#249 Putting a slice of lasagna on a plate and having it all stay together

Neil Pasricha

We all know that slippery wet pile of steaming sauce and steaming cheese doesn’t usually hold together when you jigsaw it out of the pan. Nope, after you yank it out of the burning hot tray the rectangle hole left behind quickly fills up with lasagna swamp water.

Sure, your soaring lasagna piece flies high with elegance and grace until the moment it lands with a sad wet slap on your plate. Limp dark mushrooms slip out of noodle chokeholds and smear and slide across your plate in a slithery mess of mush.

But that’s what makes it so great when your plated piece of lasagna actually stays together. That’s when it’s time to celebrate the saucy noodle integrity of this beautifully delicious dish.

AWESOME!

Wow! Thank you everyone! The Book of (Even More) Awesome hits #2 on the hardcover bestseller list while The Book of Awesome stays at #1 on the paperback list!

— Email message —

“I live in Kiev, Ukraine. and work at the YMCA where I meet lot’s of nice people. One of them was a girl who gave me The Book of Awesome when she was leaving Ukraine. My friend Bob is a Peace Corps volunteer and he is leaving in 19 days from now. He’s a great guy and I will probably never see him again. But a part of me will go with him in the form of The Book of Awesome. Here is a picture in Kiev, Ukraine.” – Maria

Photo from: here

73 thoughts to “#249 Putting a slice of lasagna on a plate and having it all stay together”

  1. Whenever my mom makes lasagna, we always have her dish it out for us. She’s magical when it comes to serving lasagna. When I do it, I almost always flop it upside down onto the plate (or uh, half on the plate, half on the table … ) and splat everything within a four inch radius.

    Same goes for other layered foods. We got this layered dessert thing for my mom for Mother’s Day and of course, three of the four slices I served were cockeyed and awkward. One was fully in tact, square, and upright … and it was … AWESOME. :)

    1. my mum is the complete opposite,
      she can never get it perfectly on the plate & usually asks me to serve up for her.
      her problem is she doesn’t have patience!.. lol.

    2. Same here! I think it is just a mom thing. Maybe that is a requirement for being a mother. Lasagna serving 101. Whenever I try to do it, my previously perfect looking slice of lasagna ends up looking like a plate of spaghetti.

      Same thing happens when I try to make an omelette. I can’t fold an omelette for the life of me. It always breaks apart at the last second, forcing me to change my game plan and make scrambled eggs instead. There was ONE time though where I was able to fold it in half perfectly. I felt like I needed to take a picture of it or something so that I could have some sort of evidence of the awesomeness that had transpired that morning.

      1. Hahahaha, I LOVE that, because I TOTALLY would have taken a picture! I am an omelette-making failure, and I certainly would have wanted to capture the proof. :D

      1. Thank you, Bekah! Yep, 25 :) Hey, not long until yours! Wonder if that reminder you set up for your BFF will work this year ;)

        1. I told her about setting up that reminder and she just laughed.

          happy happy happy happy birthday, to you! happy happy happy happy birthday, tooooo youuuuuuuuu!!

          1. Happy Birthday, Laura! Hope you have a great one! :) 25.. woo hoo!

            Wow – I’m impressed with Bekah’s recall for these things! I’m terrible with birthdays.. TERRIBLE.. I basically have to remember my wife’s and that’s it..

            1. Thanks, Freddo! :) Yeah, yay for Bekah! I’m pretty good at remembering birthdays, but dates in history? Psssh, forget it!

              Also … if memory serves, I’m not the only May birthday ’round these parts …

              1. Uh.. maybe.. :)

                I don’t think many of you watch Parks & Rec (and why the heck not??) but there was a good quote last week by the amazing Ron Swanson where he announces that: “The whole thing is a scam. Birthdays were invented by Hallmark as an excuse to sell cards.”

  2. oh my goodness.
    I love lasagna!. & I love cooking it too. My aunty taught me a great recipe which not only never falls over on the plate, but also tastes quite amazing!
    I love you aunty maria!!! :)

  3. One of Garfield’s favorite Awesome Things, no doubt. Other items on his list:

    -Sleeping
    -Today Not Being Monday
    -Swatting Spiders
    -Getting a good distance when you kick Odie
    -Mailing an annoying kitten to Abu Dhabi
    -Sleeping
    -Eating Whenever You Feel Like It
    -Strong, Black Coffee
    -Sleeping

  4. I haven’t had a piece of lasagna in quite awhile, but this is definitely worthy of an “awesome.” Cutting the lasagna and trying to lift it out of the pan can sometimes be more challenging than one may think. :-)

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Jeremiah

  7. I think the secret is to use a good cheese. The cheesier the better. yum!

        2. One of the other 3rd grade teachers is notorious for one line and one line only: “Cheese makes everything better.”

          Like, no matter what we are talking about or eating or whatever, if it’s in ANY WAY related to cheese, she’ll bust out her line with pride. I have a feeling she would strongly agree with this sentiment.

          1. Like that one kid you wrote about who didn’t want to use a yellow paper cuz it reminded her of cheese

      2. I had that exact same thought after I read this post! All it needs is more cheese!

  8. My mums secret is to make it the night before. She puts in in the fridge then just heats it up at dinner time the next night- always perfect squares on the plate! I think it sets in the fridge and as a bonus all the flavours are stronger. Mmm hungry now!

    1. Having a nice dinner ready for tomorrow when you get home from work is an awesome thing!

    2. Thank you for the make it the night before tip. Thought that might work but now I know it can !

  9. Not to brag or anything, but I make a great lasagna.
    It is a very rare occasion to have my lasanga all in one piece, but I grew up being told this~ “The messier it is, the better it tastes.”

    1. Just made some yummy lasagna last night. I got it to go on the plate in one piece, but as soon as I started to eat it, it fell apart.

  10. Actually, the way to get the AWESOME lasagna-on-the-plate consistently is to not serve it right out of the oven. You have to give it some time to set before slicing it up and serving it. 25 min does the trick for me.

    Luckily, lasagna tastes amazing no matter if it’s an awesome perfect square or a pile of tomato cheesy slop. :)

    1. But who can wait 25 minutes when that delicious lasagna smell is wafting through the house?? ?? ??

      1. OMG. I know! My dad always wants us to wait so that it will have time to “set up” … but he gets a big fat veto on that one.

  11. Same with pie! It’s so satisfying to lift a potentially messy piece out of the pan and get it on your plate looking perfect.

    Lesson learned here? We all need more lasagna and pie to get our extraction perfect.

  12. Practical question here:

    Every recipe I’ve ever seen lists the order as sauce, noodle, sauce, ricotta, grated cheese, noodle, sauce, ricotta, grated cheese, noodle, sauce, parmesan. The lasagna in the photo (yes, I know about food photography cheats, but the overlap of noodles suggests this is an actual piece of lasagna) has the cheese directly on the noodle, then the sauce (except for the top layer). Perhaps this makes the difference?

    ITA with Ashley, which is a simpler version than what Sophie’s mom does. Do not serve lasagna for at least 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven.

    But now, I’m going to try the cheese-first method of layering, and see how that changes things.

  14. guess fay deserves credit for being one of the bestest of best lasagna maker……perfect slice…..and it tastes AWESOME (well, so I’ve been told!)…..8O)
    congratz on your success…..:)

  18. No-one in my family can do this. But having a great big mess on the plate at the end is half the fun!

  19. Hi Neil! Just wanted to say thank you so much. Today when my friends and I went to your book signing in Vancouver we were absolutely blown away by your how sincere unique and genuine you were. I loved how you signed our books all differently and how you made everyone feel so comfortable in the room. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for being so humble and AWESOME!

  20. I’ve never had a problem with getting lasagna out in one piece (extra extra cheese!), it’s tiramisu that trips me up. I get most of the piece out but then realize that half the bottom layer is still stuck to the pan, so with my other hand, I have to get those pieces out and on the plate, then try to layer the first part back on, only to have the whole thing flop over on its side.

      1. Adding more mascarpone is probably the only way that adding cheese doesn’t help with structural support :( Tiramisu is made with the wrong kind of cheese.

            1. That may explain some things about my swiss cheese replica of the Hoover Dam.

                  1. “Nacho” being the least architectural of all the cheeses, right up there with “Mac ‘n…”

                    1. Fusilli Jerry disagrees.
                      http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ku5ehpKLmG1qz9wzuo1_400.jpg&imgrefurl=http://adamiss.tumblr.com/post/269491853/thephenthouse-jerry-what-is-it-kramer&usg=__HBe5H1JXZ9qDYClhcRF2bBSLEPo=&h=363&w=300&sz=24&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=12QC34UytPjlcM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=123&ei=yYTJTYekDM_SgQeNzLXiBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfusilli%2Bjerry%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADFA_enCA405CA405%26biw%3D810%26bih%3D300%26tbm%3Disch0%2C188&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=394&vpy=-58&dur=1172&hovh=247&hovw=204&tx=121&ty=198&page=1&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&biw=810&bih=300

                    3. You guys are funny.. :)

                      But to be fair, every now and then I put together a cheese sculpture that is actually pretty gouda..

                      uh-oh.. Pun Alert!

                      You know what they say.. when that happens, it’s best to keep your comments really Brie-f..

                      Edam-mit.. I did it again..

                      It’s really time from me to Chevre-off..

                    5. Stop! I camembert it no longer! Your mastery of the cheese pun is a feta compli!

                    6. Curd alert! Whey to go. That joke was brielly gouda, but this one is feta. We should stop this beaufort it gets out of hand.

    1. We’ve entered a major competiton that has the potential to change our lives in most positive ways…the very night of the final count down in Awesomeland, we take to a big stage before a panel of high profile, global do-gooder judges, with wings… I’m going to take the empowerment you’ve all helped me have, rise to this challenge AND I’m going to fantasize I Am This So Together Piece Of Lasagna!!! I take your spirit everywhere I go…Thanks everyone…thanks Awesome:)

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