Making lasagna like the professional lasagna-makers

[RickJay]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

How reduced is “reduced”? Do I have to boil the sauce down to a paste, or just make it thicker than usual?*

How much reduced sauce to I need to make beforehand for a typical lasagna?

How are you supposed to spread thick globs of tomato paste?

Mix the paste with your sauce. The sauce should be thicker than usual, not pasty. You basically just don’t want it watery.

The ratio of tomato paste to sauce should be pretty low. One of those little cans of paste for a medium sized lasagna is sufficient.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

Okaaay, I see were I went wrong there.

Like I said, I’m a total cooking moron, so I take everything literally.

[Sehmket]

Oh, you guys are bad for my low-carb diet.

[Tamerlane]

@RickJay

I expanded upon my answer. I was in a bad mood, though:

The Angry Chef: Lasagna | Rick The Great

Excellent. Call me a deviant, but I really dislike bechamel-based lasagnas.

[Southern_Yankee]

@jjimm

I make the best lasagna the world has ever seen[sup]TM[/sup]. My tips:

Reduce, reduce, reduce. You want your ragout to be firm with almost no visible liquid. Trust me, there’s plenty of fluid in there that will come out when you bake it.

Layer with dry uncooked lasagna sheets (unless you’re making fresh). You do not need to boil those fuckers - they will get plenty cooked.

Cover the top of each bechamel layer with fresh spinach and basil leaves - the bechamel will absorb any liquid coming from the foliage.

Cover the final noodle layer with a metric shitload of bechamel, then cover the entire top of the bechamel with slices of buffalo mozzarella. That gives bite to the top layer but allows the noodle to soften. Sprinkle over grated parmigiano about 20 minutes before you’re going to take it out of the oven.
All of that said, the lasanga I had in Rome was completely unlike the (divine) American version I attempt to emulate. It was cooked individually, dripping wet with fresh smashed plum tomatoes, and really loose, and clearly assembled at the last minute with fresh boiled pasta - and almost certainly not baked, maybe just broiled for a couple of minutes to make the cheese on top bubble. It was fucking awesome.

I fear your excellent post has been lost in the *Angry Chef *awesomeness, but in my world there’s room for both of your recipes. I do prefer the bechamel variety of lasagna.

[Taomist]

Dear Rick,

Your lasagna is the best food ever created by humans. Because I am so obviously inferior to you in the cooking arts, I have given up cooking forever, shaved my head, and become a Buddhist monk.

Regards,

Bobby Flay, TV Chef

---

Dear Rick,

Your lasagna is the solution to world peace.

Regards,

Barack H. Obama, President of the United States

Awesome.
I used to work at a large natural store <later bought out by one of the chain-style ‘natural’ stores> and we had our own butchers. Much fun was had just watching the vegans come in to shop, cause there was no where else to get organic stuff at that time, and see the looks on their faces as a side of beef trolled through the deli on a chain on it’s way to be butchered.

I mention this only to mention that this place also got very creative with the food, and one thing they did very well, that sounds kind of gross, was…seafood lasagne.

If anyone here has a recipe for that that they have made and they KNOW it is wonderful, please share! I know it included bechamel and smoked salmon, but it’s been over 20 years and hell if I know what else went into it. But it was really, REALLY damn good, smokey and light and firmer than it looked.

[Icarus]

eh…ground beef? Really, REALLY? Sweet or Spicy Italian Sausage, duh!

[Angua]

@Chronos

Why do you need a substitute for the red wine? If you’re trying to stay away from the alcohol but still want that wine-ish flavor, you could try replacing some of the balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar.

Basically I don’t want the alcohol content. Will try it with red wine vinegar instead then!

[Southern_Yankee]

@Angua

Basically I don’t want the alcohol content. Will try it with red wine vinegar instead then!

For the amount of time you’re simmering, the alcohol will all cook out.

[Angua]

@Southern_Yankee

For the amount of time you’re simmering, the alcohol will all cook out.

I’m cooking it for people who don’t drink for religious reasons. The mere fact that wine went into it will mean they won’t eat it.

[RickJay]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

Okaaay, I see were I went wrong there.

Like I said, I’m a total cooking moron, so I take everything literally.

There are no stupid questions.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

Good news, Lasagna Take-Two came out much better. Thanks again to RickJay, the one and only Angry Chef.

Why does it have to stand for twenty minutes, by the way? I ask because I had to eat a very quick meal and leave, and so I kinda skipped the waiting part. It tasted perfectly fine.

P.S. Anyone got good ideas for what to put in the sauce? Usually I’d have a whole bunch of MIS! stock herbs at hand, but I have a problem with textures. I prefer my tomato sauce entirely smooth and liquid. So that pretty much only leaves spices and crushed frozen whatevers.

[The_Devil_s_Grandmother]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

… I have a problem with textures. I prefer my tomato sauce entirely smooth and liquid.

Beg, borrow, or buy an immersion blender the size of a small motorboat motor and beautifully smooth sauce will be yours forever.

[Big_Norse]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

Why does it have to stand for twenty minutes, by the way? I ask because I had to eat a very quick meal and leave, and so I kinda skipped the waiting part. It tasted perfectly fine.

The sitting doesn’t affect the taste, it just helps everything set a little, making it easier to cut and serve. But you’ll notice that leftover lasagna is even better than it was the first day, for reasons beyond my ken.

[norinew]

@Big_Norse

The sitting doesn’t affect the taste, it just helps everything set a little, making it easier to cut and serve. But you’ll notice that leftover lasagna is even better than it was the first day, for reasons beyond my ken.

Yup. The 20 minutes allows it to ‘firm up’, which is good, with lasagna.

I think the reason it’s better the second day is because all the different flavors and textures have a chance to ‘get friendly’. This is not important in some foods, but vital in others.