AIBU to think you can't make lasagne with raw mince?

[HetMeal]

I had a mild debate with a friend today who says you don't need to cook/brown the meat before you put it in the lasagne. She would do pasta sheets, white sauce, tomato basil sauce from a jar, raw minced beef, in layers.

I do it the normal way, cooking a tomatoey meat sauce first and layering that with bechamel and pasta sheets. She said using raw meat is a perfectly legitimate time saver and tastes fine.

I can't get my head around this, and wondering whether anyone else does it this way?

Outstanding commitment @picklemewalnuts.

Do you have photos of the finished product?

At 17.15, silky!

Hang on, here's a few more.

Actually it does mean you can have lasagne if you haven't made a ragu ahead of time.

DS1 doesn't like lasagne because he find it creamy. He preferred this.

I am pretty fussy, honest! I'm also prepared to experiment though, and rescue anything that's not quite worked. I don't usually use recipes, I read recipe books but go my own way when push comes to shove.

No. You can't. You are correct.

Good god! Has she never like ever googled a recipe

I’d never eat in her house.

(not envy)

You can just add raw mince and then bake. It will still be lasagna and th meat would cook whilst in the oven.

However, I’d imagine the whole thing tastes nicer if it’s cooked first....

I think for a true experiment, pickle, you need to next make it as described in the OP:

"pasta sheets, white sauce, tomato basil sauce from a jar, raw minced beef, in layers."

So you need the jarred sauce and non-frozen raw minced beef.

I think the frozen version has caused an anomaly.

I kind of want to try now. And I have never seen those mince pellets. This is all very fascinating.

Ah, well now. I'm not THAT experimental! I don't use jars, for a start.

I could make it again but badly, without effort at adding flavour? Actually no, we wouldn't want to eat it!

Free flow frozen mince, gelato? It's pretty standard. Morrisons does it at 10% fat, Tesco's is 20%l
I prefer 5%, so have to use fresh, usually.

picklemewalnuts - you are a heroine but I'm not going down that road any time soon

It would never even occur to me to make a lasagna this way!

I’ve always done it your way OP! I need to know the meat is cooked and has some seasoning for extra flavour!

Yuck! Surely risking food poisoning too!

Sounds revolting

Jar of sauce??? What is this 😬

Your friend’s lasagne sounds unpleasant! Apart from
Anything else does she not put any veg in?!

Yuck!! Always cook it first

@picklemewalnuts - blimey I step away for a bit and almost miss the experiment. Sterling work.

Interesting result as well.

Are you now doomed to years of "but why can't we have that lasagne that you made for Mumsnet? It's much nicer than the usual". This could haunt you for years.

It could become the family nostalgia meal that they demand every time they return from university.

How do you taste the bolognese for flavour, you need to tweak. 🤢

@picklemewalnuts

Men folk like it, DH particularly likes the tomato sauce. You can see the minced beef among the tomato sauce, IYSWIM.

Eldest says better than any previous lasagne he's had. Youngest wants more.

Fascinating.

Did you tell them how you made it before they ate it

Did they notice it was different

Well done on experiment !!!

Feel better now that I don’t cook sauce for hours 😂😂😂

Iceland do a 5% mine frozen

2 for £5

Just saying

My Italian family would be spinning in their faves at the thought of not cooking the meat first so weird not sure how the tastes would meld together without cooking first

I do it your way OP...drain off the grease, add my sauces & let it simmer away a bit...then do the layers & into the oven...
Your friend's way doesn't sound v appetising to me!

What kind of sorcery is this?

I always cook first and drain away the grease and add all the seasoning- even with 5% mince there is still grease. I also like having separate tasting layers, I imagine if they were all cooked together it would all taste like mince?