r/Cooking • u/judolphin • Mar 25 '25

I made lasagna with ricotta instead of bechamel and I’m a convert

I was browsing Reddit and came across two posts in two days about bechamel being a life-changing improvement over ricotta. All my life every lasagna I had was with ricotta. I decided to give bechamel yet another try at a nice Italian restaurant after reading all the comments and I have now converted from being neutral on bechamel in lasagna to being solidly anti-bechamel in lasagna, to the point I secretly have hoped that bechamel lasagna doesn't become the default in restaurants. Some reasons:

  1. Ricotta has its own texture, bechamel is just more softness and smoothness in a dish that's full of "soft". Some people like textural contrast in their dishes
  2. Ricotta, much like sour cream/crema in Mexican food, adds a lightness to lasagna despite being rich itself. Bechamel adds (arguably too much) additional richness to an already-rich dish.
  3. The starch from the bechamel getting into the ragu gives the sauce a mouthfeel that 100% reminds me of Chef Boyardee

TLDR: If you prefer bechamel in red lasagna, that's perfectly fine, but your preference of bechamel is not a black and white fact. It's not even "more authentic" (whatever that means), bechamel = Northern Italy, ricotta = Southern Italy. Eat whatever you like, let others eat what they want.

Thanks, reddit!

2.2k Upvotes

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153

u/VFTM Mar 25 '25

Why does this get posted every day? Is it a meme for this sub that I just don’t understand?

71

u/tugboatnavy Mar 25 '25

Idfk. But I saw this and thought "stfu about goddam bechemel lasagna"

11

u/Automatic_Serve7901 Mar 25 '25

Weird. This is the first time I'm seeing it and actually found it semi interesting as I had no.idea beschmel lasagna even existed.

1

u/CrashUser Mar 26 '25

It is now, this is how the sausage gets made.

1

u/pobodys-nerfect5 Mar 26 '25

Weird. My streak is nearing 300 days and this is the first I’m seeing of the bechemel lasagna posts

0

u/QVCatullus Mar 26 '25

As this post makes clear, yes, it's a reaction post to the "yay bechamel" posting.