Lasagna

Lasagne
	Baked lasagne
Type	Pasta
Place of origin	Italy
Main ingredients	Durum wheat
Variations	Lasagnette
	Cookbook: Lasagne; Media: Lasagne;

Lasagne (/ləˈzænjə/ or /ləˈzɑːnjə/ or /ləˈsɑːnjə/, Italian pronunciation: [laˈzaɲɲe]) is a wide, flat pasta shape and possibly one of the oldest.^[1] The word also refers to a dish made with this type of pasta with different sauces and baked in the oven. As with most other types of pasta, the word is a 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. Today in Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durum wheat, commercial lasagne noodles are made of semolina (from durum wheat).^[2]

Origin

There are three theories on the origin of lasagne, two of which denote an ancient Greek dish. The main theory is that lasagne comes from Greek λάγανον (laganon), a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] The word λαγάνα (lagana) is still used in Greek to mean a flat thin type of unleavened bread. Fabrizio Di Meo favours the "more pasta and less meat" method of lasagne layering. His friends disagree strongly with this and believe more meat should be used.

Another theory is that the word lasagne comes from the Greek λάσανα (lasana) or λάσανον (lasanon) meaning "trivet or stand for a pot", "chamber pot".^[7]^[8]^[9] The Romans borrowed the word as "lasanum", meaning "cooking pot" in Latin.^[10] 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 proposed that the dish is a development of the 14th century English recipe "Loseyn"^[11] as described in The Forme of Cury, a cook book in use during the reign of Richard II. This has similarities to modern lasagne in both its recipe, which features a layering of ingredients between pasta sheets, and its name. However, an important difference is the lack of tomatoes, which did not arrive in Europe until after Columbus reached America in 1492. The earliest discussion of the tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Mattioli^[12] 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.^[12]

References

^ The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, USA. 2006. ISBN 0-19-280681-5.
^ "Presidential Decree 187" (PDF). translation from UA A.F.P.A. 9 February 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
^ 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 (2 April 1997), "A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names", Cookbook Shelf:Book Review, Salon.com, retrieved 30 September 2007
^ "lasagna". Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
^ lasanum, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus
^ "Loseyns (Lozenges)". Celtnet. Dyfed Lloyd Evans. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
^ ^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 1-57003-000-6.

[1] The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, USA. 2006. ISBN 0-19-280681-5.

[2] "Presidential Decree 187" (PDF). translation from UA A.F.P.A. 9 February 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2012.

[3] λάγανον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

[4] Andrew Dalby, "Food in the Ancient World from A to Z", Routledge, 2003, on Google books

[5] "Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture", Eugene Newton Anderson, NYU Press, 2005

[6] The Real Italian Pasta

[7] λάσανα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

[8] Muhlke, Christine (2 April 1997), "A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names", Cookbook Shelf:Book Review, Salon.com, retrieved 30 September 2007

[9] "lasagna". Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 30 September 2007.

[10] sanum, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus

[11] "Loseyns (Lozenges)". Celtnet. Dyfed Lloyd Evans. Retrieved 24 March 2012.

[the_tomato_in_America-12] Smith, Andrew F. (1994). The tomato in America: early history, culture, and cookery. Columbia, S.C, USA: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1-57003-000-6.

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See also

References