Giada Vs. Ree: Whose Lasagna Is Better?
When I first read through Ree's lasagna recipe, I was both upset and confused. It calls for "hamburger," breakfast sausage, and cottage cheese ... the last of which really rubbed me the wrong way. WHY NOT USE RICOTTA?! Because, according to our resident Midwesterner, that's how it's done in Oklahoma.
This revelation blew my mind. Could cottage cheese be the secret to the best lasagna? We brought in Giada, or rather her classic lasagna, to put it to the test.
REE’S RECIPE
When Ree says her recipe is “cowboy-friendly,” she’s not messing around. There are 3 pounds of meat, the majority of which is hamburger (aka ground beef). The rest? Spicy breakfast sausage. She uses it all to make a super thick meat sauce with diced tomatoes and tomato paste and simmers it for 45 minutes.
The cottage cheese, which was referenced earlier, acts like the ricotta and is mixed with the eggs, some fresh herbs, and Parmesan. Everything else is pretty standard: Layer the noodles with the sauce and cheeses and bake it until it's piping hot and bubbly. Easy.
GIADA'S RECIPE
Giada's recipe is much more involved. First, you need to make a "simple" tomato sauce which will simmer for an hour. Next, you you'll make a bechamel which you'll mix with a cup and half of the tomato sauce. (Yep, less than half of that huge batch you just spent an hour on.) After the sauces, it's time to cook the ground beef then assemble the whole thing.
But even the layering is a bit complicated. Here's the order Giada claims is best: a third of the bechamel, pasta, all the ricotta mixture, all the spinach, pasta, all the ground beef, half the mozzarella, another third of bechamel, pasta, remaining mozzarella, remaining Parmesan. Is there really a reason to this madness?
THE VERDICT
Taste testers much preferred Ree's recipe. They appreciated its heartiness and felt like there was more depth of flavor. And, much to my surprise, they thought it tasted more like a classic Italian lasagna.
Giada's, on the other hand, was just too rich - a complaint we never thought possible! With all the bechamel (and very little tomato sauce), her lasagna lacked spice and/or acidity.
It's hard to say if Ree won because of the cottage cheese alone, or if cottage cheese is the secret to a better lasagna. All I can say is that it works for The Pioneer Woman and it can work for you too. Scusa, Giada.
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