Does lasagna taste better the second day?

In this article, we answer the following question: Does lasagna taste better the second day? We turn to science, more precisely to chemistry to explain why this happens. 

Does lasagna taste better the second day?

Truth to be told, lasagna does taste better the second day. Nothing cheers up the stomach more than finding a piece of lasagna from the day before. The bechamel sauce will have compacted a bit more, creating a delicious filling with the rest of the ingredients. In any case, a little fresh grated cheese and gratin can help to revive it on the outside and not only make it good but also look beautiful.

Why does reheated lasagna taste better the next day?

How wonderful is reheated lasagna! It does taste better the next day, but why is this? It turns out that reheated food, sometimes, is much better than in the first moment and it is not a matter of preferences or perception, but this has a scientific explanation.

Whether there is food that is better reheated days later is a matter of chemistry.  Complex and full-bodied dishes such as stews, elaborate sauces or creams and soups take on a special charm when reheated and eaten the next day or two. It is a chemical reaction that occurs especially in this type of preparation, and that takes place after cooking, cooling, and subsequent reheating.

Both chemistry and physics take part in this improvement. And it is that the food that is better-reheated shares certain characteristics. These preparations usually have foods that are very tasty on their own, and that is precisely added to the preparations to give them more aroma, such as onion, garlic, spices. 

The point is that, at first, when it is just cooked and eaten directly, many of these ingredients may not only have not finished releasing their flavor but also collide with each other. When the ingredients are very aromatic, it is often difficult to find the balance, and some overlap one another.

But if the food remains mixed after being cooked, cooled, and reheated, the flavors bind. And it is that when cooking the juices of these foods interact with proteins and starches.

More arguments that lasagna tastes better the second day

When the dish is cooled and refrigerated and then reheated, some of these reactions continue to result in better flavor. In a freshly prepared dish, these aromatic ingredients like garlic and onion can stand out too much and fight each other. The next day, however, they have already been mixed and softened, giving the dish a fuller and rounder flavor.

Fats and collagens have a lot to do with the migration of different flavors 

When braised meat cools, the gelatinous material of collagen, tendons, and bones that has melted during cooking begins to coagulate around the pieces of meat, trapping many flavors.

This phenomenon is even more accentuated with ground beef used in lasagna because there is more surface to which that gelatinous flavor can adhere.

The same is true for starches. When cooked they gelatinize and when they cool they go through a process called retrogradation. In this process, the flavor compounds of the sauce in which they are found are trapped in its structure.

This process also positively influences the texture of food. At least with a curry or stew, the sauce can become thicker and creamier. When a card-based dish is cooled and reheated, it becomes more viscous because the protein fibers break down, releasing the interstitial or gelatinous material that is between the cells.

Each time the protein cools and reheats, a little more of this substance is released and the liquid around it thickens. However, be careful to repeat this process too many times. When food is reheated many times, the meat tends to become stringy.

Other FAQs about Lasagna which you may be interested in.

How do you keep the top layer of lasagna going hard?

How do you know when lasagna is ready?

Do lasagne sheets need to be precooked?

Best reheated food: lasagna

Without a doubt, lasagna is the dish that gives the best result after being reheated. This is due to the fact that when it is heated, the sauce that is used in its preparation dissolves, but when all that fat is cooled again, it solidifies again adhering to the ingredients and catching the flavors of the sauce.

The more meat and the more shredded it is, the greater this phenomenon will occur. That’s why reheated lasagna, cannelloni, or spaghetti bolognese are so wonderful.

In addition to this, this also favors the consistency of the sauces, since in these processes they also gain body. It is due to the fact that every time the protein is heated and cooled it releases collagen, thickening the sauce. Of course, this process should not be abused as the meat ends up becoming fibrous!

The bottom line

In this article, we answered the following question: Does lasagna taste better the second day? We turned to science, more precisely to chemistry to explain why this happens. 

Lasagna does taste better the second day, and the simple explanation is that this dish needs time to release all of its flavors and surprise us! Both chemistry and physics take part in this improvement. And it is that the food that is better-reheated shares certain characteristics. These preparations usually have foods that are very tasty on their own, and that is precisely added to the preparations to give them more aroma, such as onion, garlic, spices. 

What do you think? Do you agree with us? We’d love to know your opinion so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!

References

Food.com

Allrecipes.com

Was this helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!