Lasagna brings people together in more ways than one. Cook The "Perfect" Lasagna: the ultimate comfort meal that's made for sharing with the cast of Lessons in Chemistry, now streaming on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_LessonsInChemistry
Set in the early 1950s, Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott (played by Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives — and the men who are suddenly listening — a lot more than recipes.
Starring alongside Larson are Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Outer Range”), NAACP Image Award-winner Aja Naomi King (“How to Get Away with Murder,” “The Birth of a Nation”), Stephanie Koenig (“The Flight Attendant,” “The Offer”), Kevin Sussman (The Big Bang Theory,” “The Dropout”), Patrick Walker (“Gaslit,” “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey”), and Thomas Mann (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”).
Lessons in Chemistry is produced for Apple TV+ by Apple Studios. Seven-time Emmy Award-nominee Lee Eisenberg (“WeCrashed,” “Little America”) serves as showrunner. Academy Award-nominee Susannah Grant (“Unbelievable,” “Erin Brockovich”) executive produces alongside Larson. Sarah Adina Smith (“Hanna,” “Looking for Alaska”) serves as director and executive producer of the first two episodes. Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan (“Ozark,” “A Teacher”) executive produce for Aggregate Films. Natalie Sandy executive produces through Piece of Work Entertainment alongside Eisenberg. Louise Shore also serves as executive producer.
Set in the early 1950s, Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott (played by Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives — and the men who are suddenly listening — a lot more than recipes.
Starring alongside Larson are Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Outer Range”), NAACP Image Award-winner Aja Naomi King (“How to Get Away with Murder,” “The Birth of a Nation”), Stephanie Koenig (“The Flight Attendant,” “The Offer”), Kevin Sussman (The Big Bang Theory,” “The Dropout”), Patrick Walker (“Gaslit,” “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey”), and Thomas Mann (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”).
Lessons in Chemistry is produced for Apple TV+ by Apple Studios. Seven-time Emmy Award-nominee Lee Eisenberg (“WeCrashed,” “Little America”) serves as showrunner. Academy Award-nominee Susannah Grant (“Unbelievable,” “Erin Brockovich”) executive produces alongside Larson. Sarah Adina Smith (“Hanna,” “Looking for Alaska”) serves as director and executive producer of the first two episodes. Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan (“Ozark,” “A Teacher”) executive produce for Aggregate Films. Natalie Sandy executive produces through Piece of Work Entertainment alongside Eisenberg. Louise Shore also serves as executive producer.
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TVTranscript
00:00 - One of us just needs to say a complete sentence.
00:02 (laughing)
00:04 - Deal.
00:05 Let's see who can do it first.
00:06 That's the game.
00:08 - Courtney is a chef.
00:08 She's also one of my best friends
00:10 and she's written so many cookbooks,
00:12 worked in incredible famous kitchens.
00:14 We're so lucky to have her on the show
00:16 making Elizabeth's food.
00:18 - Let's begin, shall we?
00:19 - You and I have been friends for what, thousand years?
00:26 - Oh, maybe more.
00:28 That is to say we've been friends for a very long time.
00:31 - And food has been a very big part of it.
00:34 We get together with people and make something
00:36 that then fuels and sustains you.
00:40 - So today we're gonna make the lasagna.
00:42 The lasagna.
00:44 - The lasagna.
00:44 - From lessons in chemistry.
00:46 - Yes, and lasagna is comforting and loving
00:49 and requires a lot of time and energy
00:51 and ultimately this is the beginning
00:53 of the Elizabeth and Calvin relationship.
00:55 - This is one of the first things he tastes
00:57 that Elizabeth makes.
00:58 I think he falls in love at first bite.
01:00 - Wow, that's perfect.
01:02 - It's not perfect, but it has the potential to be.
01:04 - How do you think Louis is gonna do making it?
01:06 Do you think he's gonna be okay?
01:07 - I think he's gonna be good at the assembly.
01:09 - Yeah.
01:10 - I think he can assemble.
01:10 He can follow directions.
01:11 He's gonna love eating it.
01:13 - He's definitely gonna love eating it,
01:14 as will I and you.
01:16 - Definitely.
01:17 - We should probably go make it soon.
01:19 - Let's make it.
01:20 - Before we get started, pray tell,
01:27 who is your character in the show?
01:29 - Oh, I play Elizabeth Zott,
01:31 who is a scientist and then later has a cooking show.
01:33 - Welcome viewers.
01:34 My name is Elizabeth Zott and this is "Supper at Six."
01:38 (audience cheering)
01:39 - I play Calvin Evans.
01:41 - Calvin Evans is a star.
01:43 - Smart, well-to-do, famous.
01:45 What's not to like?
01:46 - Is a chemist and doesn't really have a future in cooking.
01:49 (laughing)
01:50 - Until today.
01:51 - Until today.
01:52 - Until today.
01:53 Right, so we're making lasagna.
01:55 It's based on the lasagna from the show,
01:57 but this is an even more amped up lasagna.
02:00 It has homemade pasta dough,
02:02 the thinnest layers possible.
02:03 It's gonna be like 12 layers.
02:04 And lucky for y'all, I went ahead and already made the dough
02:07 and then I also made the bechamel for it.
02:08 So we're gonna focus today on the Bolognese sauce.
02:12 - Okay.
02:12 - Starting now.
02:13 Marie, I would like you to do the honors.
02:15 Go ahead and oil.
02:16 You're gonna put oil in the pan and then add the mirepoix.
02:20 Everything but the garlic.
02:21 So we're just gonna saute this down.
02:26 Let's go ahead and add the meat.
02:28 How's that sound?
02:29 - Yeah, what kind of meat is this you got here?
02:30 - Okay, so this is another reason
02:31 why this Bolognese is so delicious.
02:33 This is ground pork, ground pancetta,
02:35 and then we have ground beef.
02:36 So go ahead and toss that into the old pan.
02:38 - Okay, just throw it all into the trampoline here.
02:41 - Yeah.
02:44 So your characters on the show
02:46 are two very passionate humans.
02:47 Like you're passionate about rowing,
02:49 you're passionate about cooking, chemistry.
02:51 All of these passions you have,
02:52 you also share them with each other.
02:53 So how does that deepen your relationship?
02:56 - When they meet each other
02:57 and they're able to talk on this level
02:59 about science in particular,
03:01 and then when Elizabeth starts cooking for Calvin,
03:03 then it creates this language.
03:06 I mean, the first time that they really start to connect
03:08 is over her talking about lasagna.
03:11 - At about 92 degrees,
03:13 the solid milk fat in the cheese liquefies
03:15 and the bonds holding together the casein proteins break,
03:17 but the melt isn't smooth,
03:18 which is why I've been experimenting with sodium citrate.
03:21 So when the cheese heats--
03:22 - Proteins separate from each other,
03:23 acting as emulsifiers.
03:25 - Precisely.
03:26 - I think a big part of that,
03:27 when they meet and kind of discovering
03:30 how Elizabeth looks at cooking,
03:32 is this is a great kind of metaphor and microcosm
03:35 for their relationship as a whole,
03:37 because he sees food as just like sustenance and brain power.
03:41 - You have one fork.
03:42 - I don't entertain.
03:44 - And so then all of a sudden that you can apply chemistry
03:46 and it can be,
03:48 you can go into a real micro lens on it
03:51 and kind of like, they're really nerding out on it.
03:54 - Elizabeth and Calvin are nerds of a feather.
03:56 - You cooked for me?
03:57 - I can't promise it'll taste as good as yours,
03:59 but is that a bowl?
04:00 - This is a lovely steam bath we're getting to.
04:02 - It is, yeah.
04:03 I'm feeling a nice, getting a nice facial here.
04:04 - Good first, good.
04:05 - Yeah.
04:06 Every time I cook, I'm reminded of my grandmother
04:08 because she would, every time she cracks an egg,
04:11 would take her long fingernails
04:12 and scrape every little molecule of yolk out of there.
04:16 She grew up in the Depression--
04:17 - Really?
04:18 - With her-- - With her nail, yeah.
04:20 - And I do that, I carry that tradition on.
04:22 - With your long fingernails?
04:23 Do you have a long fingernail?
04:24 - Just the pinky.
04:25 (laughing)
04:27 - Well, and actually lasagna reminds me of my grandma
04:29 because that's what she would do.
04:30 She would make it and then like the best thing
04:31 was the next day, the leftovers, reheating the leftovers.
04:34 - Now we're gonna assemble.
04:37 So the first layer is this bolognese
04:40 and then we're gonna put a layer of noodles,
04:41 a really thin layer of the bechamel,
04:43 a little bit of Parmesan,
04:45 a little bit of the bolognese,
04:47 and then every third or fourth layer,
04:49 we're gonna dollop a little tiny bit of ricotta
04:52 and then we're saving the mozzarella for the very top layer
04:54 so it'll be nice and bubbly and cheesy.
04:56 I'm gonna put it in the oven.
04:58 Thank you. - Get ready.
05:00 - Bye lasagna, see you soon. - Bye lasagna, we love you.
05:02 - Bye. - Thank you.
05:04 (upbeat music)
05:06 - While the lasagna's baking,
05:08 I just have a few random questions.
05:10 We're gonna start with one of my favorites.
05:13 An asteroid is headed straight to Earth.
05:16 You have about one day, got a day.
05:18 - Yeah.
05:19 - You have one meal.
05:20 - Oh.
05:21 - What are you gonna eat?
05:22 - Mine would be a baked potato with a lot of butter,
05:26 fluffed very well.
05:28 - Okay. - Sour cream, caviar.
05:30 - That's a good one.
05:31 - I would do my mom's apple crisp with some ice cream.
05:36 - This is great knowledge to have.
05:39 - Yeah. - It's important.
05:40 - It's important knowledge.
05:41 The most important knowledge though,
05:42 and I'm sorry I have to ask this, but you know I have to,
05:45 is a hot dog a sandwich?
05:47 - I forget where you both stand on this.
05:49 - I know, which is why you knew how to go first.
05:50 - You gotta just do what's true for you.
05:53 - And I think if you have two pieces of bread
05:54 with something in the middle of it,
05:56 there's nothing else to call it other than sandwich.
05:59 - Yes!
06:00 - That's what I think.
06:01 - Marie, do you not agree with this?
06:04 - Of course I don't agree with it, Courtney.
06:07 Of course I don't agree with it.
06:08 (laughing)
06:09 This has been going on for years.
06:10 This has been going on for years, people.
06:12 It's been going on for years.
06:13 This is the thing that we don't talk about
06:15 in our relationship. - I know.
06:16 - Because this might drive us apart.
06:18 - I love you very much, we'll leave it at that.
06:20 - Okay.
06:21 - Love you.
06:22 - The lasagna, can you smell it?
06:27 - Gosh, I can, wow.
06:30 - Mm, let's get it out of the oven, I think it's done.
06:33 - Nothing better than smelling the fresh lasagna.
06:35 - Holy moly.
06:36 - Yeah.
06:37 - Look at this, look at the bubble.
06:40 - It's a freezin' bird. - Freezin' bird.
06:42 - Freezin' bird, thank you.
06:44 Voila!
06:45 - Oh my goodness.
06:46 - Look what we did! - It's gorgeous.
06:48 - Mamma mia.
06:49 - Mamma mia.
06:51 - Wow.
06:52 - Yeah.
06:52 - Wow. - I'm just gonna go in.
06:55 - We're done, ready?
06:56 Oh my God.
06:59 - This is so satisfying.
07:00 Who does this, ever?
07:02 - We do, now.
07:03 - Wow.
07:04 - Wow, Courtney, nailed it.
07:07 That is a superior lasagna.
07:09 - Oh man, look at that. - We did it.
07:11 - Y'all, seriously, thank you so much for coming out,
07:14 taking the time to do this today.
07:15 It was so much fun.
07:17 I loved making lasagna with you.
07:18 It was the best.
07:19 - Absolute best, Courtney.
07:20 - We couldn't have had a better sensei.
07:23 Thank you. - Thank you.
07:24 - Thanks, Courtney.
07:25 - Yeah, my pleasure.
07:26 And if you wanna learn more about their characters
07:28 and this lasagna,
07:29 you can watch Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV+.
07:32 - I'm gonna take this home.
07:35 (cymbal crashing)
07:38 (cymbal crashing)
07:41 (cymbal crashing)
07:44 (cymbal crashing)
07:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]