Baked lasagne (lasagne al forno)
Lasagna (USA) or Lasagne (UK and Italy) (English pronunciation: /ləˈzænjə/ or /ləˈzɑːnjə/, Italian pronunciation: [laˈzaɲːe]) is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes.[1] The word also refers to a dish (lasagne) made with this type of pasta. As with most other types of pasta, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne meaning more than one piece of lasagna ribbon . Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions, where semolina was not available, with flour and eggs. Nowadays in Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for pasta is durum wheat, lasagne are made of semolina (from durum wheat) and eggs. There is a green version which is coloured with spinach.
[edit] Origin
There are three theories on the origin of lasagna, two of which denote an ancient Greek dish. The main theory is that lasagna comes from Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.[2][3][4][5] The word λαγάνα (lagana) is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of unleavened bread.
The other theory is that the word lasagna comes from the Greek λάσανα (lasana) or λάσανον (lasanon) meaning "trivet or stand for a pot", "chamber pot".[6][7][8] The Romans borrowed the word as "lasanum", meaning "cooking pot" in Latin.[9] The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagne is made. Later the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.
A third theory has been suggested[by whom?] that the dish is a development of the 14th century English recipe "Loseyn" as described in The Forme of Cury, a cook book in use during the reign of Richard II. This claim has been made[by whom?] due to the similarities in both the method described in building the dish and the two names. However this theory remains contentious[editorializing] as it can be argued[weasel words] that tomatoes are a fundamental[weasel words] ingredient of lasagne. These did not arrive in Europe until after Columbus reached America in 1492 (The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in an herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli[10]:13 while the earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. [10]:17).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, USA. 2006. ISBN 0192806815.
- ^ λάγανον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ Andrew Dalby, "Food in the Ancient World from A to Z", Routledge, 2003, on Google books
- ^ "Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture", Eugene Newton Anderson, NYU Press, 2005
- ^ The Real Italian Pasta
- ^ λάσανα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- ^ Muhlke, Christine (1997-04-02). "A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names". Cookbook Shelf:Book Review. Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/april97/food/cookbook970402.html. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
- ^ "lasagna". Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/dictionary?va=Lasagna. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
- ^ lasanum, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus
- ^ a b Smith, Andrew F (1994). The tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery. Columbia, S.C, USA: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-5700-3000-6.
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