View source for Lasagna

{{Short description|Flat pasta and stacked pasta dishes}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}

[[File:Lasagna bolognese.jpg|thumb|{{lang|it|Lasagne alla bolognese}}]]
'''Lasagna''', also known by the plural form '''lasagne''', is a [[List of pasta|type of pasta]] made in wide, flat sheets. It originates in [[Italian cuisine]], where it is served in a number of ways , including in [[broth]] (''lasagne in brodo''), but is best known for its use in a baked dish made by stacking 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagne |title=Lasagna |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> Typically, cooked pasta is assembled with the other ingredients, topped with grated cheese, and then baked in an oven ({{lang|it|[[al forno]]}}): regional variations of this dish are found across Italy.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref>

==Name==
As with most other types of pasta, the Italian word is a plural form: {{lang|it|lasagne}} ({{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲe|lang}}) meaning more than one sheet of {{lang|it|lasagna}} ({{IPAc-en|UK|l|ə|ˈ|z|æ|n|j|ə|}},<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|l|ə|ˈ|z|ɑː|n|j|ə|}}; {{IPA|it|laˈzaɲɲa|lang}}). When referring to the baked dish, regional usage in Italy favours the plural form {{lang|it|lasagne}} in the north of the country and the singular {{lang|it|lasagna}} in the south.<ref name="buccini">{{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 {{lang|it|lasagne}} in the north and the singular form {{lang|it|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' ....}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="buccini"/> Both {{lang|it|lasagna}} and {{lang|it|lasagne}} are used as singular [[Mass noun|non-count]] (uncountable) nouns in English.<ref>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}}.</ref>

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

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]]'.<ref>[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.</ref><ref>{{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]]}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=lasagna |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lasagna |access-date=10 March 2017 |work=Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary}}</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] borrowed the word as {{lang|la|lasanum}}, meaning 'cooking pot'.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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''<ref>{{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}}</ref> as described in ''[[The Forme of Cury]]'', a cookbook prepared by "the chief Master Cooks of [[Richard II of England|King Richard II]]",<ref>{{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.}}</ref> which included English recipes as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines.<ref name="Bouchut">{{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 |archive-date=24 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624204658/http://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cookery_books_english |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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]]es, which did not arrive in Europe until after [[Columbus's first voyage|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]],<ref name="the tomato in America">{{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}}</ref> while the earliest cookbook found with tomato recipes was published in [[Naples]] in 1692, but the author had obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.<ref name="the tomato in America" />

==Origins and history==
Lasagna originated in Italy during the [[Middle Ages]]. The oldest known written reference to lasagna appears in 1282, in a [[ballad]] transcribed by a Bolognese [[notary]], "{{lang|it|Pur bii del vin, comadre, e no lo temperare}}" ('Just drink some wine, my woman, and do not dilute it'), part of the {{lang|it|Memoriali Bolognesi}} ({{literally|Bolognese Memorials}}):<ref name="zancani2010">{{ cite journal | title=Notes on the vocabulary of gastronomy in literary works from Boccaccio to Giulio Cesare Croce | first=Diego | last=Zancani | journal=The Italianist | volume=30 | issue=sup2 | pages=132–148 | year=2010 | doi=10.1080/02614340.2010.11917482 }}</ref>

{{Verse translation
|head1=Italian|lang1=it
|Giernosen le comadre trambedue a la festa,
de gliocch'e de lasagne se fén sette menestra
|head2=English|lang2=en
|Both women went to the festival,
and had seven portions of [[gnocchi]] and lasagne
|attr1={{lang|it|[https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA1671/__P3.HTM Rime dei memoriali bolognesi]}} on the IntraText Digital Library
|attr2=Zancani (2010), p.146
}}

From a similar time, [[Salimbene di Adam]]'s {{lang|la|Cronica}} contains a 1284 reference to {{lang|la|lagana cum caseo}} ({{literally|lasagna with cheese}}).<ref name="zancani2010"/> As was typical of pasta dishes, lasagna was relatively expensive.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rebora |first=Giovanni |title=Culture of the Fork: A Brief History of Everyday Food and Haute Cuisine in Europe |last2=Sonnenfeld |first2=Albert |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-231-12150-4 |location=New York & Chicester, West Sussex |pages=28}}</ref>

The first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th century in the ''[[Liber de Coquina]]'' (''The Book of Cookery'').<ref>[https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/mul2-lib.htm ''Liber de Coquina (1285)'', ''De lasanis'']. Gloning.</ref> It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagna, featuring a [[Fermentation|fermented]] [[dough]] flattened into thin sheets, boiled, sprinkled with cheese and spices, and then eaten with a small pointed stick.<ref name=serventi235>Serventi, ''Pasta: the story of a universal food'', Columbia UP, 2012, p. 235.</ref> 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]]en [[Fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church|fast]], [[walnut]]s were recommended.<ref name=serventi235/>

==Variations==

===Pasta===
Mass-produced lasagne with a ruffled edge is called {{lang|it|lasagna riccia}}, {{lang|it|doppio festone}}, ''sciabò'', and ''sciablò''.<ref name="De Vita">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}}.</ref> In recent times, lasagne used in the baked dish have tended to be of a long, narrow rectangular shape called a ''lasagna a nastro'' or ''pappardella'', although a more traditional square shape is still found.<ref name=devita150>De Vita (2019) p.150</ref>

In the [[Veneto]], factory-produced {{lang|it|lasagne}} are called ''bardele'' or ''lasagnoni''.<ref name="De Vita" /> Narrower {{lang|it|lasagne}} are {{lang|it|mezze lasagne}}, and if with a ruffled edge, {{lang|it|mezze lasagne ricche}}.<ref name="De Vita" /> Similar pastas are the narrower {{lang|it|[[lasagnette]]}} and its longer cousin, the ''[[lasagnotte]]'' (''cappellasci'' [''sic''] in [[Liguria]]<ref name="De Vita" /><ref>Gaetano 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.]</ref>), as well as the ''sagne'' of [[Salento]] (the "heel" of the Italian "boot"),<ref name="De Vita" /> and ''lagana'' in the remainder of [[Apulia]].<ref name="De Vita"/>

===Dish===
[[File:Meaty Lasagna 8of8 (8736299782).jpg|thumb|250px|{{lang|it|Lasagne al forno}}]]
There are many regional variations of the dish in Italy; these were often traditionally served during religious celebrations, which were some of the few times in the year that many people would eat meat.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref> The lasagna of [[Naples]], {{lang|it|lasagne di Carnevale}}, is layered with local [[sausage]], small fried [[meatball]]s, hard-boiled eggs, [[ricotta]] and [[mozzarella]] cheeses, and sauced with [[Neapolitan ragù]], a meat sauce.<ref name="delconte">{{cite book |last=Del Conte |first=Anna |title=Gastronomy of Italy |date=1 December 2013 |isbn=978-1862059580 |publisher=Pavilion }}</ref> The dish is eaten at [[Carnival]], and is not held in high esteem locally; food writer Arthur Schwartz details that "almost without fail", Neapolitans tell visitors "the really good lasagne is from [[Bologna]]".<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Arthur |title=Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-018261-X |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/naplesattablecoo0000schw/page/206/ 206]}}</ref> [[Italian-American cuisine|Italian-American]] recipes show an influence of Neapolitan lasagna, often using ricotta cheese in place of the ''besciamella'' or [[béchamel sauce]] found in northern Italian recipes.<ref>{{cite book|title=Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American|last=MacAllen |first=Ian |date=2022 |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|page=123}}</ref> Another southern Italian recipe, ''lasagne [[Apulia|Pugliese]]'', is also associated with a religious festival, in this case [[Christmas]]: it uses a [[capon]] broth in place of ''ragù'', and is layered with veal meatballs, mozzarella, ''prosciutto'', and Parmesan cheese.<ref name=depeppo119>{{cite book|title=L' Arte della Cucina secondo la Tradizione napoletana|last=De Peppo |first=Marinella|date=1994 |publisher=A. Mondadori|page=119}}</ref>

{{lang|it|Lasagne al forno}}, layered with a thick [[ragù]] and béchamel and corresponding to the most common version of the dish outside Italy, is traditionally associated with the [[Emilia-Romagna]] region of Italy. In its capital, Bologna, ''lasagne alla Bolognese'' is layered with ragù (a thick sauce made with onions, carrots, celery, finely ground pork and beef, butter, and tomatoes),<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>Root, Waverley. ''The Cooking of Italy''. New York: Time-Life, 1968. Print.</ref> béchamel sauce, and [[Parmesan|Parmesan cheese]].<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> ''Lasagne alla Ferrarese'', from the town of [[Ferrara]], features sheets of green pasta (created by mixing spinach into the pasta dough) and may include [[pancetta]], chicken livers, and other meats.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Fine Art of Italian Cooking|last=Bugiali|first=Giuliano|publisher=Quadrangle|date=1977|page=190}}</ref> A version from the [[Marche]], known as ''[[vincisgrassi]]'', features mushrooms and offal such as chicken livers and [[sweetbreads]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Diner's Dictionary |last=Ayto|first=John|publisher=OUP|date=2012|page=388}}</ref> ''Lasagne alla Genovese'', from [[Genoa]], combines a light béchamel with [[pesto]] and is then baked, although some more modern Genoese versions omit the béchamel and use boiled pasta.<ref>{{cite book|title=Giuliano Bugialli's Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking|last=Bugialli|first=Giuliano|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1982|page=159}}</ref>

Traditionally, pasta dough prepared in [[southern Italy]] used [[semolina]] and water; in the [[Northern Italy|northern regions]], where semolina was not available, [[flour]] and [[Eggs as food|eggs]] were used. In Emilia-Romagna the dough or ''sfoglia'' was traditionally rolled paper-thin by hand, often by a professional ''sfogline''.<ref name=devita150/> In modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold dried pasta is [[durum wheat]], industrial dried lasagne sheets are made from durum wheat semolina.<ref>{{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        = 
}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="220" heights="150" perrow="3">
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
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Cookbook-inline|Lasagne}}
{{Portal|Italy|Food}}
* [[List of pasta]]
* [[List of pasta dishes]]
* [[List of casserole dishes]]
* [[Casserole]]
* ''[[Crozets de Savoie]]'' – a type of small, square-shaped pasta made in the Savoie region in France
* [[Galvanic corrosion#Lasagna cell|Lasagna cell]] – inadvertent corrosion caused by improper storage of lasagna
* ''[[Lazanki]]'' – a type of small square- or rectangle-shaped pasta made in Poland and Belarus
* [[Moussaka]] – a Mediterranean casserole that is layered in some recipes
* ''[[Oreilles d'âne]]'' – a French Alpine casserole made with lasagna and wild spinach
* ''[[Pastelón]]'' – a baked, layered Puerto Rican dish made with plantains
* [[Pastitsio]] – a baked, layered Mediterranean pasta dish
* {{lang|it|[[Timballo]]}} – an Italian casserole

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last1=Sagon |first1=Candy |title=The Americanization Of Lasagna |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/16/001r-021600-idx.html |access-date=24 November 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 16, 2000 |page=F01}}

{{Pasta}}
{{Cheese dishes}}
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[[Category:Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna]]
[[Category:Neapolitan cuisine]]
[[Category:Types of pasta]]
[[Category:Wide pasta]]
[[Category:Pasta dishes]]
[[Category:Casserole dishes]]
[[Category:Cheese dishes]]