What is wrong with the way I make ragu (for lasagna?)

[drivenfromdistraction]

My lasagnas are not Quite Right. The cheese/white sauce is fine - lovely in fact. But the ragu is not. It is too runny and lumpy, so the lasagna ends up a bit shapeless. Can anyone set me right?

I make it like this:-

• Brown mince, set aside, pour off excess liquid
• Fry roughly chopped (sometimes diced but doesn't seem to make a big difference) onions, garlic and diced carrots
• Put mince back in, stir all together, add two cans of tomatoes.

Cook, covered, at a low heat for 3 - 4 hours. Then layer into the lasagna (with the cheese sauce) and cook that. Comes out just a bit too sloppy. Should i just uncover the pan when cooking the ragu and reduce the ragu down? Or am I missing something more fundamental?

Constructive criticism welcomed!

All v good tips. I'd also say, the other thing we do is to use a hand held blended to blitz it down a bit to a finer texture, gets rid of any lumpy bits.
I made some tonight. Just waiting for DP to get home before we eat, bit hungry now!

My lasagne was exactly like yours until I saw gennaro contaldo making one on food and drink a few weeks ago. I followed the way he constructs it and it was the best one I've ever eaten. It may still be on Iplayer.

I make mine in the same way as my bolognese sauce. I do boil off most of the liquid. If you don't like chopping, do you have a food processor? My onion and carrot sometimes get processed into little bits instead of chopped.

Maybe you are using too much liquid? I use 2 cans of tomatoes too but I use 900g of mince (450g beef and 450g pork)

Use your simmering plate to cook the mince, drain and set aside. cook onions then mince back, add garlic, tiny splash of red wine, 1 tube of double strength tomato puree and two tins of tomatoes. Season. Bring to a bubble then cover and pop in the simmering oven for at least 3 hours. If you think it looks too watery (mine never does though) you could always take the lid off for an hour or so. I add chopped basil at the end

Am def inspired to have another go at improving it. Still have a substandard one in the freezer though, so that's going to be inflicted on the family before i make another one...

a lasagne is traditionally supposed to be quite dry and robust I believe.

I had an amazing one in Lido (island next to Venice) last week, the béchamel was layered thickly throughout and the meat was the final topping which is how it is served in Italy, as opposed to in the UK - topped off with loads of melted cheese and sauce (which I love actually). It was also far less "tomatoey" than UK versions.

The version I learnt as a student, and working in an Italian restaurant at weekends, was to add a tablespoon of flour to the sautéed meat, onions and celery - cook for one minute and then add the stock and passata.

It thickens up beautifully and if you cook the flour for 1 minute it doesn't taste. Also adding 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and cinnamon is the way to bring out the best flavour of the beef....

Slow cooker it. Mine always used to be too runny until I threw it all in slow cooker one day.

I also put mine in the slow cooker and leave it to cook for about 5 hours. I use tinned toms, grated carrots, onions, tom puree, oregano, bay leaf.

I think even if you didn't change any ingredients (you obviously like the flavour or you would have changed something) just cooking it for a much longer period with the lid off would improve it no end.
I always cook a ragu for at least an hour and a half - three hours is best imo.

I cook the ragu until thick (lid off).
Once the lasagne is cooked leave it to stand for 10 minutes before serving. It makes it much easier to dish up, less falling apart.

Remember to taste your ragu and be prepared to save it using whatever you have at hand salt&pepper, a fruity olive oil, some mushroom ketchup, tomato ketchup, balsamic vinegar, Lea & Perrins, sugar etc. ingredients are so variable, everything need a bit of tweaking after cooking for 90mins.

Yes, the flavour is fine - the kids like their sauces quite plain so I don't add too much. It's the consistency that's the issue.

I am going to try all of the following

• cooking the mince on a low heat
• blitzing veg in food processor
• using passata instead of tinned tojms (and half-and-halfing with stock)
• cooking a spoonful of flour in with mince
• leaving lid off the ragu while simmers (I do it in the Aga simmering oven for about 5 hours, so will have to watch it doesn't dry up!)
• whipping an egg into the bechamel (interesting idea)
• leaving lasagna to stand for 10 mins before serving (perfect amount of time for shouting at kids to wash hands)

Can't wait, but won't be for a little while as we have one sub-standard lasagna and one tub of bolognese in freezer to eat up first.

I always thought lasagna sauce needed to be quite runny as the pasta absorbs the liquid?? I use the dry sheets - should you pre cook them? Do I still use a thicker sauce with them? Now I am confused.

I think that might be the problem- the gluten free pasta doesn't absorb the liquid the same way the normal stuff does.

that's interesting tethers, I will check the packet. I think the brand I buy says it doesn't need pre-cooking, but I will double-check. Grrr! if so, because lasagna is already enough of a faff without an extra step. I the DC do love it though.

Driven, I make mine in an aga. Make the ragu then put the pan into the low oven for several hours. It will thicken beautifully and the meat will be tender.

You don't have to add liquid stock, if you're using a cube just crumble a bit in to the sauce. With two tins of toms plus stock you've got too much liquid. I'd use one tin of toms, a squirt of tom purée and crumble in a stock cube, then cook off excess liquid.

I make my white sauce estra runny so that it cooks and softens the lasagne sheets. But the ragu is really firm.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/nov/24/how-to-cook-perfect-lasagne

Some more ideas for the Ragu pot!

I wouldn't pre-fry the mince, that makes it hard. Yes, brown it, but in the same pot on top of the onion, garlic and carrot, when they are cooked. If it is very fatty you can spoon some of the fat off. You need to chop and break up mince when it first goes in to the pot, use a wooden spoon and be quite firm with it.

I do mine like roguepixie. No tinned tomatoes or passata, just a tin of tomato purée and stock (and wine). I got the idea from those Welsh/Italian sisters that had a TV series a year or two back, and I must say I've never looked back as my ragu has never tasted better!

I suspect I might be in the minority but I like to do the whole fry onion / seasoning / add passata (home made) and then crumble the raw mince into the sauce and cook in the slow cooker on low or bottom of aga for 6-8 hours.

This thread made me want lasagna so I simmered my ragu for 8hours today and made a bbq lasagne for tomorrow night using your tips.

let us know how it tastes sharon!

The lasagna was the best I've ever made but it didn't really taste of bbq at all. It was very tender and simmering the sauce to thicker than I was used to really worked.