[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto, professional chef
[1 - 3] and culinary instructor, and today I'm gonna show you
[3 - 5] how to make lasagna, Frank style.
[5 - 9] We're talking cheesy, creamy, melty and delectable lasagna.
[9 - 11] This is Lasagna 101.
[14 - 16] [bright guitar strumming]
[16 - 19] Making the sauce for your lasagna is definitely a process.
[19 - 22] This is the flavor base of our lasagna.
[22 - 24] Basically the heart of the lasagna.
[24 - 25] We're gonna build layers.
[25 - 27] we're not just gonna dump everything into the pot at once.
[27 - 30] We're gonna brown things off, season things as we go,
[30 - 33] so that we have a really nice balanced sauce at the end.
[33 - 35] Everyone has their own way of making lasagna.
[35 - 37] Mine tends to be rustic, a little more homey.
[37 - 39] There are lasagnas that you make a bechamel sauce
[39 - 41] and it's silky and creamy.
[41 - 43] But at the end of the day I want this to be super accessible
[43 - 45] to you out there.
[45 - 48] I have my pot on the stove. I have been getting it hot.
[48 - 50] I'm gonna add some oil.
[50 - 53] I'm gonna get my pork and I'm gonna season it up.
[53 - 55] I'm using a pork country-style rib.
[55 - 57] It's got a really good fat to meat ratio.
[57 - 60] I feel that pork and tomatoes
[60 - 61] really kinda blend well together
[61 - 64] and it gives your sauce this really nice, mellow taste.
[64 - 67] So spread them out in an even layer
[67 - 69] so it starts to get brown.
[69 - 72] And at this point, I say this a lot, leave it alone.
[72 - 74] Once it starts to get brown,
[74 - 76] it's gonna unstick from the bottom of the pot
[76 - 78] and then we can move it around, but give it time.
[78 - 81] The pork in the pot's gonna take five to seven minutes.
[81 - 83] Remember, we're building layers of flavor
[83 - 84] and this is where we wanna be.
[84 - 88] If you look at that, that is the brown that we want
[88 - 89] on most of the sides.
[89 - 92] If they're not all brown like that, we're okay.
[92 - 94] But try and get some brown like that
[94 - 96] on at least two or three sides of your pork.
[96 - 98] So while that's browning, I'm gonna come over
[98 - 99] and get my sausage ready.
[99 - 101] I got sausage in the casing.
[101 - 104] You just get a paring knife, cut off the casing.
[104 - 106] I chose spicy Italian sausage
[106 - 108] 'cause I want a little heat in my sauce.
[108 - 111] I love the flavor that the chili flakes give.
[111 - 112] The sausage adds a little more fat,
[112 - 114] adds a little more flavor.
[114 - 116] We're gonna get a little more deeper flavored sauce
[116 - 118] when we use two types of meat.
[118 - 122] All right, so the pork is now getting nice and brown.
[122 - 124] Look at that. That's what I want.
[124 - 127] You can see that the pork is also giving off some fat,
[127 - 129] and that fat's gonna help us brown our vegetables.
[129 - 131] The pork looks like it's done.
[131 - 132] I'm gonna take it out and put it into a bowl,
[132 - 134] but I'm gonna use a slotted spoon
[134 - 137] 'cause I wanna leave the fat in the pot.
[137 - 140] That fat is one of those foundational pieces of our flavor,
[140 - 142] so don't get rid of the fat.
[142 - 144] If you look at the bottom of the pan,
[144 - 145] what do I have in there?
[145 - 149] You guys should know this by now. It's called fond, F-O-N-D.
[149 - 151] And that is all the little brown bits
[151 - 154] and caramelized pieces of pork and the juices
[154 - 155] on the bottom of the pot.
[155 - 157] Do not get rid of that.
[157 - 160] This is, again, part of our flavor base and foundation.
[160 - 161] I'm gonna leave the fat in the pot
[161 - 163] and then I'm gonna take my sausage
[163 - 165] and I'm gonna get that into the pot.
[165 - 168] I don't want large chunks in there, so I'm gonna break it up
[168 - 170] and start browning this off.
[170 - 172] My sausage is ready to go.
[172 - 174] Even if it's not fully cooked now I'm not too worried
[174 - 176] because it's gonna be in the sauce for a long time
[176 - 178] and it's gonna cook through then.
[178 - 181] So I'm just gonna turn this pot on really low right now
[181 - 183] and I'm gonna get that same slotted spoon
[183 - 185] and take the sausage out
[185 - 188] and just put it right on top of my browned pork ribs.
[188 - 191] Try and leave some of those juices and fat in there.
[191 - 194] Fat equals flavor, people. Don't be afraid of it.
[194 - 196] If there's a little left in there, it's okay.
[196 - 198] Don't worry about it. Put that aside.
[198 - 200] It's gonna go back into the pot in a minute.
[200 - 202] Now's the time where we start to get our vegetables going.
[202 - 204] Onions go in.
[204 - 206] Whenever I put onions in the pot,
[206 - 208] I always add a little bit of salt.
[208 - 209] Part of that layering of flavor
[209 - 212] is seasoning throughout the process.
[212 - 214] If we add a little salt as we go,
[214 - 218] we get a nice balanced seasoning to our finished sauce.
[218 - 219] I want you to take a second and listen
[219 - 221] to what's going on in my pot.
[221 - 224] Yes, I said, listen. [onions sizzling]
[224 - 227] I hear snap, crackle, pop. I hear sizzling, not hissing.
[228 - 229] And that's what you want.
[229 - 232] If you hear hissing, that means we're steaming our onions
[232 - 233] and not sauteing them.
[233 - 236] So if all you hear is hissing, turn up your heat,
[236 - 237] maybe a little more oil.
[237 - 239] But we wanna hear snapping and crackling
[239 - 241] and popping and sizzling.
[241 - 243] Now's the time to add some of the more aromatic vegetables.
[243 - 246] We're gonna add the carrots and we're gonna add the celery.
[246 - 250] I have about two ribs of celery and about two small carrots.
[250 - 252] And this, I don't worry about getting caramelized
[252 - 255] at this point, I just want it to start to soften a little.
[255 - 257] The celery and carrots are getting nice and soft
[257 - 260] and the garlic goes in last in this process
[260 - 262] because garlic burns really quickly.
[262 - 264] And we're gonna cook the garlic till it's fragrant.
[264 - 265] I don't need to brown it.
[265 - 267] I just want to smell roasty garlic.
[267 - 269] The garlic is nice and toasty,
[269 - 272] and the next thing we're gonna add is dry white wine.
[272 - 275] This is gonna give our sauce a nice roundness,
[275 - 277] a little bit of acidity.
[277 - 279] It's also gonna help pick up all of the fond
[279 - 281] from the bottom of the pot.
[281 - 283] Those little brown bits are gonna get mixed in with the wine
[283 - 285] and make our sauce nice and caramelized.
[285 - 287] While my wine is cooking down,
[287 - 288] I'm gonna make a bouquet garni.
[288 - 292] Sounds fancy, but basically it's just a bundle of herbs
[292 - 293] that we tie with some butcher twine.
[293 - 297] I have basil, I fold the basil into itself a little,
[297 - 300] and then I twist around, opposite directions,
[300 - 304] so that you meet in the middle and you can tie.
[304 - 306] We bundle it together so it's easy to remove.
[306 - 308] It adds flavor to our sauce,
[308 - 310] but then we can take it out really easily.
[310 - 311] Throw that in right now
[311 - 314] and just let our wine continue to cook.
[314 - 316] The wine's been happily bubbling away.
[316 - 318] If I take a whiff, the alcohol is cooked off
[318 - 320] and it's time to move on to the next step.
[320 - 321] I'm gonna add the tomatoes
[321 - 324] and I chose a ground peeled tomato.
[324 - 326] This is a great place to save a little time.
[326 - 329] If I got whole peeled tomatoes, I'd have to grind them up.
[329 - 330] These don't have any skins in them
[330 - 332] and they're the right size for our sauce.
[332 - 334] All the tomatoes go in,
[334 - 336] save the cans 'cause we're gonna rinse them out.
[336 - 337] And I used to think that this was done
[337 - 339] just to get the rest of the tomatoes,
[339 - 341] but there's another reason for it.
[341 - 342] When we add water to our sauce,
[342 - 345] it gives our sauce a longer cooking time,
[345 - 347] which gives it more time to develop flavor.
[347 - 348] If we just add the tomatoes in,
[348 - 351] it's gonna reduce too much too quickly.
[351 - 352] So what I'm gonna do now
[352 - 355] is let the tomatoes come to a simmer.
[355 - 358] I'm gonna add a nice grinding of fresh pepper,
[358 - 361] a nice pinch of salt, a little bit of chili flake,
[361 - 363] 'cause we do have hot sausage in there,
[363 - 366] but I do wanna supplement that with a little more heat.
[366 - 369] Stir that in, let it come to a simmer.
[369 - 371] So let's give it a taste.
[371 - 373] You gotta be careful here because this is gonna reduce,
[373 - 375] but I do think it needs a little more salt.
[375 - 378] Just a nice pinch, stir it in. The sauce is bubbling away.
[378 - 381] I'm gonna lower my heat from high to medium
[381 - 384] and I'm gonna add all the meat back with all of the juices.
[384 - 385] Give it a stir.
[385 - 387] You can probably go a little lower on the heat,
[387 - 389] to kinda medium low.
[389 - 391] Let it cook low and slow for about an hour and a half
[391 - 394] until everything comes together, the pork gets tender,
[394 - 396] and then we can make our lasagna.
[396 - 398] My sauce has been on for about an hour and a half.
[398 - 402] If you look at it, it's got a really nice deep red color,
[402 - 405] a little sheen of oil on top, which is always nice.
[405 - 408] And the pork is nice and tender.
[408 - 409] So what we're gonna do now
[409 - 411] is we're gonna remove that bouquet garni,
[411 - 414] it's done its work, it's given its flavor up for the sauce.
[414 - 416] And we're also gonna remove our pork
[416 - 419] so that we can kinda just chop it up and shred it,
[419 - 420] so go through the sauce.
[420 - 422] When you cut into that lasagna,
[422 - 424] you wanna get the perfect bite every time.
[424 - 428] And by shredding the pork, we're allowing that to happen.
[428 - 430] The pork has been cooking long enough in the sauce
[430 - 432] that we really don't need to do much to shred it,
[432 - 433] it falls apart really nice.
[433 - 436] And this goes right back into the sauce.
[436 - 437] Now I'm gonna take this basil and shred it up
[437 - 439] and add it to the sauce.
[439 - 441] A lot of times when you're cooking things like this
[441 - 443] for a long time, they can get kinda heavy
[443 - 445] and like kinda stodgy,
[445 - 447] and the basil just kinda gives it a little lift
[447 - 448] towards the end.
[448 - 449] My sauce looks really good,
[449 - 451] but I am gonna adjust the consistency a little
[451 - 452] with some water.
[452 - 454] I'm using dry pasta for this,
[454 - 458] so the pasta's gonna soak up a lot of sauce
[458 - 460] and I don't want it to be too wet or too dry,
[460 - 463] so a little liquidy on my sauce is where I wanna be.
[463 - 466] We've taken all this time to build the layers in this sauce
[466 - 467] and it's totally paid off.
[467 - 469] It's time to make our lasagna.
[469 - 472] [bright guitar strumming]
[472 - 473] It's time to assemble lasagna
[473 - 475] and most of the hard work is done already.
[475 - 476] we've made our sauce.
[476 - 479] Assembly can be a lot of fun, but it's also a crucial step
[479 - 481] in getting the right consistency.
[481 - 482] You don't wanna add too much sauce,
[482 - 484] you don't wanna add too little cheese.
[484 - 487] Remember, we want that perfect bite all the way through.
[487 - 489] The first step to layering our lasagna
[489 - 492] is you wanna put a nice bit of sauce on the bottom.
[492 - 494] We don't want it sticking to the bottom
[494 - 497] or drying out on the bottom so the sauce goes down.
[497 - 499] Lasagna already takes a lot of time and effort.
[499 - 502] I like to use dry pasta because it's simple and easy.
[502 - 505] There are some pasta products out there called oven ready,
[505 - 507] which are no-cook pastas.
[507 - 510] I'm using regular pasta. I have seasoned my sauce.
[510 - 512] I have adjusted the consistency.
[512 - 515] The pasta's gonna soak up all that good flavor.
[515 - 516] It's gonna go right into the pasta
[516 - 518] instead of just salted water.
[518 - 522] When I'm layering my lasagna, I like to put sauce
[522 - 524] on the pasta itself, right?
[524 - 528] So it's gonna be sauce, pasta, sauce, and then the cheese,
[528 - 531] 'cause I want the sauce to soak into the pasta.
[531 - 533] Next step, we're gonna add some of our grated cheese.
[533 - 536] I have pecorino and Parmesan.
[536 - 538] I like the sharpness of pecorino,
[538 - 541] I like the nuttiness of Parmesan.
[541 - 544] I'm going to add some shredded mozzarella.
[544 - 546] I'm using a low moisture mozzarella.
[546 - 548] Fresh mozzarella has a lot of liquid.
[548 - 550] I don't want extra liquid in there. And then some ricotta.
[550 - 553] And with the ricotta, I dab it on, right?
[553 - 556] This will spread out and melt a little,
[556 - 558] but I just like to put dabs around.
[558 - 560] So we're just building those layers of flavor.
[560 - 563] And when I use all these cheeses,
[563 - 567] it give me that nice balance between creamy and acidic.
[567 - 569] And then another layer of pasta.
[569 - 572] I am going to push down just a little, right?
[572 - 574] I want this to be a little compact.
[574 - 576] I don't want it to be like light and fluffy.
[576 - 578] I want it to be nice and dense.
[578 - 581] So if the pasta overlaps a little, that's fine.
[581 - 585] And then another layer of sauce.
[585 - 588] Remember, the pasta should be touching the sauce.
[588 - 590] And then we go again with everything else.
[590 - 593] And you notice that I'm getting into the corners as well.
[593 - 595] Make sure we're spreading this evenly
[595 - 598] and it's not just a lump of cheese in the middle,
[598 - 602] that each corner piece is gonna have some cheese flavor too.
[602 - 603] And for our last layer,
[603 - 606] I'm just gonna add the grated cheeses.
[606 - 607] I don't want the ricotta on top there
[607 - 611] because ricotta tends to dry out and it's gonna get crumbly.
[611 - 612] I leave the ricotta inside
[612 - 616] where it's gonna stay nice and moist and not on the top.
[616 - 617] Before I put it in the oven,
[617 - 620] I'm gonna put it onto a sheet tray or a cookie sheet.
[620 - 622] You can see that our sauce
[622 - 624] is kind of like almost overflowing,
[624 - 628] so if it overflows, it goes onto the tray, not into my oven.
[628 - 629] Last thing we need to do is cover this with foil.
[629 - 632] I wanna keep a lot of the moisture in there
[632 - 633] and I kinda want it to steam just a little
[633 - 636] 'cause I didn't cook the pasta.
[636 - 638] So we'll put this on nice and loose.
[638 - 640] We're gonna throw this in a 350 degree oven,
[640 - 642] for about 30 minutes.
[642 - 644] Remove the foil and then go for another 30 minutes
[644 - 648] to crisp up the edges, and then we'll be ready to taste.
[648 - 650] The lasagna's been in the oven for 30 minutes.
[650 - 655] We're gonna remove the foil to allow our lasagna to crisp up
[656 - 658] and the cheese to melt really nice.
[658 - 660] You'll notice that a lot of the juice
[660 - 662] has leaked out onto the tray
[662 - 664] and that's kinda sacrificial juice.
[664 - 666] It's probably gonna stick to the tray.
[666 - 668] But that's why it's important to have it
[668 - 670] so it doesn't leak all over your oven.
[670 - 673] The foil on top has allowed my pasta to soak up that liquid
[673 - 676] and my cheese to steam a little and get melty.
[676 - 678] It's going back into the oven for about 30 minutes,
[678 - 681] and that's gonna get nice and crispy and brown.
[681 - 684] I took the foil off the lasagna, put it back in the oven
[684 - 686] for another 30 minutes, and now it's out.
[686 - 691] Look at it, it's gorgeous. Brown, cheesy deliciousness.
[691 - 693] But I don't want you to cut into it right away.
[693 - 695] It's extremely important to note
[695 - 699] that you need to let this rest for a minimum of 30 minutes
[699 - 702] before you cut it, otherwise it's a sloppy mess.
[702 - 703] What's great about lasagna
[703 - 705] is that you can take it in this form,
[705 - 708] you can refrigerate it, you can cut it up and freeze it.
[708 - 710] You can pretty much save it and serve it
[710 - 713] any way you want it, but you have to let it rest
[713 - 714] before you cut it.
[714 - 717] [bright guitar strumming]
[717 - 719] My lasagna has rested for 30 minutes.
[719 - 723] We've given it time for everything to kinda meld together.
[723 - 725] Let's cut into this. All right, here we go.
[725 - 728] Make sure it's sliced all the way through.
[728 - 730] I usually run the knife along the outside edge
[730 - 733] just to make sure that it's free.
[733 - 737] Get under there. Oh my goodness.
[737 - 739] That is just a slice of happiness.
[739 - 741] We took our time to layer our sauce
[741 - 743] on top and on bottom of the pasta.
[743 - 746] And if you look at it, all that time has paid off.
[746 - 749] We have a beautiful layered lasagna
[749 - 751] with a little bit of everything in each bite.
[751 - 753] I'm gonna make a mess, but I'm gonna get in there
[753 - 757] and just take a nice chunk. [bright music]
[757 - 762] It's cheesy, it's meaty, it's melty and creamy.
[762 - 764] It has a little acidity from those tomatoes.
[764 - 768] The pasta still has a little bite. It's not soft and mushy.
[768 - 771] It holds together really well, and it's beautiful.
[771 - 773] It takes time, it takes technique,
[773 - 776] but it is worth every moment you put into it.
[776 - 778] Put it in front of the people you love
[778 - 779] and they will love you back.