Dish · italian
Lasagna
Layers of pasta sheets, meat and tomato sauce, and cheese baked until the top browns and the layers set enough to cut into squares. Bechamel replaces ricotta in some regional versions.
Where it comes from
Bologna's version uses ragu and bechamel between green, spinach-dyed sheets, a tradition that developed alongside the city's meat sauce over more than a century. American versions using ricotta and red sauce diverged as Italian immigrants adapted it with local ingredients.
What cooks argue about
Ricotta versus bechamel is the main split, since bechamel gives a smoother, wetter layer while ricotta holds together with more texture. Cooks also disagree on boiling noodles first versus using dry sheets.
Nobody has published a lasagna recipe yet. The page stays out of search until one exists, which is the rule for every thin page here.