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

I think the Pioneer Woman lays pasta noodles down first.

I do 1

I have done both ways (dependant on how much milk we have) but have come to the conclusion that 2 is best. I do a quite loose sauce that is none traditional ie don't cook for hours and lots of tomato, mushrooms,, sometimes other veg to lighten it rather than it being a big meat fest

Oh and I always put some meat sauce on the bottom so we don't get pasta stuck etc

I do
Meat
Pasta
Meat
White sauce
Pasta
Meat
White sauce
Cheese

1, and I'd expect a chef to be surprised at pasta as the bottom layer. Wouldnt it stick to the dish?

@MoltenLasagne

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

No. I smear a tiny bit of ragu on the bottom just to keep the sheets still when adding the first layer of ragu.

1

@flugbusters4
When we first met I couldn't cook a single thing, burnt anything I attempted to put in the oven, stuck pasta to the bottom of the pan etc so he did all the cooking but when I went on maternity leave we decided it was only fair that I started trying to make meals so we were doing more of a fair share, then I was a stay at home mum for years and then until recently I worked less hours than him so was home first. It works for us 🤷🏻‍♀️ but like I said he does all the big special occasions eg Xmas, anniversaries. But that wasn't the point of the thread, I was intrigued to see how everyone else did it, I didn't say he criticised my cooking, just he had a different style. I mentioned him being a former chef to see if it made a difference to opinions but deliberately didn't say which version was his

@GinnieHempstock

Neither. I do meat, pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, cheese.

Same here

I do tomato sauce (to cut down the amount of meat sauce I need), pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, pasta, meat, pasta, white sauce, cheese

1

I think you're 2

2

1. The white sauce helps to soften and cook the pasta as well as flavour the dish. As a chef I’m surprised he doesn’t know this?

I do 1 but just a smear of the red stuff on the bottom, not a proper layer of ragu as such. Though this reminds me why I only make lasagne once in a blue moon. Such a labour of love! I spend 3 hours making the ragu and the bechamel and then there's the assembly and finally baking it for an hour! I don't understand how people say it's a weeknight dinner. And then it's inhaled in 2 seconds flat!

@BiddyPop

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

YES we are lasagna twins

When we did a cooking course in Tuscany, we were taught to do option 1. And as many layers as poss. With dried pasta, it's hard to get as many layers, because the sheets don't squash. So I now always make the pasta myself (only takes 5 mins to make, and then another 5 mins to roll at the last minute), or I'd soak dried sheets in boiling water to make them maleable, but I find that more of a faff than making pasta!

V thin layers of meat sauce under each layer of pasta, and a spreading of white sauce on top. I use a spatula, and spread as if spreading butter on toast. Because fresh pasta is already soft, it doesn't need as much white sauce to give it the necessary moisture.

Plenty of white sauce on the top layer to 'seal' it all in, and cheese on top of that.

I LOVE lasagne. The way we were taught to make the meat sauce in Tuscany was an eye opener too, but I only do it that way if I have time to spend in the kitchen, as you needed to keep an eye on it (rather than leaving a big pot of sauce to cook away for ages, which is my standard approach).

I do 2.

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

But how do you serve it if it has no pasta 'base'? Or do you make individual ones?

@ReviewingTheSituation come on you need to tell us how to make the Ragu!!

I love white sauce.

Id do it like 1. Meat, pasta, white sauce, meat, pasta, white sauce, parmesan on top

I hope by white sauce people mean bechamel. Much more concerned about that than the layering.

I do 1. Three layers. Parmesan on top.

I think you are 1, OP.