3. Portugal
The Portuguese love seafood and hot food – so Portuguese take on this oven-cooked pasta dish typically involve marinara sauce. Add it to the flavoring in the tomato or red sauce, or when you brown the meat. A modern Portuguese flavoring leans towards the fiery hot-meats-barbecue flavors of Sriracha sauce instead of marinara sauce. A mixture of ground beef and pork are the preferred meats. Season with garlic, nutmeg, and pepper or paprika.
The type and amount of bechamel sauce you used is downplayed in favor of richness. To achieve this, add whipping cream into the sauce by scaling back on the milk. Decadent!
For a seafood take, a fleshy fish such as cod or kingklip or hake is used, flaked and seasoned with salt, parsley and pepper. You could also add mussel meat and shrimps. Some recipes also add slices of boiled egg to the flaked fish layer. If you go the seafood route, ditch the sriracha or marinara sauce opting only for traditional bechamel instead.