I want to mke a lasagna over the holidays and I do love a meaty Ragu and a cheesy top. But I’m toying with a Ragu and bechamel. Which do you think is better and creamier, and is there a way to combine?
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well, it’s a layered dish . . .
I’ve only done sauce bottom+pasta-meatsauce-cheese ‘layers’ with mega cheese top layer . . .
but a bechamel could be its own layer or meat&bechamel layer or a tomatosauce-bechamel-meat layer . . . why not?
one of the ‘tricks’ to lasagna the-way-we-like-it . . . the layers should firm up during the bake . . . so when one cuts out a square to the plate, it stays (almost) entirely intact. lasagna that is so loose it’s hard to spatula a serving to plate isn’t my style.
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Not a yuuuge fan of bechamel. I find it makes it heavy in an unpleasant way.
But peeps like different things, so 
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I have been making more Béchamel lasagnas lately, over the last decade.
I grew up with the mozzarella type with tomato and meat sauce, and usually a layer of ricotta or cottage cheese.
I say, combine them if you want to, and experiment.
I want to make a Lasagna di Carnevale , at some point.
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Mrs H is the lasagne maker in this house. Always bechamel. She says anything else is just wrong.
Who am I to disagree . Sweet dreams are made of this.
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That’s the “classic” way you would get lasagna in Emilia-Romagna served. It makes for a better tasting lasagna than ricotta/cottage cheese layers, especially if you cook the ragu with very little tomato involved
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I’ve travelled the world and the seven seas. Everybody wants lasagna!
I really don’t like ricotta much and don’t use much. But I do like,the cheese on top. Maybe I’ll do that.
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I don’t like ricotta or cottage cheese, but the ricotta is kinda necessary for lasagna. We’ve picked up some high-quality ricotta at the Italian market in Philly. That and mozzarella would be fine if you wanted to avoid bechamel. You could grate some fontina & parm over the top to fancify & impart more flavor 
I’ve made the traditional American style with loads of mozzarella but subbing bechamel for the more standard ricotta. It can get a little stodgy if you use too much of either cheese or bechamel, but they can play nicely together if you’re restrained. I typically use less mozzarella and more bechamel in the inner layers, and leave the bechamel off the top layer in favor of LOTS of mozz so you get that fabulous, chewy burnt cheese top.
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You could do alternating layers of ragu and bechamel and finish with mozzarella and some parmesan on the top
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Found this Serious Eats recipe which has bechamel and ricotta. It has a couple of things I would not add but…what do you think?
D
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I’m sure it’s delicious, but I probably wouldn’t make myself. Ricotta and besciamella together (especially a besciamella like this, which is actually closer to Mornay given the addition of mozzarella cheese), plus the cream in the Bolognese (which has too much tomato to be Bolognese in my opinion, but that’s another thread), would just be too much dairy for me. I’m good with either bechamel or ricotta plus mozz, but both just feels excessive.
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I love Marcella Hazan’s recipe for fresh pasta lasagna bolognese with bechamel (it’s not too much white sauce).
This recipe is a lot of work but worth it.
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You’re right. I was just looking at the fact that it had bechamel and ricotta. I kind of just skimmed it. Nope. Way too heavy!
Looks delicious
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For me, lasagne alla bolognese with bechamel, like the recipes of Hazan or Caggiano made with very thin sheets of pasta (top with mozz if you must). It is not heavy at all. For the ricotta-centric meatless variant, try Samrin Nosrat’s version (I like to blend pesto into the ricotta instead of just basil, like a Genovese) or for a meat/ricotta intensive variant the Napoletana variant.
I’ll probably go Hazan. I typically don’t follow a particular recipe but combine ideas from each. But I think I may do the Hazan as is
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Hint: Make Bolognese sauce the day before, cool it off then refrigerate.
Make fresh pasta etc the following day or so. I use the pasta rolling attachment for the kitchenaid mixer. (Before rolling, wrap pasta dough ball in plastic wrap and leave it on your counter an hour to rest.) I roll to next to thinnest setting.
I follow Hazan’s instructions about quickly blanching and drying the sheets. I have to use a million dish towels and all my counter space.
I can’t help adding to her sauce: sautéed garlic, fresh and dried basil, dried oregano, a little crushed red pepper, so this makes it more Southern Italian in taste.
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I’ve never had a ricotta cheese layer in my lasagna until I came to live in the U.S.
Even though I’m usually in favor to combine different textures in a dish for a heightened experience, I did not like the texture of the ricotta.
I prefer a classic lasagna bolognese with bechamel layers
Welcome. Where did you live before moving here?
