# Lasagna - Italian or British?



## oldcoot (Jul 16, 2003)

Had to laugh when the TV news mentioned today that Italy and Britain are fighting over a reported 13th century English recipe for a dish quite similar to lasagna.

I vote for the Brits:  they never seemed to cook much of anything worth eating, and, in my opinion, that mess of paste - pasta - and tomatoes tastes like something they'd come up with! 

 Probllem is, even the Brits didn't have tomatoes back then!


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## leigh (Jul 17, 2003)

Lousy Brit cooking is definitely a thing of the past since Jamie Oliver hit the scene.  His show tonight was on Italian cooking, which he learned from an Italian chef who appears on the show.  No lasagna, but three other dishes to die for.


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## kitchenelf (Jul 22, 2003)

British or Italian - I'll take it either way.  I love lasagna and it's not paste!!!!!  (now that I stood up for what I like I'm running like he!! so oldcoot can't beat me into submission)    :P


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## carnivore (Jul 22, 2003)

i doubt the original recipe had any tomato in it--i don't think tomatoes were discovered until the 1500's, and they were considered poisonous until late 1800's (i think).


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## Norma (Jul 22, 2003)

Carnivore is correct....tomatoes were considered poisionous just a couple of hundred years ago....I however happen to like Brit cooking.....and there is nothing better than a well cooked lasagna...LIKE MINE!
  No, I can't share the recipe, because I don't HAVE one...I make it by the 5 senses....not too mushy, not to firm...rich , creamy, cheesy, spicey...just a small square is filling.


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## carnivore (Jul 22, 2003)

ok Norma, you tease--don't hold out on us--write down the recipe!!
normally when someone asks me if i like lasagna, i kind of shrug my shoulders, because i don't dislike it, but i don't have the "good" variety very often...as a matter of fact, i think i've only had one lasagna that i really wanted to have again.


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## Norma (Jul 23, 2003)

Ok....I owe two recipes but it's gonna be after I move, AND get a day off from my two jobs....!


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## Paint (Mar 12, 2004)

British lasagne is very different to American lasagne - The Brits use a highly flavoured 'bolognaise' type of ragu, and use sharp cheddar cheese to make a flavoursome cheese sauce, which is layered with the ragu between the lasagne.  More cheese sauce is poured on top of the dish, and then it is sprinkled with grated cheese before baking.  The flavour of the British version, compared to the American version, is awesome 

For my bolognaise sauce, I use:
Lean ground beef,
Celery,
Onions,
Bell Peppers,
Mushrooms,
Tinned tomatoes,
Tomato paste,
a squirt of Worcestershire sauce,
a squirt of tomato ketchup,
a squirt of "Geo. Watkins Mushroom Ketchup" (order off the internet)
a squirt of HP steak sauce,
Oregano,
Basil,
Marjoram,
pinch of nutmeg,
Garlic,
Salt & Black Pepper.

Can't give quantities - I'm a 'smigeon & handful' sort of girl LOL!

Don't forget to make that tasty sharp-cheddar sauce!

Paint.


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## BubbaGourmet (Mar 13, 2004)

Lasagna was originally a Greek dish that used a sauce similar to a bechamel sauce. As proud as I am of my Italian heritage, it is important not to forget that the Greeks taught Italians how to cook and that Italians taught the French.


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## kyles (Mar 20, 2004)

British Lasagne can be awesome, mine is similar to Paint's and I also make a very cool vegetarian one, that my mum taught me to make. She always used to make it at Christmas for my sister who was veggie for many years. Then my sister started eating meat again, but we all still insist on the vegetarian lasagne! It just wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Old Coot, them's fighting words, English cooking can be fantastic!!! And Jamie Oliver is not the only fantastic British cook around.


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## AdenonDJ (Apr 26, 2004)

Paint said:
			
		

> For my bolognaise sauce, I use:
> Lean ground beef,
> Celery,
> Onions,
> ...



now that to me sounds very good!



			
				Paint said:
			
		

> Can't give quantities - I'm a 'smigeon & handful' sort of girl LOL!


hehehe


i made lasagnia the other day for my family for the first time  :roll: tasted very good i look forward to giving those ingredients a go


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## acerbicacid (Mar 29, 2011)

Thank you kyles and Paint, I am a Brit and as you say Brit lasagne can be awesome.

Them's fighting words Oldcoot, unless it is a vegetarian lasagne, it is, as has already been said, layers of a very flavoursome ragu of the bolognese type, then bechamel, layered with pasta.

I think lots of people would be very surprised at the range of a lot of (not all though) Brit cooking - even before Jamie Oliver.   I, and I am not alone,  cook curries (grinding my spices), Mediterranean (especially Elizabeth David based recipes), Moroccan using a lot of Claudia Roden's recipes, with my own changes, Spanish and Italian, etc. etc.   I was very interested in you gumbo recipe Old Coot, especially your description of how to make the roux.   Up until I joined here, the only Cajun recipes I had was a recipe book (brought back from New Orleans for me by my ex) "French acadian cooking in the Louisiana Bayou Country" by Bobby Potts.   Does anyone know it?


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## Bolas De Fraile (Mar 30, 2011)

oldcoot said:


> Had to laugh when the TV news mentioned today that Italy and Britain are fighting over a reported 13th century English recipe for a dish quite similar to lasagna.
> 
> I vote for the Brits: they never seemed to cook much of anything worth eating, and, in my opinion, that mess of paste - pasta - and tomatoes tastes like something they'd come up with!
> 
> Probllem is, even the Brits didn't have tomatoes back then!


When I was being taught patisserie in Paris coot my teacher had similar prejudices against the Americans, he taught us that the mineral wealth of a country dictates the cuisine they brought to the world these are a few examples I can remember.
British=coal= roast beef.
Irish=peat= slow cooked Irish Stew
Chinese= wood= fast heat=wok cooking.
Americans= oil,coal, wood,gas=Mcdonald's
Its as daft as your comment
Ps there is only one L in problem and more importantly there is a U in flavour.


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## buckytom (Mar 30, 2011)

just because the british show up and stick their flag in it, they think the own everything. i can picture people all over england running around with wee union jacks poked into their creamy, cheesey lasagnas. they probably already have a holiday,  monument about sacrifice, and a mildly interested political party about it...


lol,  he hee.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Mar 30, 2011)

buckytom said:


> just because the british show up and stick their flag in it, they think the own everything. i can picture people all over england running around with wee union jacks poked into their creamy, cheesey lasagnas. they probably already have a holiday, monument about sacrifice, and a mildly interested political party about it...
> 
> 
> lol, he hee.


 I'm Welsh mate, we dislike those English buggers, they come over the border to steal our sheep and they don't have the respect to marry them first


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## Selkie (Mar 30, 2011)

I had some lasagna yesterday for lunch at an Italian-American restaurant. The British (or Welsh) could hardly have done worse!

The pasta was over-cooked to the point it melted off of the fork. There was hardly a trace of ricotta. There was far too much mozzarella cheese, and the whole thing was drenched in an unspectacular meat sauce that left you wondering that besides cheese, where did the lasagna go?


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## CraigC (Mar 30, 2011)

Um, you all realize this thread was originally from 7/03?

Craig


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## Zhizara (Mar 30, 2011)

Newbies, gotta love 'em.


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## acerbicacid (Mar 30, 2011)

Sorry, Yes after I had written my reply I realised how old it was.

Isn't it odd, we the Brits and the Americans supposedly speak the same language and we evidently have the same prejudices.   The Americans don't have a good rep (over here in the U.K.), being supposedly fast food addicts.   I am sure we "food" lovers don't believe in such prejudices - do we?


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## Bolas De Fraile (Mar 30, 2011)

Ace where are you from in the UK?


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## fillondon (Mar 30, 2011)

I was born Italy, in Emilia, the heart of Italian pastas!
I say 100% Italian as Lasagne is the name we give to the sheets of pasta that then you can cook in several ways.
The classic Lasagne al ragu' (what you know as bolognese sauce) are those prepared with ragu', bechamel and parmesan.

Probably in the past, as for most of the dishes, there were similar ancestors around the world.. but what we know as Lasagna today, the dish widely spread, is totally Italian


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## CWS4322 (Mar 30, 2011)

CraigC said:


> Um, you all realize this thread was originally from 7/03?
> 
> Craig


 So-if threads are old, one isn't supposed to ask any questions or post anything using the old thread? This is something I've wondered about...


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## CraigC (Mar 30, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> So-if threads are old, one isn't supposed to ask any questions or post anything using the old thread? This is something I've wondered about...


 
Some of the replies were directed at the OP. If you look at his profile, you will see that the last recent post he made was in '05. Kinda makes you think he hasn't been around for awhile. 

Craig


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## Bolas De Fraile (Mar 30, 2011)

CraigC said:


> Some of the replies were directed at the OP. If you look at his profile, you will see that the last recent post he made was in '05. Kinda makes you think he hasn't been around for awhile.
> 
> Craig


you don't mean the Oldcoot is......... well like the monty python sketch in the pet shop featuring a stuffed parrot?


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## Bolas De Fraile (Mar 30, 2011)

fillondon said:


> I was born Italy, in Emilia, the heart of Italian pastas!
> I say 100% Italian as Lasagne is the name we give to the sheets of pasta that then you can cook in several ways.
> The classic Lasagne al ragu' (what you know as bolognese sauce) are those prepared with ragu', bechamel and parmesan.
> 
> Probably in the past, as for most of the dishes, there were similar ancestors around the world.. but what we know as Lasagna today, the dish widely spread, is totally Italian


Next you will claim that Marco Polo was Italian, when as every Croation knows he was born on the Croatian island of Korcula


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## CraigC (Mar 30, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> you don't mean the Oldcoot is......... well like the monty python sketch in the pet shop featuring a stuffed parrot?


 
I meant not around the board, not that he just isn't around anymore. I prefered Benny Hill over Monty Python! Don't see anyone naming their ball python (that's royal python in your neck of the woods) Benny!

Craig


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## fillondon (Mar 30, 2011)

Even though his birthplace is not sure, he was Italian, no matter where he was born!
And he probably brought spaghetti from China.. then perfected in Italy and made famous


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## CharlieD (Mar 30, 2011)

I don't like lasagna either it is British or Italian. And I am sure anyways that somebody else somewhere in the world have had the simular dish anyways. I make pretty mean vegetable lasagna.


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