lasagna

{{Infobox food

| name = Lasagna

| image = Lasagna bolognese.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = Lasagne alla bolognese

| alternate_name = Lasagne (plural form)

| country = Italy

| region = Emilia-Romagna

| creator =

| course = Primo (Italian course) or 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|}},{{cite book|title=The Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press}} {{IPAc-en|US|l|ə|ˈ|z|ɑː|n|j|ə|}}; {{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲa|lang}}), also known by the plural form lasagne ({{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲe|lang}}), is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types,{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=0-19-280681-5}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagne |title=Lasagna |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=30 June 2017}} The dish may be topped with grated cheese, which melts during baking. Typically cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then baked in an oven (al forno). The resulting baked pasta is cut into single-serving square or rectangular portions.

Name

As with most other 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.{{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' ....}} 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. Both lasagna and lasagne are used as singular non-count (uncountable) nouns in English.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}}.

= 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,[http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/De_re_coquinaria_-_Liber_IV_-_Pandecter# De re coquinaria]. Apicio. but the word could have a more ancient origin. The first theory is that lasagna comes from Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.[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.{{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}}"Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture", Eugene Newton Anderson, NYU Press, 2005.{{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}} The word λαγάνα (lagana) is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of unleavened bread baked for the Clean Monday holiday.{{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}}

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'.[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.{{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}}.{{cite web |title=lasagna |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagna |access-date=10 March 2017 |work=Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary}} The Romans borrowed the word as lasanum, meaning 'cooking pot'.{{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}} 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.{{Cn|date=February 2025}}

Another proposed link or reference is the 14th-century English dish loseyn{{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}} as described in The Forme of Cury, a cookbook prepared by "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II",{{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.}} which included English recipes as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines.{{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}} 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,{{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}} while the earliest cookbook found with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, but the author had obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.

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;[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)][http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA1671/_P3.HTM#60 Rime dei memoriali bolognesi] while the first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th century in the Liber de Coquina (The Book of Cookery).[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. 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.Serventi, Pasta: the story of a universal food, Columbia UP, 2012, p. 235. 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.

Variations

=Pasta=

Mass-produced lasagne with a ruffled edge is called lasagna riccia, doppio festone, sciabò, and sciablò.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}}. In the Veneto, factory-produced lasagne are called bardele or lasagnoni. Narrower lasagne are mezze lasagne, and if with a ruffled edge, mezze lasagne ricche. Similar pastas are the narrower lasagnette and its longer cousin, the lasagnotte (cappellasci [sic] in LiguriaGaetano 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.]), as well as the sagne of Salento (the "heel" of the Italian "boot"), and lagana in the remainder of Apulia.

=Dish=

File:Meaty Lasagna 8of8 (8736299782).jpg

The lasagna of Naples, 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.{{cite book |last=Del Conte |first=Anna |title=Gastronomy of Italy |date=1 December 2013 |isbn=978-1862059580 |publisher=Pavilion }}

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){{Cite web|title=Lasagne – die Teigplatte|url=https://www.italienische-nudeln.de/pasta-sorten/lasagne/|language=de|access-date=24 August 2021}} and served with ragù (a thick sauce made with onions, carrots, celery, finely ground pork and beef, butter, and tomatoes),{{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}}Root, Waverley. The Cooking of Italy. New York: Time-Life, 1968. Print. béchamel sauce, and Parmesan cheese.{{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}}{{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}}

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).{{Cn|date=February 2025}}

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 modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, industrial lasagne are made from durum wheat semolina.{{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 =

}}

Gallery

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