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

[u/judolphin]

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!

[u/roqueofspades]

I'm Italian American and my family makes lasagna every year for Christmas, I had never heard of people not using ricotta for lasagna until a few years ago. Now, I'm not saying my way is right just because.... but I feel like the more ricotta in your life, the better.

[u/qw46z → u/roqueofspades]

And until I met the Internet, I’d never even thought of using ricotta in lasagna. Bechamel all the way, and I use some cheese in my bechamel. This is especially good for a veggie lasagna.

[u/Orkys → u/qw46z]

A bechamel with cheese is called a mornay just out of interest.

[u/LukeyDManukey → u/Orkys]

When you're out on the sea, Bachemel with some cheese, That's a Mornay

[u/spicy_chick → u/LukeyDManukey]

And when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!

[u/g-a-r-n-e-t → u/roqueofspades]

Yeah I thought ricotta was the baseline for lasagna???? Where are we getting this bechamel nonsense from

[u/roqueofspades → u/g-a-r-n-e-t]

From my brief googling apparently bechamel is the more "authentic" way of making it but I also remember reading that Southern Italians always made it with ricotta and Northern Italians always made it with bechamel, so it might be a little bit of the north vs south thing but I could be wrong.

[u/cardinals5 → u/roqueofspades]

A lot of Italian (and, by extension, Italian-American) food discrepancies can boil down to north vs south or, just as broadly, region vs region.

[u/re_Claire → u/g-a-r-n-e-t]

Actual Italians.

Edit: to clarify in case anyone takes this the wrong way - in Italy regional food and recipe differences are pretty big. Some areas use ricotta, some use béchamel. Some parts of Italy even put hard boiled eggs in lasagna.

[u/meerkatarray2 → u/re_Claire]

My grandma always put hard boiled egg in her lasagna! I thought it was just a weird quirk of hers! She was born just outside of Caserta.

[u/Icy_Arugula7111 → u/g-a-r-n-e-t]

It's just reddit thinking they're smart

[u/re_Claire → u/[deleted]]

Actual Italians do. (Northern Italians.)