Ask the Chef
By Chef January 16, 2012 1:24 am
By Chef|January 16, 2012 1:24 am
From our Ask the Chef series.
Q: I have a question about lasagna. How do you make stiff, chunky Lasagna? My mom always makes soupy lasagna; it falls off your fork. Maybe she needs to stick it in the fridge over night?
–Travis
A: Soupy lasagna is either a result of wet noodles that were not drained properly or lasagna was layered with too much (thin wet) sauce. While you can make lasagna ahead and refrigerate or freeze it, it won’t reduce the moisture content. The problem is probably that the noodles are too wet when the lasagna is being assembly.
Our best advice is to drain and rinse the cooked noodles, using a colander. Then, carefully dry each noodle by laying it on a piece of parchment or waxed paper, dabbing it with a paper towel, and letting it air dry until most of the water is gone. You can also make lasagna with “no boil” noodles; the trick there is to ensure lots of sauce so that moisture will soak into the noodles during the baking process. No boil noodles will soak up watery sauce and help eliminate wet noodles.
