Does your lasagne have a pasta sheet "floor"?

[RomanRoysSearchHistory]

Just that!

Saw a tip online saying "spread a thin layer of tomato sauce onto the bottom of the dish so the pasta doesn't stick".... 🫨

In 30 years of making lasagne I've never put a floor in & curious as to whether I've been missing out all this time 😅
(To the point I've just made the sauce and may experiment, but wondered if I've been committing a misdemeanour this whole time. Sorry Italians if I have!)

Yes, little bit of olive oil to stop sticking.

Red layer, pasta, white layer and repeat (usually twice for the depth of our 8 portion dish).

It's not no, but it's delicious!

To add further controversy, I always use dried pasta, but soak it first a la Mary Berry.

Surprised how many are only using two or three layers of pasta.

I do:
Pasta
Ragu
Bechamel
repeat x 5 (6 of each element in total)
Cheese

Makes a nice solid lasagne. Pasta is either fresh or dry that has been soaked for a minute in a frying pan of simmering water (the time it takes for me to do the ragu and bechamel layers).

Lol at "structural integrity" 😂

I don’t know what you’re meant to do but I’m not a lover of huge amounts of pasta so I just do 2 layers. I’m more for the cheesy beefy unction.

Ricotta entering the equation I was not prepared for, good lord that's a curve ball!! 😅

Cheese sauce is just wrong

I Always put mince first then pasta layer then bechamel

Today I learned lasagne construction is far more scientific than I ever imagined.
Someone once told me they do half beef / half pork mince, to open a further can of worms...

Also, some people put white sauce on every layer above the pasta. Personally I prefer just a thick layer of ragu, then pasta, then lots of ragu again, then pasta, then white sauce with lots of grated mature cheddar on top.

As its just me I just buy the m&s lasagne and they have pasta on the bottom too

This surely must be the final say!
I've evidently been woefully inadequate in the lasagne department for 3 whole decades 😅

Haha 😄 if in doubt trust m&s lol

Mince at the bottom. Cheesy sauce on top of each pasta layer.

I had to think about this and yes I do put pasta on the bottom. Yes I do put sauce underneath to stop it sticking.

I use a tomato based sauce after the mince. Then béchamel sauce on top of the final layer of pasta then grated cheese on top of that.
If I’m honest I haven’t made a lasagna in ages.
I also put mushrooms in it!!!!

I do put a smear of the juiciest part of the ragu in the bottom of the dish
then it goes
pasta (dried)
1/3 ragu
drizzle of bechamel
pasta
1/3 ragu
drizzle of bechamel
pasta
1/3 ragu
pasta
most of the bechamel
grated cheddar (parmesan if I have it)

Always leave to stand for a bit before serving so it solidifies - makes it easier to cut and serve.

If someone else has said then iv missed the post but I put a couple of slices of ripped up bread on the bottom.

it soaks up any excess sauce and gets just a little crispy on the very bottom of each piece. The bread isn’t excessively noticeable but does add a little something.

I don’t make it very often now but when I did everyone used to love my version. I’m not knocking anyone else’s version though!

as for the layers its tomatoey mince with a bit of cheese sauce then a pasta sheet until it’s all used or the dish is nearly full then atop layer of pasta and cheddar normally on top.

I butter the dish and lay a lasagne sheet first. Never sticks. Surely if you start with sauce you get a soggy bottom?

Incorporating the cheese in the sauce rather than doing bechamel then cheese then the ragu reduces the overall complexity of the construction.

Do you happen to hail from the 'no cheese until the top layer' school of lasagna-making?

@RomanRoysSearchHistory - I do sometimes when making the Ragu. You can actually buy a pork/ beef mince already mixed where I live. Traditional ragu would be beef with pork belly so that’s where it’s from

No floor for me! 2 layers of pasta,one in the middle, one on the top under the bechamel

Tranne qui in Puglia.