Sunday, January 10, 2010

Is it sauce or gravy?

Posted by Wendy / 6 comments » / Side Dish

Some theories I have heard:

  • It’s gravy if there is meat in it; otherwise, it’s sauce.
  • It’s regional.
  • The difference between sauce and gravy is attitude.
  • If meat is cooked plain or floured, the resulting pan juices will make sauce.
  • If flour is added after meat is cooked in order to thicken the pan juices that’s gravy.

What does Wikipedia say:

Sauce: Some Italian Americans on the East Coast refer to tomato sauce as “gravy“, “tomato gravy”, or “Sunday gravy”, especially sauces with a large quantity of meat simmered in them, similar to the Italian Neapolitan ragù. “Gravy” is an erroneous English translation from the Italian sugo which means juice, but can also mean sauce (as in sugo per pastasciutta). The expression for “gravy” in Italian is sugo dell’arrosto, which is literally “juice of a roast” and is specifically not tomato sauce.

Gravy: A sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt and caramel food colouring) or gravy browning (gravy salt dissolved in water) or ready-made cubes and powders can be used as a substitute for natural meat or vegetable extracts. Canned gravies are also available. Gravy is commonly served with roasts, meatloaf, rice, and mashed potatoes.

What do you say?


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Posted by Wendy on January 10, 2010
6 Comments »
 

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6 Responses to “Is it sauce or gravy?”

  1. 1

    Jacqueline — January 10, 2010 @ 7:46 PM

    My Sicilian friends insist “gravy” I think the Northern folks and those further away from the immigrant experience call it “sauce.”

  2. 2

    ChrissMari — January 11, 2010 @ 9:21 AM

    I grew up with people calling it gravy. In fact, you’d get made fun of at holiday dinners if you called it sauced.

    When I went to school in New York, some girl said “oh you must not be italian you call it gravy”. Where it seems it’s the opposite down here.

    Dunno. my .02

  3. 3

    swampynomo — January 11, 2010 @ 9:25 AM

    I married into a southern italian family and it is GRAVY. They even make Pizza Gravy. They never make suace,

  4. 4

    premo765 — January 11, 2010 @ 10:13 AM

    I always associated gravy with the thickening of the pan drippings when cooking meat or poultry otherwise I would consider it sauce.

  5. 5

    Lys — January 17, 2010 @ 9:01 PM

    I just call it sauce. I know when I first started hanging out in Philly centuries ago, my friends would call it gravy to where I would raise an eyebrow, get my best “Whatchu talking ’bout?!?!” expression and call it a day. Now, I’ve reasoned that sauce = gravy around some parts of Philly…

  6. 6

    Denise — January 24, 2010 @ 12:35 PM

    I never really thought about it except for when an Italian friend likes to correct me. Is it an Italian thing? I call it sauce. If you ask what kind of sauce I’ll tell ya spaghetti, apple, marina, pizza,cranberry or what ever it is. If you ask me if I am making gravy I’ll tell ya turkey, beef, chicken etc,. It’s gravy to those who want to call it gravy, but don’t jump all over me because I call it sauce. I was born and raise in Jersey. My mom calls it spaghetti sauce her mom called it spaghetti sauce and after that…… I don’t know I wasn’t there.

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