Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ...

, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ragù (ground meats and tomato sauce), vegetables, cheeses (which may include

ricotta Ricotta ( in Italian) is an Italian whey cheese made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milk whey left over from the production of other cheeses. Like other whey cheeses, it is made by coagulating the proteins that remain afte ...

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

, and

parmesan Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' ...

), and seasonings and spices. The dish may be topped with grated cheese, which becomes melted after baking. Typically cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients and then baked in an oven. The resulting baked pasta is cut into single-serving square portions.

Origins and history

Lasagna originated in Italy during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The oldest transcribed text about lasagna appears in 1282 in the ''Memoriali Bolognesi'' ("Bolognesi Memorials"), in which lasagna was mentioned in a poem transcribed by a Bolognese notary; while the first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th-century ''

Liber de Coquina The ''Liber de Coquina'' ("The book of cooking/cookery") is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. Two codices that contain the work survive from the beginning of the 14th century. Both are preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France ...

'' (''The Book of Cookery''). It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagna, featuring a fermented

dough Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavenin ...

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

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Jesus, temptation by Satan, according ...

fast Fast or FAST may refer to: * Fast (noun), high speed or velocity * Fast (noun, verb), to practice fasting, abstaining from food and/or water for a certain period of time Acronyms and coded Computing and software * ''Faceted Application of Subje ...

walnuts A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bot ...

were recommended.

Variations

Pasta

Mass-produced lasagna 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
p. 148.
In the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, 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

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

), as well as the ''sagne'' of

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

(the "heel" of the Italian "boot") and ''lagana'' in the reminder of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

Dish

The lasagna of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, ''lasagne di carnevale'', is layered with local

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

, small fried

meatballs A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many typ ...

, hard-boiled eggs,

and

cheeses, and sauced with a Neapolitan ragù, a meat sauce. ''Lasagne al forno'', layered with a thicker ragù and

béchamel sauce Bechamel sauce ( ) is a sauce traditionally made from a white roux (butter and flour in a 1:1 mixture by weight) and milk. Bechamel may also be referred to as besciamella (Italy), besamel (Greece), or white sauce (U.S.). French, Italian and Gree ...

and corresponding to the most common version of the dish outside Italy, is traditionally associated with the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

region of Italy. Here, and especially in its capital,

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, layers of lasagna are traditionally green (the colour is obtained by mixing spinach or other vegetables into the dough) and served with ragù (a thick sauce made from onions, carrots, celery, finely ground pork and beef, butter, and tomatoes), bechamel and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. In other regions, lasagna can be made with various combinations of ricotta or mozzarella cheese,

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

, meats (such as ground beef, pork or chicken), and vegetables (such as spinach, zucchini, olives, mushrooms), and the dish is typically flavoured with

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

, and

oregano Oregano (, ; ''Origanum vulgare'') is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It was native to the Mediterranean region, but widely naturalised elsewhere in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. Oregano is a woody perennial ...

. In all cases, the lasagne are baked ( al forno). Traditionally pasta dough prepared in

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

used

semolina Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well. Ety ...

and water; in the northern regions, where semolina was not available,

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...

and eggs were used. In modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, industrial lasagna are made of semolina from durum wheat. Nonetheless, in the north and especially in Emilia-Romagna, the tradition of egg-based dough remains popular for artisanal and homemade productions.

Etymology

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

, there was a dish similar to a traditional lasagna called ''lasana'' or ''lasanum'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for 'container' or 'pot') described in the book '' De re coquinaria'' by

Marcus Gavius Apicius Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius. The Roman cookbook ''Apicius'' is often attributed to him, though it is impossible to pro ...

,, but the word could have a more ancient origin. The first theory is that ''lasagna'' comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

λάγανον ('' laganon''), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips. The word λαγάνα (''lagana'') is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of

unleavened bread Unleavened bread is any of a wide variety of breads which are prepared without using rising agents such as yeast. Unleavened breads are generally flat breads; however, not all flat breads are unleavened. Unleavened breads, such as the tortilla ...

baked for the holiday

Clean Monday Clean Monday ( el, Καθαρά Δευτέρα), also known as Pure Monday, Ash Monday, Monday of Lent or Green Monday, is the first day of Great Lent throughout Eastern Christianity and is a moveable feast, falling on the 6th Monday before ...

. 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'. The Romans borrowed the word as ''lasanum'', meaning 'cooking pot'. 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. Another proposed link or reference is the 14th-century English dish ''loseyn'' as described in ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'', a cookbook prepared by "the chief Master Cooks of

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

", which included English recipes as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines. 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

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, 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 Pietro Andrea Gregorio Mattioli (; 12 March 1501 – ) was a doctor and naturalist born in Siena. Biography He received his MD at the University of Padua in 1523, and subsequently practiced the profession in Siena, Rome, Trento and Gorizia ...

, while the earliest cookbook found with tomato recipes was published in

in 1692, but the author had obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. As with most other types of pasta, the Italian word is a plural form: ''lasagne'' meaning more than one sheet of ''lasagna'', though, 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. The former plural usage has influenced the usual spelling found in

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...

, while the southern Italian singular usage has influenced the spelling often used in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

. Both ''lasagne'' and ''lasagna'' 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
p. 139.

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:Vegetarian-lasagna .jpg, Vegetarian lasagna made with

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

feta Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it ...

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', na ...

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

and grated emmental File:Lasagna bolognese.jpg, Green lasagna (made with

in the dough), with ragù, Parmesan and bechamel, typical of Bolognese cuisine File:Lasagna (1).jpg, Close-up profile view of a lasagna casserole, showing the layers of sauce, cheese and other ingredients

References

General references

External links

* * {{Authority control Casserole dishes Cheese dishes Italian cuisine Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna Neapolitan cuisine Pasta dishes Types of pasta Italian-American cuisine Wide pasta