Tip: Use a Toast Rack to Help Cook Lasagna Noodles

Here's a fun little tip we picked up via Flickr. We do suspect, however, that this tip will only be useful to our British and Canadian readers, who know what a toast rack is and how to use it. It's not just a unitasker/holder for your toasted bread, you see; it can also be used to make better lasagna.

Do you have problems with lasagna noodles sticking together when you boil them? Flickr member ndrwfgg did. She says:

One of the problems I have always had with lasagne is that even if the packet says "no pre-cooking necessary" that 's always a load of rowlocks (rhymes with...). But if you chuck the whole packet into a large pan of boiling water, you end with a hot sticky mass of sheets of glued-together lasagne, and end up with either scalded fingers or shredded lasagne.

Not any more! The toast rack will cope with being boiled...

Nice! We love tips that turn unitaskers into multitaskers.

Now the question is: do you own a toast rack?

(Image: Flickr member ndrwfgg licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Comments (8)

I do own a toast rack, which I picked up for 50 cents at the local charity shop. This use for it is genius!

posted by Michelle of Montreal on May 15th 2009 at 8:59am
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The reason the noodles stick is that they are all thrown in too quickly, the pan isn't large enough or the water isn't hot enough. If you add them one at a time, pause for about 10-20 seconds between each so the water can adjust to the change in temperature between noodles, they don't stick in my experience. The problem is the "chucking in the whole packet" part.

Or you can stick a toast rack in your water. :-p

Seriously, I'm American and I know what a toast rack is. It's not that esoteric a concept (nor all that hard to work out based on the name).

posted by Orchid64 on May 15th 2009 at 9:05am
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That is the weirdest thing I've heard this week.
What kind of lasagna sheets could she be using?
I've never had problems with undercooked pasta in my lasagne...

posted by katti on May 15th 2009 at 9:08am
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Well, assuming your toast rack is actually safe for actual cooking - I'd save it for cooking a ton of ribs instead.

I've switched to no-boil noodles.. Just pour hot water over them in a pan before you use them for a couple of minutes and then use them right away in your dish.

posted by carnality on May 15th 2009 at 10:39am
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Sorry. I'm American with European parents and I love kitchen tools but I don't know what a toast rack is. I can guess what it might be, but I might be missing something?

posted by gourmandizzy on May 15th 2009 at 10:41am
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I've never really had problems with my lasagne noodles sticking. And I'm Canadian and never, ever saw at toast rack until I went to England, nor do I know anyone who uses one. Just because we respect our British heritage, it doesn't mean we're identical. ;)

posted by little_melly on May 15th 2009 at 4:07pm
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i never precook my lasagne noodles. i add extra water, stock or wine to my red sauce and the noodles come out perfectly cooked.

posted by darlingash on May 15th 2009 at 6:11pm
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You don't have to cook the noodles at all. I use Barilla no-cook (which look like the ones in your picture?), but you can do it with regular noodles as well. Don't even soften them with hot water. Just place the dry noodles in the pan and layer with sauce and cheese. Bake for an hour, and you will end up with a nice lasagna that doesn't ooze all over the place. (The noodles pick up the water from your tomato sauce.)

posted by cara_mia on May 16th 2009 at 10:04am
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