Lasagna

{{Short description|Flat pasta and stacked pasta dishes}} {{Other uses}} {{Use British English|date=November 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}

thumb|{{lang|it|Lasagne alla bolognese}} '''Lasagna''', also known by the plural form '''lasagne''', is a type of pasta made in wide, flat sheets. It originates in Italian cuisine, where it is served in a number of ways, including in broth ({{lang|it|lasagne in brodo}}), but is best known for its use in a baked dish made by stacking 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> Typically, cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients, topped with grated cheese, and then baked in an oven ({{lang|it|al forno}}): regional variations of this dish are found across Italy.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref>

==Name== As with most other types of pasta, the Italian word is a plural form: {{lang|it|lasagne}} ({{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲe|lang}}) meaning more than one sheet of {{lang|it|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}}). When referring to the baked dish, regional usage in Italy favours the plural form {{lang|it|lasagne}} in the north of the country and the singular {{lang|it|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 {{lang|it|lasagne}} in the north and the singular form {{lang|it|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 {{lang|it|lasagna}} and {{lang|it|lasagne}} are used as singular 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>

===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 ''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 {{lang|it|lasagna}} comes from Greek λάγανον (''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 |last=Dalby |first=Andrew |title=Food in the ancient world from A to Z |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 |title=The Origins of pasta |url=http://www.pasta.go.it/origin.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722034648/http://www.pasta.go.it/origin.htm |archive-date=22 July 2011 |access-date=10 March 2017 |website=The Real Italian Pasta}}</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.<ref>{{cite news |date=24 October 2022 |title=The history of lagana and its delicious secrets |url=https://greekcitytimes.com/2022/10/24/the-history-of-lagana/ |access-date=8 February 2025 |website=Greek City Times}}</ref>

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 |title=lasagna |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagna |access-date=10 March 2017 |work=Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary}}</ref> The Romans borrowed the word as {{lang|la|lasanum}}, meaning 'cooking pot'.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Charlton T. |last2=Short |first2=Charles |title=lăsănum |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=lasanum |access-date=10 March 2017 |website=A Latin Dictionary |publisher=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref>

Another proposed link or reference is the 14th-century English dish ''loseyn''<ref>{{cite web |title=Loseyns (Lozenges) |url=http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/mediaeval/fetch-recipe.php?rid=medi-loseyns |url-status=usurped |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 |access-date=24 March 2012 |work=Celtnet |publisher=Dyfed Lloyd Evans}}</ref> as described in ''The Forme of Cury'', a cookbook prepared by "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II",<ref>{{Cite book |author=John Rylands University Library of Manchester |author-link=John Rylands University Library of Manchester |title=Things sweet to taste: selections from the Forme of cury: a fourteenth-century cookery book in the John Rylands Library. |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.}}</ref> which included English recipes as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines.<ref name="Bouchut">{{Cite web |last1=Bouchut |first1=Marie Josèphe Moncorgé |last2=Bailey |first2=Ian (trans.) |last3=Hunt |first3=Leah (trans.) |title=Oldcook: Forme of Cury and cookery books in English |url=http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery_books_english |access-date=24 August 2016 |archive-date=24 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624204658/http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery_books_english |url-status=dead }}</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 tomatoes, which did not arrive in Europe until after 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. |url=https://archive.org/details/tomatoinamericae00smit_0 |title=The tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |year=1994 |isbn=1-57003-000-6 |location=Columbia, S.C, USA |url-access=registration}}</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" />

==Origins and history== Lasagna originated in Italy during the Middle Ages. The oldest known written reference to lasagna appears in 1282, in a ballad transcribed by a Bolognese notary, "{{lang|it|Pur bii del vin, comadre, e no lo temperare}}" ('Just drink some wine, my woman, and do not dilute it'), part of the {{lang|it|Memoriali Bolognesi}} ({{literally|Bolognese Memorials}}):<ref name="zancani2010">{{ cite journal | title=Notes on the vocabulary of gastronomy in literary works from Boccaccio to Giulio Cesare Croce | first=Diego | last=Zancani | journal=The Italianist | volume=30 | issue=sup2 | pages=132–148 | year=2010 | doi=10.1080/02614340.2010.11917482 }}</ref>

{{Verse translation |head1=Italian|lang1=it |Giernosen le comadre trambedue a la festa, de gliocch'e de lasagne se fén sette menestra |head2=English|lang2=en |Both women went to the festival, and had seven portions of gnocchi and lasagne |attr1={{lang|it|[https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA1671/__P3.HTM Rime dei memoriali bolognesi]}} on the IntraText Digital Library |attr2=Zancani (2010), p. 146 }}

From a similar time, Salimbene di Adam's {{lang|la|Cronica}} contains a 1284 reference to {{lang|la|lagana cum caseo}} ({{literally|lasagna with cheese}}).<ref name="zancani2010"/> As was typical of pasta dishes, lasagna was relatively expensive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebora |first=Giovanni |title=Culture of the Fork: A Brief History of Everyday Food and Haute Cuisine in Europe |last2=Sonnenfeld |first2=Albert |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-231-12150-4 |location=New York & Chicester, West Sussex |pages=28}}</ref>

The first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th century in the ''Liber de Coquina'' (''The Book of Cookery'').<ref>[https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm ''Liber de Coquina (1285)'', ''De lasanis'']. Gloning.</ref> It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagna, featuring a 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 Lenten fast, walnuts were recommended.<ref name=serventi235/>

==Variations==

===Pasta=== Mass-produced lasagne with a ruffled edge is called {{lang|it|lasagna riccia}}, {{lang|it|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 recent times, lasagne used in the baked dish have tended to be of a long, narrow rectangular shape called {{lang|it|lasagna a nastro}}, although a more traditional square shape is still found.<ref name=devita150>De Vita (2019). p. 150.</ref>

In Veneto, factory-produced {{lang|it|lasagne}} are called ''bardele'' or ''lasagnoni''.<ref name="De Vita" /> Narrower {{lang|it|lasagne}} are {{lang|it|mezze lasagne}}, and if with a ruffled edge, {{lang|it|mezze lasagne ricche}}.<ref name="De Vita" /> Similar pastas are the narrower {{lang|it|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=== thumb|250px|{{lang|it|Lasagne al forno}} There are many regional variations of the dish in Italy; these were often traditionally served during religious celebrations, which were some of the few times in the year that many people would eat meat.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref> The lasagna of Naples, {{lang|it|lasagne di Carnevale}}, is layered with local sausage, small fried meatballs, 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> The dish is eaten at Carnival, and is not held in high esteem locally; food writer Arthur Schwartz details that "almost without fail", Neapolitans tell visitors "the really good lasagne is from Bologna".<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Arthur |title=Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-018261-X |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/naplesattablecoo0000schw/page/206/ 206]}}</ref> Italian-American recipes show an influence of Neapolitan lasagna, often using ricotta cheese in place of béchamel sauce found in northern Italian recipes.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref> Another southern Italian recipe, {{lang|it|lasagne alla pugliese}}, is also associated with a religious festival, in this case Christmas: it uses a capon broth in place of ragù, and is layered with veal meatballs, mozzarella, prosciutto, and Parmesan.<ref name=depeppo119>{{cite book|title=L' Arte della Cucina secondo la Tradizione napoletana|last=De Peppo |first=Marinella|date=1994 |publisher=A. Mondadori|page=119}}</ref>

{{lang|it|Lasagne al forno}}, layered with a thick ragù and béchamel and corresponding to the most common version of the dish outside Italy, is traditionally associated with the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. In its capital, Bologna, {{lang|it|lasagne alla bolognese}} is layered 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 cheese.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.italianrecipebook.com/lasagna-al-forno-no-boil/ |title=Lasagna Al Forno |date=December 11, 2021 |website=Italian Recipe Book |author=Svitlana |access-date=February 12, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/lasagna-al-forno-recipe-1908136.html |title=Lasagna al Forno | website=Food Network |first=Tyler |last=Florence |author-link=Tyler Florence |access-date=February 12, 2025}}</ref> {{lang|it|Lasagne alla ferrarese}}, from Ferrara, features sheets of green pasta (created by mixing spinach into the pasta dough) and may include pancetta, chicken livers, and other meats.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Fine Art of Italian Cooking|last=Bugiali|first=Giuliano|publisher=Quadrangle|date=1977|page=190}}</ref> A version from the Marche, known as ''vincisgrassi'', features mushrooms and offal such as chicken livers and sweetbreads.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Diner's Dictionary |last=Ayto|first=John|publisher=OUP|date=2012|page=388}}</ref> {{lang|it|lasagne alla genovese}}, from Genoa, combines a light béchamel with pesto and is then baked, although some more modern Genoese versions omit the béchamel and use boiled pasta.<ref>{{cite book|title=Giuliano Bugialli's Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking|last=Bugialli|first=Giuliano|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1982|page=159}}</ref>

Traditionally, pasta dough prepared in southern Italy used semolina and water; in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, flour and eggs were used. In Emilia-Romagna the dough or {{lang|it|sfoglia}} was traditionally rolled paper-thin by hand, often by a professional {{lang|it|sfoglina}}.<ref name=devita150/> In modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold dried pasta is durum wheat, industrial dried lasagne sheets 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>

==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 </gallery>

==See also== {{Commons category-inline}} {{Cookbook-inline|Lasagne}} {{Portal|Italy|Food}} * List of pasta * List of pasta dishes * List of casserole dishes * Casserole * Pastitsio

==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:Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna Category:Neapolitan cuisine Category:Types of pasta Category:Wide pasta Category:Pasta dishes Category:Casserole dishes Category:Cheese dishes