4 Levels of Lasagna: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

hi I'm John and I'm a level one chef hi I'm Khadija and I'm a level two chef I'm Frank and I've been a chef for 23 years this is a variation that my mom used to make for us super simple very dumb down kind of how to do it I grew up in a Caribbean household but as I grew up I started playing my own spin on these Caribbean dishes I like things really spicy for my lasagna I like to make a meat sauce any time you have a crowd over you should make this lasagna it feeds a lot of people so first I'm gonna make my meat sauce which is the base of the dish I just take the ground beef just gonna work it through the pan until it gets nice and brown throughout my parents don't like red meat so I use ground turkey for my turkey lasagna turkey and mushroom lasagna you add the mushrooms handful by handful you know what the mushrooms end up soggy you just want it to brown I start out with pancetta pancetta is basically cured pork belly it's salty it has a lot of fat in it and it adds this nice depth and richness to our tomato sauce this will basically kind of melt into the sauce and I'm not using ground beef here I use short ribs I use short ribs for a lot of things we're gonna season up our short ribs really well plenty of salt only a pepper and I really don't use much seasonings with my ground beef I kind of like the taste once it's cooked this is gonna go back in the sauce but right now I just want to focus on getting my meat brown this tough piece of meat needs some time to break down while might need is brownie I'm gonna cut my aromatics I like to use carrots and onions you don't want it to be too big or else when you take a bite of this on you just have like a chunk of onion in the middle of your mouth onions tend to melt into the sauce they will see little bits and pieces of carrots but I'm not too worried about that it's a rustic sauce it's gonna be chunky I just put garlic in almost every of course you gotta have garlic it's Italian food it's funny because I come from a italian-american family my grandmother did not like garlic at all so she would cook the garlic and then take it out and his kids we feed it around the mushrooms we have some nice browning I'm gonna add some basil leaves to my sauce I always use my stems when I make tomato sauce I'm gonna add a little pepper right now and I'm gonna add some salt my grandma used to say I'm from Brooklyn that you don't need to add too much salt because we live by the beach so they were salt in the air don't know if that's actually true so I'm gonna add my ground turkey my parents say that you could over stir so I trust them but low and behold I just keep on babysitting everything and just like stir stir stir I have a problem I use some red wine some acid red chili flakes some chicken stock beef stock or beef broth I know that some people like to drain out the fat I keep them in there like the way it tastes ex Angie's a few pounds so now that my meats fully brown and I go ahead and add some marinara sauce this is from a jar because I don't have time to make my own homemade red sauce so I put a can of fire roasted tomatoes in the blender dan crushed tomatoes are a staple for tomato sauce there a little Sweden I tried to get a sauce that has a little seasoning in it that way I don't have to add too much other seasonings this is where I add the spices and absolutely destroy people's taste buds with it this is barbarous and Ethiopian spice mix it makes everything spicy and it makes me happy and then you also want to add honey it's not kill anyone after you just blew them up with a bunch of spices don't forget the bay leaf mainly is usually give it a nice flavor but it's always a pain fishing out accidentally left a bay leaf in the lasagna once that was Oh put in the oven and leave it there for about an hour hour and a half until the meat is fork tender I'm gonna put this aside for when we start building our lasagna we let it simmer for about 20 minutes okay we want to add the remaining smoked paprika the Berber a and the fish and meat sauce towards the end I hate this part I hate taking up the bay leaves okay oh wait it's right there this is the Dunn's now we have our finished sauce its rich its reduced a little the meat is falling apart so now I'm gonna make the creamy layer of my lasagna because of course all's Anya needs cheese I have a beautiful bowl of whole milk ricotta cheese here I added in some grated cheese some salt pepper and some Italian seasoning because I feel like life need to tell you in seasoning not to like break your own fingers because that would be painful I like to have like this curvy kind of taste in the middle so we're gonna add basil now we're gonna add two eggs this helps fine everything and then use them to stir it or stir it a lot we're gonna make my bechamel now traditionally this is what you would use especially in northern Italy we're gonna add some flour I'm gonna add a little garlic now to for flavoring whisk my warm milk into the flour mixture put some salt and pepper this is sacrilege to a lot of French people using black pepper and a white sauce so I'm going to my cheese I have some really nice Parmesan cheese here the cheese and the cream kind of melt together and it makes this beautiful kind of creamy layer in our lasagna and that's it that is our bechamel we're gonna start making MIT pasta we want to make sure that we salt this water you need to season your pasta water there some lasagna pasta sheets I use these no-boil lasagna noodles I use these no-boil lasagna noodles because they're really easy they're nice and thick when the taste is still there I think there's a lot of pasta in the market that no-boil pastas they're perfectly acceptable for this but for my lasagna I'm gonna make fresh pasta everyone thinks pastas is complicated it's not I have flour eggs a little bit of salt and 1/4 doing it the granny style method I said pasta was easy it's messy though more flour on my hands and start to bring it together I'm just gonna cut a piece off we're gonna start to roll it out and it gets really nice and smooth if you don't cook the pasta and you put it in with the sauce it tends to be mushy you want to cook the pasta it gets firmer and it holds together better you're setting the proteins in the pasta we're about to use these too now layer our lasagna which is actually my favorite part it's kind of like making a cake because of all the different layers and I just think it's really really fun and I like to start with a base of just plain marinara sauce a very thin layer of the sauce béchamel keeps the pasta from sticking the bottom and then I'll put a layer of pasta it creates a nice flat layer for then my ricotta mixture there are nice little creamy layer a little more bechamel you spread it out all the way to the edges in a chili just like making a cake that's right so much fun I see them kind of spreading my frosting I'm gonna add some of my meat sauce looks great and you don't want to overload it then you layer it with another the turkey in mushroom and then on top of that you add the mozzarella and that you add the parmesan then you add another pasta layer a little of the parmesan a little bit of the pecorino I just use these baby spinach cheese and then the next layer is our meat sauce that we put aside I think the fresh basil gives a little kick let me just keep on adding our sheets all right so that's one full set of layers and now it's basically repeat we do this until we get to the top of the pan and that's how you assemble those Anya who is there just to help those on you get started getting hot and to keep it from drying out too much it's not the last step is to bake this bad boy off and I put it in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour for the last five minutes I remove the tinfoil turn the heat all the way up to get the cheese nice and crispy we're gonna bake this in the oven at 375 degrees thirty minutes covered in 15 minutes uncovered we're gonna bake it for about an hour in about 15 minutes in and take the foil off and let it get crispy and bubbly on top and here's my beautiful lasagna I'm super excited to try it because it looks exactly like it should gonna cut off a nice little slice there it's nice and cheesy my lasagna is out of the oven stop for a sec wait do not cut it right away it's gonna be wet and sloppy give you a little time to rest Oh gorgeous it all stayed intact I'm very happy oh maybe I'll cut a piece from the center and leave the crispy part for my wife so you can see the finished product nice layers of pasta just a little bit of juiciness to it it's not falling apart it's holding together I'm gonna sprinkle it with a little extra helping of grated cheese just to give it a little extra kick garnish this with some basil and I'm gonna finish it with some pecorino cheese here and this is my lasagna here's my lasagna and that's my lasagna ready to dig into this lasagna get some extra sauce on there so then it came out really good it turned out perfectly nice and meaty the pasta super tender absolutely delicious this is a great lasagna you guys are Chinese come have some Alton we saw three chefs layer up three different styles of lasagna let's take a look at each layer and see how they compare all of our chefs created homemade sauces using different varieties of prepared tomato products John use jarred marinara sauce Khadijah used canned fire roasted tomatoes and Frank used canned whole Tomatoes John's jarred marinara sauce is pre blended and will produce a smooth sauce nothing too crazy here Khadijah and Frank made their sauce with diced and whole tomatoes which contain calcium chloride calcium chloride improves the cellular structure of both canned and fresh tomatoes this is added to help the tomatoes maintain their shape during storage and cooking this will make Frank's sauce chunkier and more rustic while kadesha used canned tomatoes with calcium chloride she blended the tomatoes before adding them to her sauce the mechanical manipulation grinds the tomato pieces into a smooth texture all of our chefs incorporated meat into their sauce recipes John used ground beef padishah used ground turkey and Frank use pancetta and short ribs both Frank and John chose higher fat meats which will add more flavor to their sauce compared to the lower fat ground turkey Khadijah used this is because fat is a carrier of flavor compounds since most of the aromatic compounds are fat soluble they will disperse throughout the sauce as you can see the meats developing a lot of its own natural oils and juices could these you chose a lower fat meat to use in her sauce but the addition of fresh herbs and dried spices will add a layer of bold and deep flavors to the sauce our chefs used a combination of high moisture and low moisture cheeses in their fillings combining these cheeses will provide textural and flavor complexities for the high moisture cheese John and Khadijah used ricotta and added other flavors into the mixture John used seasoned for cotton and pecorino romano giving the mild ricotta a sharp and nutty flavour profile khadijah mixed her ricotta cheese with mozzarella parmesan eggs and basil during baking the egg proteins will denature and then coagulate the coagulated egg and cheese mixture will solidify into a distinct layer Franky is too cheesy bechamel sauce instead of ricotta cheese this is a little more classic this adds moisture and creaminess as well as a tangy and salty flavor from the parmesan our chefs use three varieties of lasagna noodles John used oven-ready lasagna noodles khadijah used dried lasagna noodles and Frank made homemade lasagna sheets the oven-ready noodles that Jon used are commercially parboiled and dehydrated the starch and the noodles has been pre gelatinize which means that the starch molecules absorb water and heat and swell irreversibly during production the oven ready sheets are designed to be layered in their dehydrated state the sauce that John spreads over these noodles was sufficient to rehydrate them Khadijah used dried pasta sheets that have not been pre gelatinize she parboiled them before assembling the lasagna this will gelatinize the starch before baking Frank made homemade pasta with a high concentration of eggs he also parboiled his pasta before assembly Frank's pasta has a higher moisture content than dried pasta this gives it a shorter cook time in a softer consistency than John and Khadijah pasta to avoid overcooking the pasta Franck rolled it to a moderate thickness to maintain their structure in the assembled lasagna when layering the lasagna there has to be enough sauce to cover the lasagna sheets completely all of our chefs started with a layer of sauce on the bottom to prevent the pasta from sticking to the pan the sauce plays an important role in hydrating lasagna sheets and ensuring a completely cooked final product because Khadijah and Frank parboiled their pasta they require less sauce in their dish than John needs for his oven ready dehydrated noodles all chefs covered their dishes with foil for most of the baking and remove the foil partway through the cooking process the covered dish will produce steam in the head space between the top layer of the lasagna and the foil keeping in the moisture this is especially important for John's oven ready pasta to ensure complete hydration Frank baked his lasagna covered for only 15 minutes and then removed the foil for the rest of the bake time because Frank used both a béchamel and tomato based sauce more moisture needs to escape to ensure the final product is not too liquidy when the foil is removed the surface of the lasagna Browns with more direct exposure to heat when the lasagna is finished cooking it's best to let the dish rest before slicing it's a beautiful classic lasagna like really everyone should try this it's so freakin good make some of these tips into the layers of your next lasagna you can choose some of these techniques and ingredients from level 1 2 or 3 to make lasagna your way

Channel: Epicurious

Views: 1,878,560

Rating: 4.7928438 out of 5

Keywords: 4 levels, lasagna, 4 levels of, 4 levels of lasagna, how to lasagna, how to make lasagna, make lasagna, making lasagna, lasagnas, amateur chef, food scientist, lasagna 4 levels, 4 levels epicurious, professional chef, homemade lasagna, lasagna epicurious, making lasagnas, make lasagnas, homemade lasagnas, 4 levels lasagnas, 4 level lasagna, how to lasagnas, lasagnas epicurious, amateur lasagna, pro lasagna, epicurious 4 levels, professional lasagna, epicurious

Id: GcNeRccLgDw

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 13 2019