Ultra-Melty Bechamel Lasagna | Basics with Babish
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 лют 2025
- Pre-Order the Basics with Babish Cookbook Now!
Amazon:
www.amazon.com...
Target:
www.target.com...
Bookshop.org:
bookshop.org/p...
Barnes & Noble:
www.barnesandn...
Babish Cookware on Amazon: bit.ly/babishstore
Music: “Middle School", "Sweet Berry Wine" by Blue Wednesday
/ bluewednesday
My playlist of preferred cooking tunes, Bangers with Babish!
spoti.fi/2TYXmiY
BCU TikTok: bit.ly/2PLtohe
Binging With Babish Website: bit.ly/BingingB...
Basics With Babish Website: bit.ly/BasicsWi...
BCU Discord: bit.ly/3ALFRnY
Patreon: bit.ly/BingingP...
Instagram: bit.ly/BabishIn...
Subreddit: bit.ly/3mkNpp6
Facebook: bit.ly/BabishFa...
Twitter: bit.ly/BabishTw...
havent watched it yet but i am willing to bet that andrew eats it way too hot straight out of the oven because he just is like that
Bingo! 😂😂😂
We must protect the prophet!
@@RedWizrobe Cringe
@@Licht1995🤷🏻♂️
Congrats you're the new oracle of delphi
It is easier to avoid lumps in roux-thickened sauces if you take the roux of the heat for a minute and add cold liquid all at once, whisking smooth, and then putting back on the heat, stirring continuously until thickened. Whisking out the lumps while everything is cool prevents early gelatinization of the flour, and thus lumps.
I make homemade cheese sauce all the time, and I needed to hear this. Thanks!
Or leave your roux a bit wet instead of dry.
@@zeveroarerulescan you give more detail?
"Hot roux + cold milk = no lumps."
--Chef John
@@lupusnyx chef John is the OG
For the béchamel, I recommend putting nutmeg, bay leaves and peppercorns in the milk you will be using, heat it up, let it all cool down, strain it then use it to make the béchamel, makes a deeper flavour in the béchamel.
Sounds lovely
i would recommend adding a cut in half onion too -- or grating a whole onion and browning it alongside the roux. crazy amounts of flavor.
Yea, I always steep milk with aromatics or steep with shellfish and strain with paper towels to remove grit
I also always add lemon zest and lemon juice to my bechamel sauce
I tried it and it was lovely! Thanks for the recommendation
Andy, I love that you mentioned that people have been boiling lasagna noodles for thousands of years, because it is actually true! The first shape of pasta there was in Italy was actually lasagna.
In Roman times, if you were a Roman citizen, you would never starve, because you got wheat flour for free. What the average Romans would do is that they would either send it to the baker to get bread, or they would mix it with water and leave it to dry in sheets. That is really how pasta got started in Italy. It was meant to be food you could still have in times of crisis. As for how we ended up with spaghetti and other noodle shaped pastas, that was thanks to the Muslims. In the 8th century, the Abbasid Caliphate - the major Islamic power at the time, had defeated the Chinese Tang Dynasty at the Battle of Talas, and gained a foothold in Central Asia, which meant they had access to the lucrative trade route known as the Silk Road, and from it they gained many goods from China. One of those goods were Chinese style noodles, which spread quickly throughout the Islamic world: from Central Asia to Persia, the Levant, and then to North Africa. A century later, the Aghlabids, a Muslim dynasty from North Africa, invaded and occupied Sicily, bringing these noodles with them, and the local Sicilians thought of them as a type of pasta.
this comment needs more engagement, the history of cultural development is a fascinating topic
YOOOO thank you for the explanation! This is what I've been looking for for a while
This is actually extremely interesting.
Thank you for the in depth info! This is super cool.
@charlesdeleo4608 finally a comment worth reading.. thank you!!!! ❤
Hey, thanks for having subtitles on all your videos:) a lot of people might not notice, but I do, and I'm very grateful you spend the time and/or resources to have these videos accurately captioned for us
Always is nice. I usually have them on all videos that have them and when auto captions works.
A friend did both. He actually melts the ricotta into the bechamel . Best of both worlds.
This is what I do too!
Your friend is a genius
one thing ive done before is add goat cheese to the bechamel. it gives it a very cool flavour (you gotta like goat cheese for that)
that's our* friend now
I do both - I don't combine them in the bechamel pan though, just swirl both in the lasagna
Béchamel is how my grandmother in Peru would make it for us, it's what made me want to learn to make béchamel and now I can't stop putting it in every pasta dish I can.
I've used this recipe several times and it always goes over really well! I love that for an light hour of prep on the day before, I can have a home-made, delicious meal that just needs to go in the oven for a bit while I entertain my guest!
I usually just use your recipes without commenting... but I've decided that I needs to say thank you Babish for the help in recipes over the years.
I appreciate you.
Thanks!
Walmart, of all places, used to have a nine-layer lasagna under their "Sam's Choice" brand that featured alternating layers of bechamel and a rich, meat-and-tomatoes ragu sauce. Absolutely delicious. Best frozen lasagna I've ever had. So of course it was discontinued.
it was the best!
Just tasted my very own Ultra-melty Bechamel Lasagna, and it is delicious! I maybe should have increased the sauce recipe a bit because I ran out while I was layering. I also used store-bought lazagna sheets, of which I only needed half of the box. I think the Bechamel sauce is the star here; it really does improve the final product, as Babish claims. I had to use Allspice because I didn't have Nutmeg on hand, but it still tastes great!
you only needed a half pound of dry pasta?
Sorry you weren't feeling well Andrew, thanks for the great video and hope you're feeling better
3:33 I make my Lasagna with a Ricotta cheese sauce.
Simply make a béchamel but incorporate ricotta into it and now you have the best of both worlds.
two stones with one bird
or something like that...
Yeah... I have an 'intense' lasagna recipe that might need to have a little of this added to it next time... though I would worry that my normal 'make ahead' style that cooks for 90 min would not react well to the thinner sauce.
I add parmesan to my bechamel. Same idea: cheesy goodness.
I add mozzarella on top of the bechamel while layering as well
That would be a Mornay sauce
@@CarloTiscalliYour right but I figured I would just refer to it as a "Ricotta Cheese sauce" for people who might not be well versed in culinary lingo.
Ok but lowkey Andrew's videos have got to be some of the most relaxing videos on all of UA-cam
Ricotta vs. bechamel is less of an "italian-american vs. italian" thing and more of a "what region of italy did this recipe come from" one. The typical italian-american recipe is a southern one (because most italian immigrants tended to be from there), the bechamel-based ones are from northern italy.
My swedish learned way to make lasanga is bechamel with melty creamy cheese in it. No Mozzarella or parmesan back then un stores so well it changed when make it now due to can buy that
@@AnniCarlsson yup, same for me (also Swedish), cheese in the bechamel. When making it lately I have been cheaping out however, no cheese in the sauce or lose in the layers, just a bit on the top. Works fine tbh, perhaps not as nice, but still nice.
Bechamel is Originally French brought to Italy in history ...northern Italian is correct but they do use it in the south like Napoli they add ricotta and mini meatballs....similar but .very different than Italian American lasagna
@@allitaliana6453 pasta is original from asia so
@annicarlsson8152 that's a legend, you know that, right? Pasta is such a simple concept that several cultures developed it. Recipes reminding pasta were already done in Roman times (go look at tasting history with Max Miller, he shows some recipes).
This is not only the best lasagna I've ever made, it's the best lasagna I've ever had. Team Bechamel all the way.
I Really appreciate these recipes! You make things so EASY to understand! BRAVO!!!!
I use bolognese and béchamel to make a “dry” lasagna. Once baked and set I slice and sauce with a large ladle of marinara.
yeah thick cream sauce is lovely, I do it sometimes, but what I also like as an alternative to ricotta is just dry parmesan. that way it absorbs the moisture and basically BECOMES ricotta.
That is one of the most beautiful lasagnas I’ve ever seen. I’m making this tomorrow
I swear Andrew is slowly turning into Townsends with him discovering the magic of nutmeg and then having to add it into absolutely everything he can.
I am so happy to see that someone else out there prefers less sauce and more cheese. I often feel like the only one within my peer group.
In case you don’t upload anything before Saturday, Happy Birthday, Andrew. We share the day, you’re exactly a year older.
happy birthday to you both
This week marks my 12 year anniversary with Babbish in my kitchen. I can't remember what cooking was like without you Andrew, thanks for all the wonderful content and memories. 😁👍
12 year?? Uh....
The cookbook with a section on how you’ve messed it up before is GENIUS!
LOVE lasagna. Garfield got me into it as a kid! Anyone else?🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤
My all time favorite food!!!
I blame Garfield, The Golden Girls, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for my Lasagna, Cheesecake, and Pizza addictions. LOL.
Right it’s soo delicious 🤤
My grandma would buy the spinach one every now and than also
Lasagne got me into Garfield :)
Same
cooking is so forgiving! the lasagna looks great
Haha, I just watched this for my lasagna, hoping I wouldn't forget anything as well. Got all the way to the top and remember I forgot the Parmesan. Will have to do on the last layer and the top! Can't wait to try it out!
Andrew - I'm so happy to see your success. I have "Eat What You Watch" and plan to add more of your books to my collection soon. Keep up the great work!
I actually really needed this one.
I love bechamel in my pasta al forno/baked ziti. It’s just the perfect gooeyness especially when you let some of the pasta get crunchy which I also really like
I've been doing bechamel instead of ricotta since seeing Noah Galuten's lasagna video from eight years ago. The only difference between this one and his is his had a paste of pancetta, onion, carrot, and celery mixed into the sauce. Loved that guy's stuff, really wish Tasted was still a thing.
Guys I did what he said and doubled the sauce for this recipe and it saved my life
The visceral reaction i had to "sausage-ify" cannot be understated
Bechamel gets better if you keep cooking it for longer than 5 minutes. You do need to keep it moving, avoid pan burns from ruining the color (As you just used white peppers for!), and may need to add more milk while cooking, but getting it more concentrated makes it even greater.
Best tip from the video, wait 10-20mins before serving when it comes out of oven. Was wondering why my lasgne was always so saucy/runny and layers go missing, eating it immediately after baking was the issue 😂
Came at the right time, I wanted to make them this week, thanks
I just made this, best lasagna I have ever had in my life! Fantastic recipe!
Very nice. Recommend warm milk for the béchamel. Comes together much more easily.
Sausagify... that is a new and beautiful word that I will use in the future!
This looks delicious I'm definitely watching it again to make dinner tonight
This looks delicious I'm definitely watching it again to make dinner tonight. This looks delicious I'm definitely watching it again to make dinner tonight.
finally found best lasagna recipe. thank you
im drooling bro. need this so bad
The backing track restored the hope of the inner child in my heart
I used to only make béchamel lasagna but after your Sopranos episode with lasagna, I now have a strong preference for ricotta and other cheese in place of the béchamel, at least when I’m cooking. Still love mum’s béchamel lasagna.
Do both! It's delicious
For the bechamel, it's worth heating up the milk with some seasoning to add a lot more flavour to the sauce. Personally, I always heat a pint of milk on low temperature with one whole nutmeg, a bay leaf, and six peppercorns, then use that for the bechamel after pouring it through a sieve and letting it cool a bit. It's a bit more work but the sauce tastes amazing afterwards
I made this recipe tonight and it was absolutely incredible. A huge hit with the gang.
6:56 - You can shorten the cooling time to a few minutes by placing the lasagna pan in the sink filled with cold water and stir up the water occasionally (or a bathtub if it doesn't fit, or anywhere where it fits). For even faster cooling, simultaneously ventilate the top of the lasagna with a hair dryer on cool setting.
We are remodeling our kitchen. This might have to be the first thing I make when it is all done!!
That's a lovely baking dish.
Just made this and it turned out absolutely amazing!! Definitely would make again.
Lasagna without ricotta, you have made my wife's life my dude. Hated all the dry only meat and cheese stuff.
Bechamel is the only way to go. I prefer the single serving build to order type but I grew up with this
Who else would like to see Babish recreate Borscht from Eastern Promises or Blood Sausage and Dill Pickle from Modern Family? I'm the only one? Okay then.
I'd be down for borscht for sure - yum!!
Borscht from Eastern Promises for sure!
Hey Babish - With the fact you include Grams / Cups in your recipe's, is it possible to include Celsius conversions for Fahrenheit temperatures also :) Many thanks.
Why is this the best lasagna I've ever eaten?? ❤
I recommend putting that cheese through a meat grinder for consistency
Babi, you should have taken this opportunity to include a white chicken lasagna, it would have been an exquisite counter to the red beef/sausage lasagna we normally see.
I worked at an italian from scratch restaurant for about 4ish years. this is almost exaclty what we did. only different was we used fresh pasta noodles but didn't make them from scratch and we used our bolognese for the filling and made a HUGE pan of carmelized onions and sprinkled those in the layers as well. even though EVERYTHING on the menu was absolutely amazing the lasagna like this remained on of our top sellers. whenever there is a potluck or sometimes a friendly cooking contest at work or wherever I make that exact recipe and have won multiple times or its ALL gone and get people practically begging for my recipe lol
one thing you CANNOT sleep on is the bechamel. It ties ALL the ingredients together and makes its a super palatable mouth feel that's highly irresistable.
one thing we did he didnt, was after pulling it out in the square is we did one last ladle of marinara over the top, then added some grated (think of the powered parm) and some chopped parsley to garnish.
also dont sleep on the last ladle of marinara and garnish. it is AWESOME
That’s how I make mine. Bolognese is
Cooked way down and add the ladle of marinara when it’s time to serve. Imo the only way to do it.
@@andrewrossow8864 It's a winner everytime
Y'know, I've heard the ricotta argument so much that I finally decided to actually look it up, and based on what I could find the ricotta version was apparently a Northern Italy thing as opposed to southern Italy, but the ricotta version is shown in records almost 100 years PRIOR to the non ricotta version, but given that span of time, it's highly likely both existed at the same time. So if you like ricotta, go for it, also who cares about traditions, preserving culture is important but at the same time food is a constantly evolving thing and even Italians can't agree on what is "proper" for a lot of recipes. You grab 100 Italian grandmothers and you'll probably get at least 50 different recipes for lasagna.
It's usually the opposite for the pasta: dry stuff SHOULD be used as is, no boiling before, but have a very liquid sauce to provide the cooking liquid, while the fresh or homemade pasta SHOULD be boiled
6:52 around the outside around the outside
Thanks for providing metric measurements, however pls don't stop halfway (cups), cheers!
Yess!! More basics and binging, please! In other words, back to basics :D
Rather than layering in grated cheese I just mix it with the bechmel. Because of this, aside from the bottom layer I tend to to bechmel first as adding the cheese to that makes it harder to spread without displacing the meat.
You make your own pasta??? That is the most ASMR level of cooking to me. I love pasta and it’s such a soothing process to watch unfold.
we made this, its in the oven as i type this comment, can't wait :D
turned out great
if you want a tomato sauce to taste better use fresh tomatoes or 50/50 mix of fresh and canned, your tomato sauces will be better even if you use the cheapest fresh tomatoes.
if you're lazy like me, for bechamel you can add all milk at once and blend the curds, it's smooth and fluffy.
I love this with mushrooms and vegetarian version
I used to make a lasagna with homemade slightly dried pasta sheets, and five different types of Italian cheeses. However, none of these are available any longer due to changes in imports years ago. Also used homemade ricotta and what a difference. Never ever use sauce within my layers, ever m, nor meat. However, I did make two different sauces, one was a marinara, and the other one was meat by way of Italian sausage and meatballs. it was extremely expensive to make, but, so worth it. Made a lot of people very happy. But, I will definitely try the béchamel sauce using some of the suggestions the video. Love this video and the way he does things. Very inspirational as I have not felt like making lasagna since my favorite shop closed and they stopped importing all those varieties of cheeses, whose names I cannot even remember. Thanks much!
Side note-
Ricotta in lasagna will come out waaaaay less crumbly if you add egg. Tbh, i never heard of crumbly ricotta because i thought adding egg was commonplace
Edit: also, alongside or ground meat of choice, we'd use pepperoni, too, just popping it on in even rows every cheese layer
“My cat can’t eat this lasagna” I’m glad someone else is thinking of the real questions.
"There are two things in this world to get a freshly grate yourself; nutmeg and cheese" ~ Babish 2023
I second that statement...Nutmeg is even better when you get it straight from the tree 😁
Gee, thanks a lot. I just made lazagna 2 days ago. Now I have to do it all over again.
So a few things. Can't afford your book or a full spice rack, but whatever.
But I did get your gloves. And I gotta say, they... work. They're not Amazing, but they do the job. The Silicone gloves I replaced with them were better at blocking out heat, albeit a bit less agile(And in my case, were tearing themselves apart, which was to be expected given that they were something like 15 years old).
I Do wish you had a longer glove variety out there, for reaching into deeper hot spaces like ovens or roasters.
If you find bechamel a bit bland, I add a generous amount of grated gruyere cheese to the sauce, which adds so much flavour to the overall dish. Highly recommend!
If the bechamel taste blend it need more salt and pepper
thats called a Mornay, BTW
@@AnniCarlsson I use plenty of salt, pepper & grated nutmeg, but adding the gruyere makes it 10x better 🙂
Babish borth, turn your box grater in its back (with the heater holes you want up). Try it brother I promise you won’t be disappointed
This is just like my Nonnas recipe. I would urge you to swap out the mozzarella with freshly grated Romano, Parmigiana and Pecorino. No mozz is more traditional. However, the gooey nature of mozz probably provides a nice mouth feel. As for flavor, you should really use the Romano and Pecorino as well. It would make you shake both hands while tasting. Kudos.
Fun tip adding salt at the beginning of the pasta make the dough tougher so add it later for an easier knead
Please could you do The Grimace Shake next?
3:33 There are Italians that use ricotta and Italians that use bechamel. They're both traditional and authentic, it's just down to regional variations, just like whether to spell it lasagna or lasagne.
South Italian here, in the Italian language there is only one way, or a specific way, to spell/pronounce/use those two words: lasagna, singular, refers to a single sheet of pasta, lasagne, plural, is also used to refer to the dish. Variations can only happen in dialects, but dialects are considered languages on their own.
@cleliazotti5002 Actually, Italian from Emilia-Romagna, we call the dish "lasagna" here, and my mum from Veneto calls it "pasticcio" :)
@@LadyMacbeth1564 That is a regional variation/part of a dialect. We might refer to the dish as "lasagna" in Campania too, but, again, that is a regional variation/part of the dialect. In my previous comment I was referring specifically to the Italian language.
For fall, do you think you'd be willing to do a Gilmore Girls special?
Bechamel and processed (blended until smooth and not grainy) ricotta is a game changer for lasagna and baked ziti
I love the baking dish he’s using is that a babish dish cause the ones on his amazon storefront look different where can I get that bad boy! Lol
Does pasta dough HAVE to be made the "egg volcano" way? Is there anything wrong with just using a stand mixer?
just a thought... in future copies of the book if you have a video related to a recipe in the cookbook, you should include a QR code in the corner of the page that links to the video. increase your views and interaction with viewers at no additional cost.
As an Italian I find this lasagna recipe to be one of the very few I can honestly say that I would actually take an interest in eating. Congratulations, Andrew.
It's true, store bought noodles has been traditional since Roman times
Lasagna from scratch like this is definitely on my "must do" list, but I'm doing Tortellini first, spinach and feta is a mushroomy bechamel, maybe just an Alfredo, I can't decide on the sauce.
This is really delicious. Can you do pasta with Alfredo and tons of cheese. 😋
This single vid said everything about lasagna that we’re all thinking but not saying.
I add a layer or two of oven-roasted eggplant. And I'm more of a sauce guy, so only one layer of mozzarella/parmesan in addition of the top one. And of course, béchamel.
I would suggest to fry the meat first and then make the sauce in the meat drippings.
This episode reminded me of the old Il-Timpano video from the early days.
Idk.. after I tried Alvin’s 72 hour lasagna recipe, I can’t go back to making basic lasagna. I put my own spin on it with pulled Short-ribs, ground lamb and guanciale/bacon. I also use about 200g parmigiano in the bechamel sauce. Sprinkles of fresh mozz between the layers. I don’t really think lasagna is the dish where u use fresh pasta either.
Also I bet it’s illegal in Italy to call it a lasagna without sofrito or something.
funny, I always use the Bolognese sauce from one of your earlier videos for lasagna and its great!But to be honest, the Bechamel does not add much for me.
The Bechamel is the most underrated part of the lasagna. Try less cheese in total (only a dusting of pecorino on top of each layer of Bechamel) and less ragou per layer. Trust me, this is the golden balance and your bechamel will shine!
Hey, do you guys think you can make a b-day cake sometime? Its my bday today, love you guys!
Happy Birthday!
@@lightningllama thanks!