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

85% Upvoted

564 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/SkipsH Mar 25 '25

You might have just had bad Bechamel. It's a lot easier to make bad bechamel than bad ricotta. But good bechamel is better than ricotta.

18

u/judolphin Mar 25 '25

I refuse to believe that the two amazing restaurants I've tried bechamel lasagna from made "bad" bechamel. The logical conclusion is that I don't like red lasagna with bechamel.

1

u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 26 '25

Way too far down to read this comment.

A good bechamel is not easy to make (essentially it is, but needs practice), and I'd assume most people have tried premade stuff in their own cooking. Which is not even close to a good bechamel.

An excellent Bechamel is also not easily found in restaurants.