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Lasagna

incorporating Recipes and Cooking
JMN2
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Lasagna

#147247

Postby JMN2 » June 22nd, 2018, 9:18 am

"Perfection is many things done well"
---Marco Pierre White

The general philosophy of my cooking is best demonstrated by lasagna as a example. Make the sauce so good it would stand alone. Also the bechamel. Don't think you can cut corners say not seasoning either one because it will get mixed with the other anyway which already has salt. Cook a very good meat sauce and bechamel, they get mixed together, and the sum is greater than individual parts. Cut corners in either, or worse, both, and you will not even reach parity.

Stylised facts:
Meat sauce: good mince, caramelised, home-made pasta sauce, beef stock, biggest mistake with bolognese is not to cook it long enough, so slow-cook on low at least for an hour.

Bechamel: don't forget the nutmeg, hot roux + cold milk = no lumps, check salt after you're happy with the cheese.

Added twist. Add blue cheese into bechamel, and crumble some between the layers and on top.

GrandOiseau
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Re: Lasagna

#147278

Postby GrandOiseau » June 22nd, 2018, 10:52 am

My biggest mistakw with lasagna is too much liquid in the meat sauce. Need to make sure I drain the tinned tomatoes really well and give it enough time to thicken. Last time I was in a bit of a rush and didn't do this well enough.

I agree with the sentiment. Simple dishes hold up if the ingredients are good and you don't cut corners/rush the simple steps.

JMN2
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Re: Lasagna

#147368

Postby JMN2 » June 22nd, 2018, 3:30 pm

with the bolognese, I used to put some smoked bacon in. Not the Danish stuff you fry on the pan and end up with a gallon of water. Instead, the butchers in Ashtead, sawdust on the floor, one could eat that bacon raw.It added a nice smoky touch.

GrandOiseau
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Re: Lasagna

#147423

Postby GrandOiseau » June 22nd, 2018, 9:02 pm

Anchovies

johnstevens77
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Re: Lasagna

#147426

Postby johnstevens77 » June 22nd, 2018, 9:17 pm

uuuuuuuuuuuuu
GrandOiseau wrote:My biggest mistakw with lasagna is too much liquid in the meat sauce. Need to make sure I drain the tinned tomatoes really well and give it enough time to thicken. Last time I was in a bit of a rush and didn't do this well enough.

I agree with the sentiment. Simple dishes hold up if the ingredients are good and you don't cut corners/rush the simple steps.


Don't drain the tomatoes! Reduce them instread!

john

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Re: Lasagna

#147454

Postby UncleEbenezer » June 23rd, 2018, 6:54 am

johnstevens77 wrote:Don't drain the tomatoes! Reduce them instread!

john

Don't use tomatoes to excess. Use with just enough dry ingredients to soak up the juice.

Applies to any dish short of a soup. Even something explicitly wet - dishes like stews/casseroles - you'll be serving on something like rice or spuds that can take a lot of liquid, yesno?

JMN2
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Re: Lasagna

#147505

Postby JMN2 » June 23rd, 2018, 12:14 pm

GrandOiseau wrote:Anchovies


When I start doing the tomato sauce I put some in the oil and garlic on the pan, they melt and give a nice savoury umami flavour.

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Re: Lasagna

#147840

Postby johnstevens77 » June 25th, 2018, 10:13 am

Everyone has their own recipe but well cooked with enough seasoning is essential. For what it is worth, this is how I make the bechamel:
I make an infusion based upon bouquet garni ingredients, plus.
Dice onion, carrot and celery and put in a pan with enough water to cover, add fresh thyme, mace, cloves, peppercorns (mignonette) and a little Marigold bullion powder, simmer 10 mins, cover, turn off the heat and let infuse 20 mins, strain and reduce if too much.
Make the roux, 2 ozs butter and flour per pint, and cook to a sandy texture, cool a little.
Make up the reduction to a pint with whole milk and heat up in the microwave and pour onto the cooled roux, whisking as you go, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 mins under cover.
For the lasagne I add Dijon mustard, grated cheddar and salt to taste, check consistency, this is now a mornay (cheese) sauce.
I layer the cooked pasta sheets with layers of bolognaise sauce and and mornay, reserving enough mornay for the topping.
I whip a little double cream and fold that into the remaining mornay for the final topping. Then I sprinkle grated cheddar and parmesan and bake as usual

I warm the milk in the microwave because that make the washing up easier, but you can of course do it all on the stove.
I always make extra lasagne and bechamel to freeze because of the work involved and usualy spit the job over a couple of days, i. e. bolo one day, mornay next.
Folding in the whipped cream makes for a great glaze, a trick I learned at Gleneagles in the 1960's when we would also add previous day's hollandaise.

john

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Re: Lasagna

#147864

Postby johnstevens77 » June 25th, 2018, 11:58 am

A PS to my last post.

"Folding in the whipped cream makes for a great glaze, a trick I learned at Gleneagles in the 1960's when we would also add previous day's hollandaise."

We did not make lasagne at The Glen. This mix was used to glaze unthickened white wine fish sauces, a bit like a liason. Reduce the cream sauce until thick but not split, (plenty of good fish stock needed in the reduction before adding the cream (or monter au beurre). Fold a little into the reduction, napper the fish and glaze under a salamander / overhead grill.

I have substituted egg yolk instead of hollandaise but nowadays, at home, I only use whipped cream, too many egg whites hanging about from custards and ice cream and there are only so many sugar rich meringues we can eat!

john


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