Who is BU, 1 or 2, lasagne building

[Stevearnottsbeard]

Lighthearted but I'm intrigued as to how everyone else puts together their lasagna... Not the ingredients or cooking but the actual 'building' of it, me and my husband disagree.
So I've been making it the same way for years, husband has never complained about it and loves it but last night was surprised to find out how I constructed it, he said he would do it differently, so which way you would agree with:

1. Meat, pasta, white sauce, repeat, cheese on top.
2. Pasta, meat, repeat, white sauce on top only, cheese

1 is the only way to do it. You need the white sauce (small amount just covering the pasta) to moisten the pasta sufficiently as the meat sauce needs to be relatively dry to hold together.. and as many layers of pasta as possible - not just 2/3 but 5/6....it took me YEARS of experimentation to get that right!!

(Oh and my white sauce is actually cheese sauce all the way through....) I know that may be sacriledge to some

I have always used method 1

But I have read that there is supposed to be a sheet of lasagne on the bottom. I don;t because it sticks

and while we are here.
white sauce only, no cheese sauce please!
cheese on top only

A combination I think:

Pasta, Ragu, bechamel, pasta, Ragu, bechamel, pasta, bechamel, cheese.

@BiddyPop

1 is the only way to do it. You need the white sauce (small amount just covering the pasta) to moisten the pasta sufficiently as the meat sauce needs to be relatively dry to hold together.. and as many layers of pasta as possible - not just 2/3 but 5/6....it took me YEARS of experimentation to get that right!!

so how thick is it when it is made? When I try and put extra pasta layers in it gets to thick.

@BiddyPop

1 is the only way to do it. You need the white sauce (small amount just covering the pasta) to moisten the pasta sufficiently as the meat sauce needs to be relatively dry to hold together.. and as many layers of pasta as possible - not just 2/3 but 5/6....it took me YEARS of experimentation to get that right!!

Agreed - I missed that out of my first reply but yes, as many layers of pasta as I can get in the dish! And meat on the bottom layer.

1. And whenever I’ve had lasagna made by an Italian it has been wide and flat with not many layers rather than deep, but the bechamel layers are quite restrained, it’s not drowning in the stuff. So I copy that but I put loads of strong cheddar in the bechamel, which is not authentic but tastes nice.

I do 2. Pasta never sticks to the bottom.

Amazed that people put pasta in the base, I stand corrected! Bizarre I’ve never heard of it and I like to think I’m a relatively decent cook

1

Meat, pasta and repeat, until you do a final layer of cheese sauce and grated cheese.

1

I do ragu, bechamel, pasta (repeat as many times as possible) ragu, bechamel, cheese on top

2 is closest but I don't do a white sauce -- I like more tomatoes & less cheese in my lasagna. Oil the pan first to stop sticking

@FlyingBurrito

This is totally a matter of personal taste, no one should have to prepare food in a certain way if they don't like it purely because it's traditional but I've only ever used method 1

Ginnie has it by the way - meat, pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, cheese.

Many Italians would fight you on this statement though. And Spaniards actually. It's actually quite funny, see any recipe online that does a traditional dish with a 'twist', a take or any kind of deviation from the traditional recipe and you'll get Italians kicking off about it.

I do the same method as TrashPanda so 4 layers with with sauce only between 2 and 3 and on the top. Meat on the bottom but only a smear so pasta has moisture on both sides.

People who put pasta on the base, do you butter your dish first?

1

1

Why do you do all the cooking if he used to be a chef? My friend has a partner like this - critical of her cooking as he 'used to be a chef' but now never cooks

So, which one of us do you think is 1 and 2???🧐

I do 2 my mum does 1.

No meat as we don't eat it,but otherwise it's

Lasagna on the greased bottom of the dish, then at least 3 layers of pasta & sauce, topped with béchamel & cheese

I've had this conversation with a very successful chef friend who frequently cooked for royalty & he puts pasta on the bottom layer too, as does my Italian friend

1

@Stevearnottsbeard

So, which one of us do you think is 1 and 2???🧐

I think you're 1