Béchamel Dreams

"There's something about béchamel that's medieval," Morocco told me over a casual conversation about the "boiled milk, flour sauce." There are béchamel doubters out there, and they can't be acknowledged when it comes to superior lasagna construction. You must have it. Béchamel, a thick (in this case) white roux made by whisking together butter, flour, milk, and Parmesan cheese, acts as a binder in the lasagna skyscraper, helping everything stay together. And as gravy-like as it sounds, it lightens up the lasagna, which can start to taste heavy, and weighted-down from the five-to-six layers of straight-up meat sauce. The ragù needs a counterpoint, like every good meat-based superhero does. Like we all do. You can't get through this life thing alone. Neither can your lasagna.


WAIT, BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE NO-BOIL LASAGNA NOODLES? No. Hard pass. The chemical makeup of no-boil noodles makes them super absorbent, thirsty for the boiling water they've been deprived. When we took them for a lasagna test drive, they soaked up the ragù and béchamel and became soft and gummy. You want to taste the distinct layers—and more importantly, you want some signature lasagna ooze. You lose the ooze with no-boil noodles. That's a personal tagline.


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