why thank you. It certainly disappeared a lot faster than it took to make!
I also did air-fried chips with it
Oh yeah, same. Made from actual potatoes. They're turning out to be quite the hit, I haven't touched the chip pan in months.
My other half made a lasagne with self-raising flour.
Undoing so she invented the lasagne cake. Cuttable? Yes! And you could bounce the ****er down the road.
Pork rib Ragu or 75percent beef 25 italian sausage when I can be bothered.
Oh yeah, same. Made from actual potatoes.
Yup - tossed in salt and onion salt. Mmmm.