I made a batch of lasagna for the freezer a couple of months ago. In the slab I had for dinner last night, the ricotta was dried out and grainy. I had to scrape it aside. The mozzarella was fine. Bechamel in my frozen pastitsio works out well, so next time I make lasagna I’ll sub in bechamel for the ricotta layer.
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long story . . . lots of digressions . . .but, for ‘work’ I spent a lot of time in Italy - Turin to Bari . . .
now, my Italian is really weak, but gathered from multiple events, the adage I learned is “If you don’t like (this dish) here, just go another kilometer south…”
basically, like every other culinary culture in the known world, there are utterly no ‘absolutes’ - similar to the issue of ‘authentic’
I’m now looking at this recipe. I really never quite follow them…always adjusting. But I’m wondering about the chicken stock in the bolognese. What do you all think?
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I don’t think an Italian from Italy came up with the chicken stock in Bolognese idea. haha
I guess I would try it once.
I have a bit of an aversion to mixing beef , pork, and chicken together in a sauce or stew, or meatballs, yet I have no problem with club sandwiches. Inconsistent in terms of logic!
I’m wondering why they are using stock at all. Is the object to thin it out? And if I was going to use stock it would,be beef
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I would think it would add salt, and could add depth of some sort. would be interesting to do a blind testing, of with chicken stock, with beef stock, and with no stock.
I lead a pretty low salt life so I usually use water instead of stock, unless it’s homemade stock I had on hand.
Do you think it’s better to smash meatballs or use chopped meats?
chicken stock is often used to add gelatin to a dish to thicken it without adding much flavor from the thickening agent. Veal stock is also good
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this Dan Pelosi white lasagna recipe with béchamel, ricotta, leeks, chard and Brussels sprouts was in my local paper today.
My lasagna turned out great. I did not make meatballs but chopped pork and chuck. I made the bechamel with parm and added some grated fontina on the top layer of bechamel. It was so good. Thanks for all of your ideas. Sorry it’s sideways!
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Related to lasagna is “million dollar spaghetti”. A friend posted a link to a Serious Eats page, and I remembered that the NY Times also had one. SE uses bechamel, NYT ricotta and cream cheese.
https://www.seriouseats.com/million-dollar-spaghetti-recipe-11872187?
Gift link to the Times:
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