View source for Lasagna

{{Short description|Flat pasta and dishes made from it}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Lasagna
| image            = Lasagne - stonesoup.jpg
| image_size       = 240px
| caption          = ''Lasagne al forno''
| alternate_name   = Lasagne
| country          = [[Italy]]
| region           = [[Emilia-Romagna]]
| creator          =
| course           = ''[[Italian meal structure#Formal meal structure|Primo]]'' (Italian course) or [[Main course|main]]
| type             = [[Pasta]]
| served           = Hot
| main_ingredient  = [[Wheat]], [[ground meat]], [[cheese]]
| variations       = ''[[Lasagnette]]'' and ''[[lasagnotte]]''
}}
'''Lasagna''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|l|ə|ˈ|z|æ|n|j|ə|}},<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|l|ə|ˈ|z|ɑː|n|j|ə|}}, {{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲa|lang}}), also known as '''lasagne''' ({{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲe|lang}}), is a type of [[pasta]], possibly one of the oldest [[List of pasta|types]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=0-19-280681-5}}</ref> made in very wide, flat sheets. In [[Italian cuisine]] it is made of stacked layers of pasta alternating with fillings such as [[ragù]] (ground meats and tomato sauce), [[béchamel sauce]], vegetables, cheeses (which may include [[ricotta]], [[mozzarella]], and [[Parmesan]]), and seasonings and spices.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagne |title=Lasagna |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> The dish may be topped with grated cheese, which melts during baking. Typically cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then [[Al forno|baked in an oven]] (''[[al forno]]''). The resulting baked pasta is cut into single-serving square or rectangular portions.
==Etymology==
In [[ancient Rome]], there was a dish similar to a traditional lasagna called {{lang|la|lasana}} or ''{{lang|la|lasanum}}'' ([[Latin]] for 'container' or 'pot') described in the book ''[[Apicius|De re coquinaria]]'' by [[Marcus Gavius Apicius]],<ref>[http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/De_re_coquinaria_-_Liber_IV_-_Pandecter# ''De re coquinaria'']. Apicio.</ref> but the word could have a more ancient origin. The first theory is that ''lasagna'' comes from [[Greek language|Greek]] λάγανον (''[[Tracta (dough)|laganon]]''), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2361489 λάγανον], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Food in the ancient world from A to Z|last=Dalby|first=Andrew|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=9780415232593|location=London|oclc=892612150}}</ref><ref>"Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture", Eugene Newton Anderson, NYU Press, 2005.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pasta.go.it/origin.htm|title=The Origins of pasta|website=The Real Italian Pasta|access-date=10 March 2017|archive-date=22 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722034648/http://www.pasta.go.it/origin.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The word λαγάνα (''lagana'') is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of [[unleavened bread]] baked for the [[Clean Monday]] holiday.
Another theory is that the word lasagna comes from the Greek λάσανα (''lasana'') or λάσανον (''lasanon'') meaning '[[trivet]]', 'stand for a pot' or 'chamber pot'.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2361998 λάσανα], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus.</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Muhlke |first=Christine |title=A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names |date=2 April 1997 |work=Cookbook Shelf:Book Review |url=http://www.salon.com/april97/food/cookbook970402.html |access-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808044555/http://www.salon.com/april97/food/cookbook970402.html |archive-date=8 August 2007 |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Salon.com]]}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagna|title=lasagna|access-date=10 March 2017|work=Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary}}</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] borrowed the word as ''lasanum'', meaning 'cooking pot'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=lasanum|title=lăsănum|last1=Lewis|first1=Charlton T.|last2=Short|first2=Charles|website=A Latin Dictionary|publisher=Perseus Digital Library|access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref> The Italians used the word to refer to the cookware in which lasagna is made. Later the food took on the name of the serving dish.
Another proposed link or reference is the 14th-century English dish ''loseyn''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/mediaeval/fetch-recipe.php?rid=medi-loseyns |title=Loseyns (Lozenges) |work=Celtnet |publisher=Dyfed Lloyd Evans |access-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121205061048/http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/mediaeval/fetch-recipe.php?rid=medi-loseyns |archive-date=5 December 2012 }}</ref> as described in ''[[The Forme of Cury]]'', a cookbook prepared by "the chief Master Cooks of [[Richard II of England|King Richard II]]",<ref>{{Cite book|title=Things sweet to taste: selections from the Forme of cury: a fourteenth-century cookery book in the John Rylands Library.|author=John Rylands University Library of Manchester|publisher=[[John Rylands Library]]|year=1996|isbn=0863731341|oclc=643512620|quote=Thys fourme of cury ys compyled of þe mayster cokes of kyng Richard þe secund ... by assent of Maysters of physik and of phylosophye.|author-link = John Rylands University Library of Manchester}}</ref> which included English recipes as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines.<ref name="Bouchut">{{Cite web |url=http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery_books_english|title=Oldcook: Forme of Cury and cookery books in English |last1=Bouchut |first1=Marie Josèphe Moncorgé |first2=Ian (trans.) |last2=Bailey |first3=Leah (trans.) |last3=Hunt |access-date=24 August 2016}}</ref> This dish has similarities to modern lasagna in both its recipe, which features a layering of ingredients between pasta sheets, and its name. An important difference is the lack of [[tomato]]es, which did not arrive in Europe until after [[Columbus's first voyage|Columbus reached the Americas]] in 1492. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a [[herbal]] written in 1544 by [[Pietro Andrea Mattioli]],<ref name="the tomato in America">{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Andrew F.|year=1994|title=The tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|location=Columbia, S.C, USA|isbn=1-57003-000-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tomatoinamericae00smit_0}}</ref> while the earliest cookbook found with tomato recipes was published in [[Naples]] in 1692, but the author had obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.<ref name="the tomato in America"/>
As with most other [[List of pasta|types of pasta]], the Italian word is a plural form: ''lasagne'' meaning more than one sheet of ''lasagna'', although, in many other languages, a derivative of the singular word ''lasagna'' is used for the popular baked pasta dish. When referring to the baked dish, regional usage in Italy favours the plural form ''lasagne'' in the north of the country and the singular ''lasagna'' in the south.<ref name=buccini>{{cite book |last=Buccini |first=A. F. |chapter=Lasagne, a layered history |editor-last=McWilliams |title=Wrapped & Stuffed Foods: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery |year=2013 |page=95 |publisher=Prospect |isbn=9781903018996 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MD0QDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT95 |quote=... in referring to baked versions of the dish, regional usage in Italy favours the plural form ''lasagne'' in the north and the singular form ''lasagna'' in the south; from the former usage stems the British use of 'lasagne' and from the latter the American 'lasagna'. Neither usage can be considered 'more correct' ....}}</ref> The former plural usage has influenced the usual spelling found in [[British English]], while the southern Italian singular usage has influenced the spelling often used in [[American English]].<ref name=buccini/>  Both ''lasagna'' and ''lasagne'' are used as singular [[Mass noun|non-count]] (uncountable) nouns in English.<ref>Laurie Bauer, Rochelle Lieber and Ingo Plag. ''The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology''. Oxford University Press, 2015. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EXlYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 p. 139.] {{ISBN|9780198747062}}.</ref>
==Origins and history==
Lasagna originated in Italy during the [[Middle Ages]]. The oldest transcribed text about lasagna appears in 1282 in the ''Memoriali Bolognesi'' ('Bolognese Memorials'), in which lasagna was mentioned in a poem transcribed by a Bolognese [[notary]];<ref>[https://disci.unibo.it/it/ricerca/progetti-di-ricerca/progetti-di-fondazioni-private-o-ambasciate/un-mare-magnum-di-possibilita-i-memoriali-bolognesi-e-la-loro-schedatura-1265-1452 Un mare magnum di possibilità: i Memoriali bolognesi e la loro schedatura (1265-1452)]</ref><ref>[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA1671/_P3.HTM#60 Rime dei memoriali bolognesi]</ref> while the first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th century in the ''[[Liber de Coquina]]'' (''The Book of Cookery'').<ref>[http://www.staff.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm ''Liber de Coquina (1285)'', ''De lasanis''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212011859/http://www.staff.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm |date=12 February 2015 }}. Gloning.</ref> It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagna, featuring a [[Fermentation|fermented]] [[dough]] flattened into thin sheets, boiled, sprinkled with cheese and spices, and then eaten with a small pointed stick.<ref name=serventi235>Serventi, ''Pasta: the story of a universal food'', Columbia UP, 2012, p. 235.</ref> Recipes written in the century following the ''Liber de Coquina'' recommended boiling the pasta in chicken broth and dressing it with cheese and chicken fat. In a recipe adapted for the [[Lent]]en [[Fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church|fast]], [[walnut]]s were recommended.<ref name=serventi235/>
==Variations==
===Pasta===
Mass-produced lasagne with a ruffled edge is called ''lasagna riccia'', ''doppio festone'', ''sciabò'', and ''sciablò''.<ref name="De Vita">Oretta Zanini De Vita. ''Encyclopedia of Pasta''. University of California Press, 2019. [https://books.google.com/books?id=dWo9EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 p. 148.] {{ISBN|9780520322752}}.</ref> In the [[Veneto]], factory-produced ''lasagne'' are called ''bardele'' or ''lasagnoni''.<ref name="De Vita" /> Narrower ''lasagne'' are ''mezze lasagne'', and if with a ruffled edge, ''mezze lasagne ricche''.<ref name="De Vita" /> Similar pastas are the narrower ''[[lasagnette]]'' and its longer cousin, the ''[[lasagnotte]]'' (''cappellasci'' [''sic''] in [[Liguria]]<ref name="De Vita" /><ref>Gaetano Frisoni. "Cappellasci" entry in ''Dizionario moderno genovese-italiano e italiano-genovese''. A. Donath, 1910. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uAQW6kzn76AC&pg=PA65 p. 65.]</ref>), as well as the ''sagne'' of [[Salento]] (the "heel" of the Italian "boot"),<ref name="De Vita" /> and ''lagana'' in the remainder of [[Apulia]].<ref name="De Vita"/>
===Dish===
[[File:Meaty Lasagna 8of8 (8736299782).jpg|thumb|240px|''Lasagne al forno'' with [[ragù]]]]
The lasagna of [[Naples]], ''lasagne di carnevale'', is layered with local [[sausage]], small fried [[meatball]]s, [[hard-boiled eggs]], [[ricotta]] and [[mozzarella]] cheeses, and sauced with [[Neapolitan ragù]], a meat sauce.<ref name="delconte">{{cite book |last=Del Conte |first=Anna |title=Gastronomy of Italy |date=1 December 2013 |isbn=978-1862059580 |publisher=Pavilion }}</ref>
''Lasagne al forno'', layered with a thicker [[ragù]] and [[béchamel sauce]] and corresponding to the most common version of the dish outside Italy, is traditionally associated with the [[Emilia-Romagna]] region of Italy. Here, and especially in its capital, [[Bologna]], layers of lasagna are traditionally green (the colour is obtained by mixing spinach or other vegetables into the dough)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lasagne – die Teigplatte|url=https://www.italienische-nudeln.de/pasta-sorten/lasagne/|language=de|access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> and served with ragù (a thick sauce made with onions, carrots, celery, finely ground pork and beef, butter, and tomatoes),<ref>{{Cite book|title=Regional Italian cuisine: typical recipes and culinary impressions from all regions|last1=Hess|first1=Reinhardt|last2=Sälzer|first2=Sabine|publisher=Barron's|year=1999|isbn=9780764151590|oclc=42786762}}</ref><ref>Root, Waverley. ''The Cooking of Italy''. New York: Time-Life, 1968. Print.</ref> béchamel sauce, and [[Parmesan|Parmesan cheese]].
In other regions, lasagna can be made with various combinations of ricotta or mozzarella, [[tomato sauce]], meats (such as ground beef, pork, veal or chicken), and vegetables (such as spinach, zucchini, olives, and mushrooms), and the dish is typically flavoured with [[wine]], [[garlic]], [[onion]], and [[oregano]]. In all cases, the lasagne are baked (''[[al forno]]'').
Traditionally, pasta dough prepared in [[southern Italy]] used [[semolina]] and water; in the [[Northern Italy|northern regions]], where semolina was not available, [[flour]] and [[Eggs as food|eggs]] were used. In modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is [[durum wheat]], industrial lasagne are made from durum wheat semolina.<ref>{{cite journal
| date         = 9 February 2021
| title        = Decreto del Presidente della Repubblica n. 187
| trans-title  = Presidential Decree n. 187
| url          = https://www.pasta-unafpa.org/public/unafpa/pdf/ITALIA.pdf
| language     = Italian
| journal      = Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana
| volume       = 117
| page         = 5
| via          = translation by Union of the Organizations of Manufacturers of Pasta Products in the E.U.
| access-date  = 22 June 2022
| url-status   = live
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20220618064417/https://www.pasta-unafpa.org/public/unafpa/pdf/ITALIA.pdf
| archive-date = 18 June 2022
| quote        =
}}</ref> Nonetheless, in the north and especially in Emilia-Romagna, the tradition of egg-based dough remains popular for artisanal and homemade productions.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}
==Gallery==
<gallery widths="220" heights="150" perrow="3">
File:Lasagne.png|Flat sheets of lasagna before cooking
File:Pasta 2006 8.jpg|Lasagna with ruffled edges
File:Lasagna 2.jpg|Completely ridged lasagna
File:Lasagna bolognese.jpg|Green lasagna (made with spinach in the dough), with [[ragù]], [[Parmesan]], and [[béchamel sauce]], typical of Bolognese cuisine
</gallery>
==See also==
{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Cookbook-inline|Lasagne}}
{{Portal|Italy|Food}}
* [[List of pasta]]
* [[List of pasta dishes]]
* [[List of casserole dishes]]
* [[Casserole]]
* ''[[Crozets de Savoie]]'' – a type of small, square-shaped pasta made in the Savoie region in France
* [[Galvanic corrosion#Lasagna cell|Lasagna cell]] – inadvertent corrosion caused by improper storage of lasagna
* ''[[Lasagnette]]'' – a narrower form of the pasta
* ''[[Lasagnotte]]''
* ''[[Lazanki]]'' – a type of small square- or rectangle-shaped pasta made in Poland and Belarus
* [[Moussaka]] – a Mediterranean casserole that is layered in some recipes
* ''[[Oreilles d'âne]]'' – a French Alpine casserole made with lasagna and wild spinach
* ''[[Pastelón]]'' – a baked, layered Puerto Rican dish made with plantains
* [[Pastitsio]] – a baked, layered Mediterranean pasta dish
* ''[[Timballo]]'' – an Italian casserole
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last1=Sagon |first1=Candy |title=The Americanization Of Lasagna |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/16/001r-021600-idx.html |access-date=24 November 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 16, 2000 |page=F01}}
{{Pasta}}
{{Cheese dishes}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Italian cuisine]]
[[Category:Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna]]
[[Category:Neapolitan cuisine]]
[[Category:Types of pasta]]
[[Category:Wide pasta]]
[[Category:Pasta dishes]]
[[Category:Casserole dishes]]
[[Category:Cheese dishes]]