Some folks like to change up their holiday menus from year to year, but not the Odoms. So when Christmas Eve rolls around, we know exactly what is going to be on our table—Mémère’s lasagna.
Like all the best family recipes, this keeper was passed down by word of mouth, to my dad from his Mémère, my great-grandmother. In her thick French Canadian-in-Connecticut accent, she would say the layers out loud as she assembled them.
Eager to learn the secret to her famous dish, my dad would listen to her chant, “meat sauce, cottage cheese, cheese, noodles.” For my entire childhood, this is how we made lasagna, until one year my mama pointed out—to our chagrin—that most recipes use ricotta. In search of the truth, we called my Great-Aunt Bobbie (Mémère’s daughter). It turned out, either due to her mother’s strong accent or to my dad’s foggy memory, somewhere along the line, “ricotta” had become “cottage.”
Regardless of who was to blame, Aunt Bobbie claimed our cheese choice wasn’t authentic. My dad tried making it Mémère’s way, but we missed how the cottage cheese curds didn’t fully melt, creating a supercreamy layer that the grainy ricotta just couldn’t deliver.
Since that experiment, we’ve always made our night-before-Christmas dish the way we like it. While it may not be my great-grandmother’s exact recipe, the story of “her” lasagna reminds us that when we make special dishes our own, new memories are made. I think she would be proud of that.
The Best Cottage Cheese For Lasagna
Southern Living editors tried seven different cottage cheese brands to find the best. We almost unanimously picked Good Culture in a blind sampling, but for this specific recipe Ivy has another top choice.
“While I love Good Culture cottage cheese served on its own with fruit, spread on toast, or added to smoothies, I always go for Publix brand whole-milk small-curd cottage cheese when I’m making lasagna. It’s less tangy, melts perfectly, and is a great price-conscious alternative to name brands,” she says.
James Ransom; Food Stylist: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Stylist: Lydia Pursell