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Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:00 AM Jul 2021

Lasagna layers. Does the order really matter? An epicurean existential question.

All recipes seem to agree to layer a small portion of the meat sauce on the bottom, obviously to keep from sticking to the pan. But from there, the common practice appears to be, noodles, ricotta or cottage cheese, meat sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, repeat two more times.

I have been doing it another way. Noodles, meat sauce, ricotta or cottage cheese, mozzarella, followed by Parmesan cheese. This is how the top layer ends up, anyway, so I do it for all three layers. In the end, does it really matter?

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Lasagna layers. Does the order really matter? An epicurean existential question. (Original Post) Baitball Blogger Jul 2021 OP
I can't see how it would, because any remotely competently-made lasagna is pretty delicious Hugh_Lebowski Jul 2021 #1
Lmao that shit is fabulous. I don't care what anyone says Docreed2003 Jul 2021 #3
Clearly we were separated at birth Hugh_Lebowski Jul 2021 #5
If you roast a red pepper, fennel and zuchinni in the oven you can make a layer applegrove Jul 2021 #2
That sounds really good! 2naSalit Jul 2021 #4
It takes lots of pots and pans so make two at a time and freeze one. applegrove Jul 2021 #7
Ha! 2naSalit Jul 2021 #15
+2, sounds awesome! Fennel always good by me, and love red pepper and zucchini too :) Hugh_Lebowski Jul 2021 #6
My mother's non-italian American recipe, which is what I usually do because... just because, RockRaven Jul 2021 #8
Now I'm hungry and it's friggin 1 o'clock in the morning. Baked Potato Jul 2021 #9
I always start with a layer of sauce on the bottom, followed by noodles, then the ricotta mixture, smirkymonkey Jul 2021 #10
I'll only add that you should use ricotta cheese. PoindexterOglethorpe Jul 2021 #11
My Mom would resent that remark Trailrider1951 Jul 2021 #12
Actually, back then ricotta might have been completely PoindexterOglethorpe Jul 2021 #13
I doubt it matters much intrepidity Jul 2021 #14
That makes sense... 2naSalit Jul 2021 #16
Possibly another reason is that it's easier to spread ricotta or cottage cheese on the Baitball Blogger Jul 2021 #17
 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
1. I can't see how it would, because any remotely competently-made lasagna is pretty delicious
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:04 AM
Jul 2021

It's more about the sauce than anything else anyway IMHO.

TBH, Stouffer's Meat Lovers is fairly bomb, cheap, and super-easy. That's how I usually go, frankly.

Docreed2003

(16,817 posts)
3. Lmao that shit is fabulous. I don't care what anyone says
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:19 AM
Jul 2021

We eat it around our house, mainly because it tastes great and the kids will eat it as well!

 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
5. Clearly we were separated at birth
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:30 AM
Jul 2021


I dig the regular Stouffers Lasagna, it's damn good ... but the Meat Lovers, with the Sausage in it? Seriously one of the greatest 'frozen dinners' of all time. So friggin' tasty. I try to get it only every few trips to the store cause it's really not healthy for an old man like me, and I'll friggin eat it every meal til the leftovers are gone, I don't GAF

applegrove

(118,023 posts)
2. If you roast a red pepper, fennel and zuchinni in the oven you can make a layer
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:15 AM
Jul 2021

Last edited Tue Jul 13, 2021, 01:53 AM - Edit history (1)

of that. I use a mix of mozzarella, white cheddar and havarti as the cheese. Hunts tomato sauce from a can. Cottage cheese mixed with an egg and spinach. And sprinkle dried tarragon everywhere. Parmisan on the very top then more tarragon. So cottage cheese is in the first layer, and roasted vegetables on the second. Meat on the bottom and the third layer. Cheese, tomato sauce and tarragon and lasagna noodles on every layer. People love it.

applegrove

(118,023 posts)
7. It takes lots of pots and pans so make two at a time and freeze one.
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:42 AM
Jul 2021

I used to always make sure my parents had one or two in their freezer when i visited or we had guests. I once tried adding fiddleheads .... piew piew piew don't do that.

2naSalit

(86,072 posts)
15. Ha!
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 07:52 AM
Jul 2021

I have used wild vegetation but never fiddleheads. I think I'll work with garden veggies until I figure out the flavors.


 

Hugh_Lebowski

(33,643 posts)
6. +2, sounds awesome! Fennel always good by me, and love red pepper and zucchini too :)
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:35 AM
Jul 2021

I do kinda prefer ricotta to cottage cheese but if someone else made it that way I'd still eat it ...

RockRaven

(14,784 posts)
8. My mother's non-italian American recipe, which is what I usually do because... just because,
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 12:42 AM
Jul 2021

goes from the bottom up:
Noodles
Ricotta+other stuff
Mozzarella
Meat sauce
Repeat etc.

Cooked in a clear glass Pyrex, usually a 9X13 size, it never sticks. Ever. Don't know where the idea of a bottom layer of meat sauce being necessary to avoid sticking comes from. Maybe it is tasty, but necessary?

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
10. I always start with a layer of sauce on the bottom, followed by noodles, then the ricotta mixture,
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 01:18 AM
Jul 2021

etc. I sometimes use a sausage/ground beef mixture and sometimes do a vegetarian version w/ spinach. I took lessons from my Italian grandmother and great aunts, so it's pretty authentic.

Trailrider1951

(3,409 posts)
12. My Mom would resent that remark
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 02:20 AM
Jul 2021

She always used cottage cheese in her lasagna. I think it was because back in the '40's and '50's ricotta was hard to find in most grocery stores in Columbus, Ohio. Cottage cheese was everywhere. She used to buy the large curd cheese and drain it in cheese cloth before using it in the recipe. Today, I still use large curd cottage cheese in my lasagna, and I have had no complaints. YMMV.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
13. Actually, back then ricotta might have been completely
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 03:01 AM
Jul 2021

unavailable. So she gets a pass.

I bet she was a wonderful cook! My mom, god love her, not so much. The reason I started cooking for the family by the time I was seven was that Mom just wasn't very good at it. Don't get me wrong. She had many fine traits, but cooking was not one of them.

intrepidity

(7,241 posts)
14. I doubt it matters much
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 03:06 AM
Jul 2021

but the typical recipe order that you described seems to put cheese next to the pasta, and I wonder if the idea is to prevent the pasta from absorbing too much liquid from the sauce, maybe to preserve an al dente pasta?

The oil from the cheese may play a similar role that mayo plays in a sandwich--to prevent the bread from getting soggy.

Although, the bottom layer of sauce defeats this somewhat... perhaps why that sauce layer is usually very thin.

2naSalit

(86,072 posts)
16. That makes sense...
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 08:04 AM
Jul 2021

All the points you make. I have been thinking this out since last night and I have concluded that it may be, in addition to your points, be that when serving, a layer of pasta at the bottom makes it a neat piece of the whole thing, like a custard pie. That may be the primary purpose of pasta in the bottom. The only lasagna I have ever made was at a pretty good pizzeria, we sold a lot of it, we always put a little marinara sauce at the bottom then pasta... I don't recall what came next, though. It was a long time ago.

Baitball Blogger

(46,576 posts)
17. Possibly another reason is that it's easier to spread ricotta or cottage cheese on the
Tue Jul 13, 2021, 09:38 AM
Jul 2021

pasta, than it is to glob it on the meat sauce and spread it.

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