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Is the bechamel version better? Or do you prefer it with ricotta?

Most Americans are probably only familiar with the ricotta version. The traditional version uses béchamel and it is quite delicious that way. I do like both, however.

You oughta Use ricotta!

Bechamel Don't work as well.

Bechamel tends to upset my stomach, but I don't think I've ever had the ricotta version. Anyway, I'm vegetarian now, so if anyone has a favourite veggie version of this dish, I'd be interested to hear of it. I used to love it when I ate meat.

I say this also just because people might be interested, not to be a grammar nazi or anything, but technically it's called "lasagne" with an e, because it's made of more than one sheet of pasta ("lasanga" - one sheet, "lasagne" - many sheets).

I've also noticed a lot of Americans refer to the pasta as noodles, which I find really interesting. Is that country-wide or regional?

Honestly, I don't like either one. When I make it at home I replace the ricotta layer with a mixture of shredded mozzarella, romano, parmesan, eggs, and milk.

You are all damned to a second Trump term for favoring ricotta; you jumped-up queens have no idea. Whole communities have been wiped out for less. It is always Béchamel, capitalized you total fucking cunts, from Louis de B. FFS. There is no hope for most of you.

I suppose I'll mention that it's the usual divergence of Northern and Southern approaches to similar dishes.

The Neopolitan lasagne ("di carnevale") can be associated with the "ricotta, not béchamel" type. The northern version, typically that of Emilia-Romagna, uses a different noodle and contains Béchamel sauce and a heartier ragù, although some areas also have a more diverse vegetable-based sauce. Now, of course, traditional recipes are rare everywhere and a lot of mixing goes on, including with the pasta type - earlier a simpler semolina-and-water base was used, and north, where semolina was not available, a more European egg-and-flower pasta was used, with a very different texture.

I've made both. I prefer the northern version.

And, obviously, tomatoes were not part of the original versions around Naples, the dish long predating them in Europe.

Chicken in lasagne dishes? NO!

Stouffers :Lasagna with Meat and Sauce (the original) is the only way to go!

[quote] Stouffers :Lasagna with Meat and Sauce (the original) is the only way to go!

This is why they hate us.

There are some queens here who use cottage cheese and Jimmy Dean sausage in their recipes!

Any queen who uses anything from Jimmy Dean is merely a faggot.

4 R10 with love from Mr Brain, better than Jimmy Dee.

Do you drain and/or rinse? After we have established that, we can talk about your psychotic Trumpian ricotta / Béchamel issues.

My mom made her very Upper Midwestern, very American lasagna with mozzarella, parmesan, and American or Velveeta cheese.

I liked it because I grew up with it, but recognize the bastardized version of lasagna that it was. I still like it, but have had much better and much more traditional/authentic.

[quote] My mom made her very Upper Midwestern, very American

Your mom is a saint R15 but it's not lasagna. It's Midwestern pasta bake; delicious no doubt.

Michelina's was delicious too.

I want Wesley Crusher, is that wrong?

True, R16, but within our family we recognized it as such. "Midwestern pasta bake" - I like that. Lol.

Apparently Joy Behar's lasagne is amazing. The women of The View were practically clawing each others eyes out over it.

One thing I know Joy is doing that isn't traditional, is using both onion and garlic in the same dish. Traditionally, Italians cook dishes with one or the other, not both together.

I thought Joy Behar was on MSNBC. Dang.

I like Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade version

Anyone have a vegetarian or seafood lasagna recipe that they like? I don’t do beef so I make eggplant parm instead of lasagna and would like to switch it up.

R25, here is Marcella Hazan's vegetable lasagne recipe consisting of carrots, broccoli, and zucchini.

I saw a video of Joy making a lasagne to give to Whoopi. Didn’t look that good. Hardly any sausage.

I knew sooner or later the Marcella Hazan Troll would show up. She is not the authority of Italian cooking, I don't care how many books she wrote or how famous she was "for her time".

Apparently, r28, there is more than one "Marcella Hazan troll," as I did not post that recipe, reading which, incidentally, requires a paid membership to something called ckbk.com.

BTW, I also like Giuliano Bugialli.

Who wrote your Italian cookbooks?

Here's the deal Bechamel is the northern version the most popular version in Italy. Most of the snotty foodies will tell you it's the only authentic version. However that is false. In the south (where pizza was invented) where most of the American Italians came from, there is a version there that was made with ricotta. THAT"S WHERE IT CAME FROM. So most Italian Americans grew up with that version. It's just as authentic as the Bechamel version.

Unfortunately, Non-Italian Americans at the time started to learn about Italian cuisines for the first time. It' got bastardized into ground beef, jar tomato sauce and even cottage cheese. One queen on the DL here uses fucking breakfast sausage! It's odd how no one bastardizes other ethnic foods so freely in the US as is done to Italian food. Even worse, proclaiming their is the "best ever"!

Fun Fact: Some recipes from southern Italy also include things like fennel sausage and hard boiled eggs. Yes, I said hard boiled eggs, no not an American thing. Usually crumbled in. They threw pretty much whatever they had available at the time that sounded good like sausage or type of tiny had made meat balls. Try it some time, it's pretty good. Think of it as the fat in a burger, it carries all the other flavors.

Which version better? Both. When I am in a comfort food mood, I go with ricotta or what I like to refer to as American Italian. If I am out at a upscale Italian eatery, Bechemel because that's usually all they offer. If I am making it myself I will almost always use ricotta for the layers and top with a Bechamel, the best of both worlds but a lot of work.

Seriously, people need to get over their Bechamel snobbery and acknowledge ricotta is just as good and authentic.

5 Points - Joy's version looks like it lacks depth and flavor and she is thanking The Barefoot Contessa (who thinks Italian cooking is not really cooking) for her cooking tips?

10 Points for Humor - "isn't that something! Out of the blue cums a sausage in your mouth" Ha, Ha, thanks Joy.

[quote]The Barefoot Contessa (who thinks Italian cooking is not really cooking)

Show us.

You will have to google it R32. Iv seen her make off the cuff remarks years ago on several of her shows. She's great at french inspired food and desserts. But when she talks about Italian food she thinks is so simple it's not really cooking. She basically doesn't respect the methodology of Italian cooking the same way she dose other cultures. She suddenly goes form cream churned by hand from exotic dairy cows to Sandra Lee, no rules anything will work kind of attitude.

I remember once, r33, Ina put olive oil the the water to cook pasta.

Right R24, and I know people who still think that's a good thing, it's not. The sauce will not stick to the pasta after it's cooked if you do that. And I have never had a probably with pasta in salted water sticking in the first place. Unless of course you don't know how to boil water.

Dry cottage is lovely in lasagne. I also use it mixed half and half with feta in my spanikopita. It cuts the salt and is delicious!

[quote]Dry cottage is lovely in lasagne.

What is "dry cottage"? If you're talking about cottage cheese, well, no, it is not lovely. It has no place in lasagne—or in the world, for that matter.

Cottage cheese is not "lively" by anyone's standards R36. On anything!

^lovely^ although it is lively.

I didn't really think much of Joy's recipe either; but to be fair to her, she seems to be pretty perplexed by how much the others raved about it. I like how she's muttering to herself throughout, things like: "I don't know what they're on about, this is so easy, an idiot could do this!"

Probably because none of those other View bitches ever cook at all. They just cackle.

R4 Oh for crissakes we don't want "veggie" non-dairy lasagnAAAAAA! recipes Frau-ing up DL.

I prefer dry cottage cheese to ricotta in baked dishes.

Chill out R42. You're going to have a heart attack if you get so stressed every time you come across someone in this big, wide world of ours who lives differently to you.

Here's Lucinda Scala Quinn's Three-Cheese Skillet Lasagne, which she presents on marthastewart.com. It's what I make when I'm not feeling like making bechamel, bolognese, and egg pasta. She's half-Italian, and this is very much an Italian-American lasagne. Note the way she purees whole canned tomatoes. That's how I've always done it, too (though I leave mine a little chunkier than she does in this recipe).

R44 good idea. Do you have a non-dairy veggie chill-out pill to recommend to me?

Béchamel is this white sauce, used for its creaminess and smoothness in the most diverse dishes: gratins, fish, meat dishes ... But this Béchamel also carries a story, which few know when they prepare. this sauce. This is the story we are going to tell you here!

Béchamel, a royal sauce ... The inventor of this sauce is Louis de Béchameil (1630-1703).

History Béchamel Marquis de Béchameil A farmer-general, he acquired the post of butler of King Louis XIV, which enabled him to become Marquis de Nointel. His knowledge of the culinary arts, serving a king with an ogre appetite, quickly made him look into a new kind of sauce ...

The Marquis de Béchameil would have invented this sauce at the Château de Nointel ... but the reality could be quite different, since he is criticized for having actually improved an already existing sauce invented by Pierre de La Varenne (1615-1678), cook of the Marquis d'Uxelles and brought to the French castle by Catherine de Médicis. Historians have never agreed on the official version ...

The name of the sauce, first modeled on the surname Béchameil, was transformed into béchamelle before becoming a common name "la béchamel" at the end of the 18th century.

Evolution of Béchamel Sauce During the King's time, the sauce was made from gravy and shallots. The sauce was also added to the soups to make them more velvety.

Today, milk has replaced gravy. Béchamel sauce is used as a base in the kitchen.

In any case, Béchameil is one of those great inventors who gave their name to their invention ... To read on this subject: Poubelle, Béchamel, Silhouette, Colt and the others: The amazing story of 101 proper names that have become common names

Cooked food tends to upset my stomach, but I don't think I've ever had the raw version. Anyway, I'm vegetarian vegan raw local organic now, so if anyone has a favourite veggie vegan raw local organic version of this dish, I'd be interested to hear of it. I used to love it when I ate meat. I am also looking for a alcohol-free veggie vegan non-dairy raw Coq au vin. Anyone?

Wow, thanks for that history lesson R47!

Joy Behar needs to up her casserole game. Making tomato based casseroles in an aluminum pan is all kinds of no.

Everyone's a lasagna expert now.

Either one as long as it has some meat in it. Italian sausage is best.

I don't get it R55, Who is that?

It's the goddess of corn poop, Miss Carol Stealthily Black Channing

It looks like spaghetti and meatballs all flattened out

It’s been in the steam room

[quote] She's [Ina Garten is] great at french inspired food and desserts. But when she talks about Italian food she thinks is so simple it's not really cooking. She basically doesn't respect the methodology of Italian cooking the same way she dose other cultures.

R33, I'll have to look out for that. I don't like it when cooks are preaching and meticulous about using "good" this or that in one cuisine, then substituting or leaving out stuff in another cuisine.

[quote] I prefer dry cottage cheese to ricotta in baked dishes.

I prefer cottage cheese as well. I don't like ricotta, the grainy texture reminds me of apple sauce. Not sure what "dry" cottage cheese is.

Recently bought some Daisy cottage cheese. I like Daisy sour cream, but the cottage cheese was not good! I'll stick with the store brand.

R61, if you don't like the grainy texture, maybe you'd like the bechamel version? It definitely has more creaminess to it.

R63, thank you for the suggestion. I didn't grow up with the bechamel version. I should try it.

Can you make it with Velveeta?

I loved it growing up! Now I don't eat cheese, or tomatoes (nightshades!) or pasta, and certainly not any kind of animal flesh, also no eggs, and no herbs (lead!). Anyone have a good recipe for lasagna without all those no-nos? I'm just dying to enjoy some tonight, while I watch my favorite Obscure Foreign Film, Casablanca.

One of my grandmothers (dad's side) would make a lasagne with tiny little meatballs. It was very good -- a different texture.

I only like the Friendship brand cottage cheese. It’s dryer than some other brands.

Lasagna sounds so exotic.

I have some Jimmy Dean sausage and a loaf of white bread. Can I make lasagna?

If you have some ketchup, absolutely.

That's what I'm thinking. Rolling pin the bread and use Hunt's sauce and my sausage and - why not - 3 cheeses - creamy velveeta, cottage and grated parmesan to keep it eyetalian. Should I cook the sausage first? And my cottage cheese has pineapple, but that would be like pineapple pizza lasagne so delicioso!

Here is another vegetable lasagne recipe.

I've done both, depending on how much time I have. I prefer the bechamel version. I only make meat lasagnas for other people. When I make one for myself it's usually a seafood lasagna and IMO a bechamel sauce goes better with seafood than ricotta. I have made vegetarian lasagnas with ricotta and they turn out fine.

I like it when they drizzle extra sauce on top.

In years of living in Italy, I have never seen the ricotta version on a menu. And if you look for frozen lasagne in an Italian supermarket it will be with Béchamel. I know of no Italian brand that even makes the ricotta version.

I think to be served it in Italy you would need to be invited to someones home in the south during a holiday.

I prefer cum of some young guido in my lasagna to both ricotta or bechamel.

[quote]It's the goddess of corn poop, Miss Carol Stealthily Black Channing

Sorry Gramps, still not getting your joke. You realizes it's not 1929 right?

[quote]I don't like ricotta, the grainy texture reminds me of apple sauce

Ricotta is not grainy you dip shit. If it is you are probably old and you are probably buying the cheapest shit on the shelf. Go to an Italian market, every big city has at least one.

American Deplorable Version:

1 box NO boil pasta sheets 2 jars of Ragu + 2 Tbsp of sugar 1lb of cottage cheese- low fat 2 Tbsp. Dried "Italian" seasoning 1lb of ground beef - the kind in a squeeze tube 4 links of Breakfast Sausage 1 package of frozen vegetables 1 jar of Velveeta topped with grated Parm form the green can.

YUMMY!

Revised:

1 box NO boil pasta sheets

2 jars of Ragu + 2 Tbsp of sugar

1lb of cottage cheese- low fat

2 Tbsp. Dried "Italian" seasoning

1lb of ground beef - the kind in a squeeze tube

4 links of Breakfast Sausage

1 package of frozen vegetables

1 jar of Velveeta topped with grated Parm form the green can.

Recipe courtesy: Dee Plorable

R80, it’s a long-standing DL in joke, but you are too tedious to deserve an explanation.

I like both kinds of lasagne but rarely make the béchamel variety because making béchamel sauce, like r80, is tedious.

[quote]making béchamel sauce, like [R80], is tedious.

Hu? It's the easiest thing in the world, take like 10 minutes at most.

For those who keep asking, like R37 and R61, it's 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐞. There's store brands of it, like Hiland Dry Curd Cottage Cheese, or it can be made at home. Considering R30's list of the broader range of what can be considered lasagna ingredients, it ought to be perfectly legitimate for those who like it. (Full disclosure: I've never had Dry Curd Cottage Cheese, nor have I ever had the Béchamel sauce version of lasagna; I've simply never come across it where I live.)

R8, I cannot abide Stouffers Lasagna with Meat and Sauce; it's filled with 'mystery meat,' susceptible to what I call 'crunch and bounce,' which makes me hurl every time. Michael Angelo's makes a passable lasagne with none of the aforementioned problems - at least I have yet to encounter any that does. The number of store-bought choices where I live is pretty thin - Stouffers and Michael Angelo's are about it, save for store brands, which are potentially worse than the Stouffers.

You lost me at Stouffers r86. You buy frozen Lasagna? How about burgers in a can? Spam maybe?

r87 I did not know until reading one of these DL food threads that you can buy already cooked potatoes in a can.

[quote]Considering [R30]'s list of the broader range of what can be considered lasagna ingredients, it ought to be perfectly legitimate for those who like it. (Full disclosure: I've never had Dry Curd Cottage Cheese, nor have I ever had the Béchamel sauce version of lasagna;

No that's not how it works. You have never had either of those things and yet you are sure they are acceptable as an ingredient? How did you suddenly then become an expert on food you never actually ate? No they are not acceptable actually. Not if you are talking about a traditional or authentic Lasagna . No Italian in Italy would use cottage cheese as a substitute for Ricotta or Béchamel.

R88 - Believe it or not, those are actually quite good if prepared the right way. I too never knew that they even existed (tiny canned potatoes) until one of my best friends roasted them as a side when he hosted a bunch of us for dinner. They were quite amazing and actually looked like little yellow or fingerling potatoes that had been skinned and then roasted with olive oil and fresh herbs. I have yet to try this myself - but I was taken aback.

We're not Italians in Italy.

[quote]You lost me at Stouffers [R86].

Reading comprehension's not your thing, is it, R87? I specifically stated that I detested Stouffers. That was R8's suggestion.

[quote]You buy frozen Lasagna?

From a health standpoint, I'm just about at the point where making a lot of things like lasagna are beyond me; that is, they are no longer worth what they cost me in terms of effort. I can no longer stand up for more than a few minutes at a time. If I want lasagna, that's just about what it has to be.

[quote]No that's not how it works.

While I enjoyed your post at R30 as being informative, I don't recall conferring upon you the title of 'arbiter,' Meatballs.

Hear, hear, R91.

It's nice to have these conversations on Datalounge. I would never have googled "lasagna napoletana" otherwise. I found this recipe, which does include ricotta e mozzarella. I had always thought that was purely an Italian-American (New Jersey) concoction.

I would skip the HBEs, but that's just me. Otherwise, it sounds great.

Thanks for posting that R93.

If the NY Metro Areas are descended from 1900 and 1915 wave of Italian immigration, the cooking can be more in the "Italian-American" way after the 50s. What is little known is that 50% of Souther Italians in the wave WENT BACK HOME TO ITALY when they got older. There were good numbers of replacements after WWII, and they brought authentic Italian food to the USA. Thats when there were more "Northern Italian" restaurants opening everywhere. So many towns in the Metro Area offered a choice.

When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s you had to choose your Italian deli and Italian restaurant accordingly. The Milanese restaurant wouldn't serve southern Italian food or Italian American food. Also delis had different sausages, cured meats, and cheeses and salads and sandwiches.

I noticed in the last 10 years, they struggle to survive and will be less regional and snobby. When I was a boy you couldn't get pizza at the deli that made Paninis for example. But now you can!

I hate the texture of ricotta. I use mascarpone mixed with parmigiano-reggiano in all baked pasta dishes.

Damn you OP, you got lasagne on my mind.

I prefer béchamel, but some go too heavy with it. A judicious amount of it with Riccota is the best Lasagne. The only frozen variety I ever liked was Lean Cuisine Zuchinni Lasagne. It may have had cottage cheese, but was smooth, light, and not oddly textured.

[quote]If the NY Metro Areas are descended from 1900 and 1915 wave of Italian immigration,

Also less known, I am not sure why, millions of Italians intimated straight to California. They integrated pretty fast so there are almost Italian ghettos like the east coast still has. As someone who was born and grew up in California this dose not surprise me. What's odd is, the only time I have been considered part of an ethnic group and non-white is on the DL. Usually from East coast racist WASPS.

I always use canned potatoes in my vegetable soups. Love em'!

Below are two authentic versions to try. This channel can be very funny at times, and these two are adorable together.

Joy makes hers in foil because she was giving it away to Whoopi Goldberg

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