I Can’t Sleep - Lasagna | Relaxing Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading about lasagna, created to ease insomnia and bring gentle rest. In this soothing episode, Benjamin explores the history of lasagna, from its origins in ancient cooking traditions to its place as one of the most beloved comfort foods around the world. His steady, reassuring narration turns culinary history into peaceful storytelling, helping you release stress and quiet your mind. There is no whispering or hypnosis, only calm, fact-filled narration designed to guide you toward sleep. Press play, settle in, and let the story of lasagna carry you into slumber. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Lasagna, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Lasagna. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch. I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause.

With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. And today's episode is going to be an attempt at working on my Italian to describe articles about lasagna. that include different parts of the lasagna, beginning with the pasta itself, the ragu, the bechamel sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan.

Lasagna, also known as lasagna, is the type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types made in very wide flat sheets. In Italian cuisine, it is made of stacked layers of pasta alternating with fillings, such as ragu, ground meats and tomato sauce, bechamel sauce, vegetables, cheeses, which may include ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, and seasonings and spices. The dish may be topped with grated cheese, which melts during baking. Typically cooked pasta is assembled with other ingredients and then baked in an oven, alforkno. The resulting baked pasta is cut into single serving square or rectangular portals. In ancient Rome, there was a dish similar to a traditional lasagna called lasana or lasanum, Latin for container or pot, described in the book De Re Cochinaria by Marcus Gavius Apicius,

but the word could have a more ancient origin. The first theory is that lasagna comes from Greek Laganon, a flat sheet of pasta dough cut into strips. The word Laganah is still used in Greek to mean a flat, thin type of unleavened bread, baked for the clean Monday holiday. Another theory is that the word lasagna comes from the Greek lazana, or lazanon, meaning trivet, stand for a pot, or chamber pot. The Romans borrowed the word as lazanum, meaning cooking pot. The Italians used the word to refer to the cookware in which lasagna is made. Later, the food took on the name of the serving dish. Another proposed link or reference is the 14th century English dish, Lozane,

as described in the form of curry, a cookbook prepared by the chief master cooks of King Richard II, which included English recipes, as well as dishes influenced by Spanish, French, Italian, and Arab cuisines. This dish has similarities to modern lasagna and both its recipes, which features a layering of ingredients between pasta sheets and its name. An important difference is the lack of tomatoes,

which did not arrive in Europe until after Columbus reached the Americas in 1492. The earliest discussion of a tomato in European literature appeared in a herbal written in 1544 by Pietro Andrea Matioli, while the earliest cookbook found with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1992. But the author had obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. As with most other types of pasta, the Italian word is a plural form. Lazzania, meaning more than one sheed of lasagna, although in many other languages, a derivative of the singular word lasagna is used for the popular baked pasta dish. When referring to the baked dish,

regional usage in Italy favors the plural form lasagna in the north of the country and the singular lasagna in the south. The former plural usage has influenced the usual spelling found in British English. while the southern Italian singular usage has influenced the spelling often used in American English. Both lasagna and lasagna are used as singular non-count, uncountable nouns in English. Lazzania originated in Italy during the Middle Ages. The oldest transcribed text about lasagna appears in 1282 in the Memoriali Bolognazi, in which lasagna was mentioned in a poem transcribed by a Bolognese notary,

while the first recorded recipe was set down in the early 14th century in the Liber de Cocina, the Book of Cookery. It bore only a slight resemblance to the later traditional form of lasagna, featuring a fermented dough flattened into thin sheets, boiled, sprinkled with cheese and spices, and then eaten with a small pointed stick. Recipes written in the century following the Liberde Cocchina recommended boiling the pasta and chicken broth

and dressing it with cheese and chicken fat. In a recipe adapted for the lent and fast, walnuts were recommended. Variations Pasta Mass-produced lasagna with a ruffled edge is called lasagna rica In the Venoyice, Doppio Festone, Chabot, and Skiablo. In the Veneto, factory-produced lasagna are called bardele or lasagnoni.

Narrow or mezzizalazine and if with a ruffled edge, medze lasagna rica. Similar pastas are the narrower lasagnete, and its longer cousin the lasagnote, Kapelashi in Liguria. in Liguria, as well as the sagna of Salento, the heel of the Italian boot, and Laganah and the remainder of Apulia. Dish. The lasagna of Naples, Lazzania di Carnivalre is layered with local sausage, small fried meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, ricotta, and mozzarella cheeses, and sauced with Neapolitan ragu, a meat sauce. lasagna al-Fourno, layered with a thicker ragu and bechamel sauce,

and corresponding to the most common version of the dish outside Italy, is traditionally associated with the Emilio Romagna region of Italy. Here, and especially in its capital Bologna, layers of lasagna are traditionally green, the colors obtained by mixing spinach or other vegetables into the dough, and served with ragu, a thick sauce made. with onions, carrots, celery, finely ground pork and beef, butter, and tomatoes, bechamel sauce, and parmesan cheese. In other regions, lasagna can be made with various combinations of ricotta or mozzarella, tomato sauce, meats, such as ground beef, pork, veal,

or chicken, and vegetables such as spinach, zucchini, olives, and mushrooms, and the dish is typically flavored with wine, garlic, onion, and oregano. In all cases, the lasagna are baked, or in Italian, al-Fourno. Traditionally, pasta dough prepared in southern Italy used semolina and water. In the northern regions where semolina was not available, flour and eggs were used. In modern Italy, since the only type of wheat allowed for commercially sold pasta is durham wheat. Industrial lasagna are made from Durham weed semolina. Nonetheless, in the north, and especially in Emilio Romagna,

the tradition of egg-based dough remains popular for artisanal and homemade productions. In Italian cuisine, ragu is a meat sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Academia Italiana della Cuccina, documented several ragu recipes. The recipe's common characteristics are the presence of meat and the fact that all are sauces for pasta. The most typical is ragu al-a-bonnese, bolognese sauce made with minced beef. Other types are ragu al-Napolitan ragu made with a variety of pork and beef meats, which may include sausage.

Ragu al-Barese, ragu from bari, sometimes made with horse meat, ragu al-Venetta, ragu from Veneto, a traditionally tomatoless duck ragu, and so on. In northern Italian regions, ragu typically uses minced, chopped, or ground meat, cooked with sauteed vegetables in a liquid, which traditionally included liquidized tomatoes, also exist in tomato-less versions referred to as ragu and bianco, white ragu. The meats may include one or more of beef, chicken, pork, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, veal, or game, including their ophal. The liquids can be broth, stock, water, wine, milk, cream or tomato, often in combination.

If tomatoes are included, they are typically limited relative to the meat, making it are meat stew rather than a tomato sauce with added meat. In southern Italian regions, ragu is often prepared from substantial quantities of large, whole cuts of beef and pork, and sometimes regional sausages, cooked with vegetables and tomatoes. After a long braze or simmer, the meats are removed and made. be served as a separate course without pasta. Examples of these dishes are ragu of Napolitana and carne a ragu. The term comes from the French ragu spelled R-A-G-O-U-T and reached the Emilio-Romagna region in the late 18th century, perhaps following

Napoleon's 1796 invasion and occupation of those northern regions. The first ragu is a sauce, Ragout peri macaroni, was recorded by Alberto Alvisi, the cook to the Cardinal of Imola. At the time, macaroni was a general term for pasta, both dried and fresh. The recipe was replicated and published as Il Ragout del Cardinali, the Cardinals Raghu. Alvizi was inspired by the famous French ragu, which became popular in Italy when Napoleon soldiers brought it during their invasion. in 1796. Wealthy and aristocratic Italians were fascinated by French culture and food, so they happily embrace the opportunity to include classic French dishes such as ragu and their

culinary traditions. After the early 1830s, recipes for ragu appeared frequently in cookbooks from the Amelio Romagna region. By the late 19th century, the cost of meat saw the use of heavy meat sauces on pasta, reserved to feast days and Sundays, and only among the wealthier classes of the newly unified Italy. Independent search by Casper and Davida indicates that while Ragu was pasta gained popularity through the 19th century, it was largely eaten by the wealthy. However, technological advances that came with the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century made pasta. to flour more affordable for the less affluent. The adoption of pasta by the common classes further expanded in the period of economic prosperity

that followed World War II. According to De Vida, before World War II, 80% of the Italian rural population ate a diet based on plans. Pasta was reserved for special feast days and was then often served in a legume soup. Bischem-El-sauce is one of the mother-of-the-motherer. sauces of French cuisine made from a white rue, butter and flour, and milk, seasoned with ground nutmeg. There are many legends regarding the origin of Bacheles sauce.

For example, it is widely repeated in Italy that the sauce has been created in Tuscany under the name salsa cola and brought to France with Castoran de Marici, but this is an invented story, and archival research has shown that in a list of service people who had dealt with Catherine de Medici since her arrival in France, and until her death, there were absolutely no Italian chefs. Both the Beschemel recipe and its name have been adopted, even adapted in many languages, and culinary traditions. Bechamel, although not with this name, was already described in Italian texts of the Renaissance. In particular, in the book of cuisine of the 14th century by Anonymous Tuscano,

the recipe for a dish called Bianca Mangari is cited. The 14th century recipe required sifting the rice flour, then diluting it with goats, sheaps, or almond milk, and finally boiling it in a pan. To this sauce was then added a finely chopped chicken breast, white lard, sugar, and almonds. Beschamel can be used as the base for many other sauces, such as Mournay, which is bechamel with cheese. In Greek cuisine, bechamel is often enriched with egg.

Beschamel is used in dishes such as the Italian lasagna al-forno and conalones, Catalan, Castilian, Canolones, a Catalan version of Italian canaloni. It was introduced to Greek cuisine by the chef Nicolae, Laus Salamentes in the 1930s, notably in Musica and Pastizio. The carolian finished sepati is smoked, cubed, and sauteed pork belly and white sauce base, and canamuna castica is boiled and sliced eggs in a white sauce base. These are typically eaten as main dishes with potatoes. Ricotta is an Italian way cheese made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milkway,

left over from the production of other cheeses. Like other weighed cheeses, it is made by coagulating the proteins that remain after the casing has been used to make cheese, notably albumin and globulin. Ricotta, literally recooked or refined protein, can be harvested if the whey is first allowed to become more acidic by additional fermentation, by letting it sit for 12 to 24 hours at room temperature. Then the acidified weight is heated to near boiling. The combination of low pH and high temperature denatures the protein

and causes it to floculate, forming a fine curd. Once cooled, it is separated by passing the liquid through a fine cloth, leaving the curd behind. Ricotta curds are creamy white in appearance and slightly sweet in taste. The fat content varies depending on the milk use. depending on the milk used. In this form, it is somewhat similar to texture to some fresh cheese variants, though considerably lighter.

It is highly perishable. However, ricotta is also made in aged varieties, which are preservable for much longer. The production of ricotta in the Italian peninsula dates back to the Bronze Age. In the second millennium BC, ceramic vessels called milk boilers started to appear frequently. and were apparently unique to the peninsula. These were designed to boil milk at high temperatures

and prevent the milk from boiling over. The fresh acid coagulated cheeses produced with these boilers were probably made with whole milk. The production of rennet coagulated cheese, though overtook the production of fresh whole milk cheeses during the first millennium BC. Bronze cheese graders found in the graves of the Etruscan elite proved that hard-grading cheeses were popular with the aristocracy.

Cheese graders were also commonly used in ancient Roman kitchens. Unlike the fresh acid coagulated cheese, aged rennet-coagulated cheese could be preserved for much longer. The increased production of renate-coagulated cheese led to a large supply of sweet whey as a byproduct. Cheesemakers then started using a new recipe, which used a mixture of whey and milk to make the traditional ricotta as it is known today. Mozilla is a semi-soft, non-aged cheese prepared using the pasta filata stretched curd method

with origins from southern Italy. It is prepared with cows' milk or buffalo milk, taking the following names. Mozilla Fior di Late or Mozilla cows' milk. Mozilla di Bufo La Campana Italian buffalo's milk Fresh mozzarella is white but the occasional yellow or brown color of mozzarella comes from the enzyme

R110 Due to its high moisture content it is traditionally served the day after it is made but can be kept in brine for up to a week or longer when sold in vacuum sealed packages Fresh mozzarella can be heard to make a distinct squeaky sound when it is chewed or rubbed. Low moisture mozzarella can be kept refrigerated for up to a month. Although some shredded low moisture mozzarella is sold with a shelf life of up to six months.

Mozilla is used for most types of pizza and several pasta dishes or served with sliced tomatoes and basil in capraise salads. Mozarella derived from the southern Italian dialect spoken in Apulia, Calabria, Campania, Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata, Lazio, and Marque, is the diminutive form of modza, cut, or mozare, to cut off, derived from the method of working. The term is first mentioned in 1570, cited in a cookbook by Bartolomeo, Scarpi. Reading, milk cream, fresh butter, racotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, and milk. An earlier reference of Monseigneur Alacandri has also often cited as describing Mozilla, which states that in the 12th century the monastery of San Lorenzo in Capo Campania,

Alacandri offered pilgrims of piece of bread with Motsa. Fresh mozzarella, recognized as a traditional specialty guaranteed TSG since 1996 in the European Union, has available usually rolled into a ball of 80 to 100 grams, or about 6 centimeters in diameter, and sometimes up to 1 kilogram or about 12 centimeters in diameter. It is soaked in salt water, brine, or whey. If citric acid is added and it is partly dried, desiccated, its structure becomes more compact.

In this last form, it is often used to prepare dishes cooked in the oven, such as lasagna and pizza. Parmesan, Italian Parmigiano Rajano, is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cow's milk, and aged at least 12 buns, or outside the European Union and Lisbon Agreement countries, a locally produced imitation. Parmigiano Regano is named after two of the areas which produce it, the Italian provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia. Parmigiano is the Italian adjective for the city and province of Parma,

and Reggiano is the adjective for the province of Reggio Emilia. It is also produced in the part of Bologna west of the River Reno, and in Modena, all of the above being located in the Amelia Romano region, as well as in the part of Mantua, Lombardy, on the south bank of the River Po. The names Parmigiano Rajano and Parmesan are protected designations of origin, P.D.O for cheeses produced in these provinces under Italian and European law. Outside the EU, the name Parmesan is legally used for similar cheeses, with only the full Italian name unambiguously referred to PDO Parmigiano Rajano.

It has been called the king of cheeses and practically perfect food. Parmigiano Rajano is made from unpasteurized cow's milk. The whole milk of the morning milking is mixed with the naturally skimmed milk of the previous evening's milking, resulting in a part-skim mixture. This mixture is pumped into copper-lined vats, which heat evenly and contribute copper ions to the mixture. Starter Way, containing a mixture of certain thermophilic lactic acid bacteria, is added, and the temperature is raised as 33 to 35 degrees Celsius. Calf Renet is added, and the mixture is left to curdle for 10 to 12 minutes.

The curd is then broken up mechanically into small pieces around the size of rice grains. The temperature is then raised to 55 degrees Celsius with careful control by the cheese maker. The curd is left to settle for 45 to 60 minutes. The compacted curd is collected in a piece of muslin before being divided in two and placed in molds. There are 1,100 liters of milk per vat, producing two cheeses each. The curd making up each wheel at this point weighs around 45 kilograms. The remaining way in the vat was traditionally used to feed the pigs from which prosciutto di Parma was produced. The barns for these animals were usually just a few meters away from the cheese production rooms.

The cheese is put into stainless steel, round and, and the cheese is put into stainless steel, round, form that is pulled tight with a spring-powered buckle so the cheese retains its wheel shape. After a day or two, the buckle is released, and a plastic belt imprinted numerous times with the Parmigiano-regano name, the plant's number and month and year of production is put around the cheese, and the metal form is buckled tight again. The imprints take hold on the rind of the cheese in about a day, and the wheel is then put into a brine bath to absorb salt for 20 to 25 days. After brining, the wheels are then transferred to the aging rooms in the plant for 12 months. Each cheese is placed on wooden shelves

that can be 24 cheeses high by 90 cheeses long, or 2,160 total wheels per aisle. Each cheese and the shelf underneath it is then cleaned every seven days. and the cheese is turned. At 12 months, the Consortio del Formaggio Parmaggio Parmigiano Rajano inspects every wheel. The cheese is tested by a master grader who taps each wheel to identify undesirable cracks

and voids within the wheel. Wheels that pass the test are then he branded on the rind with a consortio's logo. Those that do not pass the test used to have their rinds marked with lines or crosses all the way around, to inform consumers that they are not getting top-quality parmigana Rajano.

More recent practices simply have these lesser rinds stripped of all markings. Traditionally, cows are fed only on grass or hay, producing grass-fed milk. Only natural way culture is allowed as a starter, together with calf-renut. The only additive allowed is salt, which the cheese, The cheese absorbs while being submerged for 20 days in brine tanks, saturated to near total salinity, with Mediterranean sea salt. The product is aged a minimum of one year and an average of two years. An expert from the consortio typically conducts a sound test with a hammer to determine if a wheel has finished maturing. The cheese is produced daily and it can show a natural variability.

True Parmajano-Rajano cheese has a sharp, complex, fruity, nutty taste, with a strong, savory flavor and a slightly gritty texture. Inferior versions can impart a bitter taste. A typical Parmigiano-Rajano wheels about 18 to 24 centimeters high, 40 to 45 centimeters in diameter, and weighs 38 kilograms or 84 pounds. All producers of Parmigiano-Rajano cheese belong to the consortio Le Formaggio Parmigiano-Rajano, literally Parmigiano-Rajano cheese consortium, which was founded in 1928. Besides setting and enforcing the standards for the PDO, the consortio also sponsors marketing activities.

As of 2017, about 3.6 million wheels of Parmesan are produced every year. They use about 18% of all the milk produced in Italy. Most workers in the Italian dairy industry, Bergamini, belong to the Italian General Confederation of Labor. As older dairy workers retire, younger Italians have tended to work in factories or offices. Immigrants have filled that role. In 2015, 60% of the workers in the Parmesan industry were immigrants from India, almost all Sikhs.

Parmigiano Rajano is commonly grated over pasta dishes, stirred into soups and risottoes, and eaten on its own. It is often shaved or grated over other dishes such as salads. The cheese is natural yellow hue. a visual hallmark of its authenticity, adds an inviting vibrancy to these dishes. This rich color derived from the carotenoids in the milk of grass-fed cows also deepens with age, symbolizing the careful maturation process that defines Parmajano Rajano. Slivers and chunks of the hardest parts of the crust, also called the rind, are sometimes simmered in soups, broths, and sauces to add flavor.

They can also be broiled and eaten as a snack if they have no wax on them, or infused in olive oil or used in a steamer basket while steaming vegetables. According to legend, Parmigiano Regano was created in the course of the Middle Ages in the Comune municipality of Bibiano, in the province of Regio. Amelia. Its production soon spread to the Parma and Modena areas. Historical documents show that in the 13th and 14th centuries, Parmigiano was already very similar to that produced today, which suggests its origins can be traced to far earlier. Some evidence suggests that the name was used for parmesan cheese in Italy and France in the 17th to 19th century. It was praised,

as early as 1348 in the writings of Bocacho, and the de Cameron, he invents a mountain all of grated parmesan cheese, on which dwell folk that do not else but make macaroni and ravioli, and boil them in capons broth, and then throw them down to be scrambled for, and hard by flows of rivulet of vernacha, the best that ever was drunk, and never a drop of water they're in. During the great fire of London of 1666, Samuel Pepys buried his Parmesan cheese as well as his wine and a few other things to preserve them. In the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova, he remarked that the name Parmesan was a misnomer common throughout an ungrateful Europe in his time, mid-18th century, as the cheese was produced in the Comunei municipality of Lodi.

and Lombardi, not Parma. Lekesinova knew his table and claimed in his memoir to have been compiling a never-completed dictionary of cheeses. His comment has been taken to refer mistakenly to a granada cheese similar to Parmigiano, granapadano, which is produced in the Lodi area. October 27th is designated Parmigiano-Rajano day by the consortium of Parmigiano-Rajano.

This day celebrating the King of Cheeses originated in response to the two earthquakes hitting the area of origin in May 2012. The devastation was profound, displacing tens of thousands of residents, collapsing factories, and damaging historical churches, bell towers, and other landmarks. Years of cheese production were lost during the disaster, about $50 million worth. In order to assist the cheese producers, Modena native chef Massimo Batura, created a recipe Rizzo Caccio Pepe. He invited the world to cook this new dish along with him, lunging Parmigiano Rajano Day, October 27th.