The true history of lasagne alla Bolognese
from pappardelle to lasagne (but with food porn, it has nothing to do)
About lasagne alla Bolognese, there are at least a couple of myths to dispel:
It is an iconic dish of Italian gastronomic culture that belongs to recent history.
The green lasagna of Bologna and food porn-style lasagna, literally oozing ragù and béchamel sauce, are different. The first is a historical recipe; after cutting, the seven-layer portion (not five, not four, seven) stands without the filling running across the plate. The second is a derivation of the first or, to say better is an exaggerated showmanship of it. This lasagna usually has fewer layers but so much ragù and béchamel that it becomes a blob once cut. Above all, it has nothing to do with the natural elegance of Bolognese cuisine.
From pappardelle to lasagna.
The history of Lasagne alla Bolognese in 15 points
Lasagna is already known to the Greeks and Romans. The old terms laganon and laganum referred to a thin sheet of soft wheat cooked in the oven or over the fire but not yet boiled.
The custom of cooking lasagna in boiling water dates back to the Middle Ages.
In Renaissance times, lasagna is seasoned with cheese, butter, and spices like cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg.
The Renaissance butter-and-cheese recipe is the most widely practiced until the second half of the eighteenth century when timballi and lasagna pies welcomed, between layers, a filling consisting of cheese, vegetables, and meat gravy (the first ragù).
In 1863, the Bolognese Francesco Zambrini prints the manuscript, The Cookbook of the Fourteenth Century, a fourteenth-century collection. Among them is a lasagna recipe. The author is credited with reviving the dish by recommending alternating layers of pasta and cheese.
In 1881, in Francesco Palma's Naples cookbook, Il Principe dei Cuochi o la vera cucina napoletana (The Prince of Cooks or True Neapolitan Cuisine), for the first time, tomato sauce becomes part of the ingredients of lasagna.
In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi publishes the manual that mark the birth of modern Italian cuisine (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well). The gastronome does not mention any Italian lasagna recipes.
In the Bolognese area, in the early 1900s, spinach meets the pasta dough and sfoglia takes on its characteristic green color. Until this time, spinach and Parmigiano were part of the seasoning.
After World War I (1918), famous Bolognese cooks rework the recipe for pappardelle pasticciate (the progenitor of lasagne alla Bolognese). The ragù is still a mixed meat sauce from which, in the 20th century, the one known as Bolognese takes shape.
In 1931, the Italian Touring Club's Guida Gastronomica d'Italia cite pappardelle pasticciate as one of Bologna's specialties: "Pappardelle are very wide and short strips of green pastry. Boiled in water, they are placed in layers in a baking pan with a ragù well seasoned with heavy cream and cheese and passed in the oven; the result is an exquisite pie."
In 1936, Emilia Zamara, author of La cucina italiana della resistenza, mentions, perhaps the first, béchamel in the recipe.
In 1960, Alessandro Cervellati writes Bologna la Grassa and asserts that béchamel is a staple ingredient.
Franco Machiavelli, expert in all the things of Bolognese cuisine and owner of a historic delicatessen business, remembers his grandmother patiently intent to roll out very little ragù for each of the seven layers.
Franco tells me he remembers the smell of the ragù more than the amount.
Many remember lasagne alla Bolognese without béchamel sauce.
This should not be surprising since white sauce enters the dish permanently after the 1930s, definitely replacing butter, cream, or cheese.
In 2003, the Italian Academy of Cuisine deposited the recipe at the local Chamber of Commerce, defining the characteristics of lasagne alla Bolognese: 7 layers; spinach sheet not too thin; a sauce of Bolognese, béchamel and Parmesan; the last layer is without meat sauce (only béchamel and grated Parmigiano).
This is the lasagne alla Bolognese I know and love, and believe me, it is not the amount of the sauce that makes it soft or succulent but the patience to distribute the sauce.
How about making them together? Next time, I'll share the recipe and all my tricks for ragù Bolognese, green sfoglia, béchamel.If the topic of pasta interests you, I have written a short cycle devoted to its history:
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I will use butternut squash and chard in the next lasagna. Maybe white sauce.
Now I have to make lasagne.