From the article: Pasta:
A while back Jennifer wrote to ask:
"I was witness to a heated discussion at my brother's dinner table last evening. We were raised that it is sauce; my sister-in-law was raised calling it gravy. I've spoken with Italians who have called it sauce, and some who have referred to it as gravy. Is it a regional thing? Is it gravy when it is cooked with meat? (I've received that explanation). Please advise and potentially stop a divorce from occurring." Sauce, Gravy... ?
"I was witness to a heated discussion at my brother's dinner table last evening. We were raised that it is sauce; my sister-in-law was raised calling it gravy. I've spoken with Italians who have called it sauce, and some who have referred to it as gravy. Is it a regional thing? Is it gravy when it is cooked with meat? (I've received that explanation). Please advise and potentially stop a divorce from occurring." Sauce, Gravy... ?
sauce or gravy
- Sauce is something that you make on it's own. A gravy is something that you make when you use the drippings of a cooked meat as one of the ingredients.
- —Guest jamie
I call it Gravy
- Its a regional thing. My mother's parents are both from Italy and we call it Gravy. I think growing in and outside of Philadelphia in a mainly Italian neighborhood Gravy is much more common. Going to southern states they have no idea what you mean when you say Gravy. I think of it as if I spend hours making it and it has a ton of meat then its gravy but if its something you take out of a jar you can call that anything you want!!
- —Guest Annamaria
what?
- I NEVER heard it called gravy, not only am I 100 percent italian, but grew up in an italian speaking neighborhood. It must be from certain areas as a dialect or something.
- —Guest MGD3
sauce vs gravy
- to each his own but my Italian family always called it 'GRAVY' Be it said gravy goes over meat..not us it was simmered all day from early morning on Sunday and poured over "macaronni" NOW THATS ITALIAN TO ME!!!
- —Guest candi
Simmered all day
- What your wife makes is sauce. What my wife makes is gravy!!;-)
- —Guest Gerry H, NJ
Gravy of course
- My family is from Naples and it is gravy of coarse. Every Sunday morning my Mom started the spaghetti gravy.
- —Guest Paula
Sauce
- But, I'm not Italian. My Italian cousins all call it gravy.
- —Barb.Rolek
There's always Mario...
- Batali calls sauce a "condiment"--to get across the idea that it's not the main event in a pasta dish I guess. I've never (outside of here) heard it called gravy, which is for potatoes served with a roast where I come from.
- —goeurope
It's Sugo
- My parents came from Abruzzo and always referred to that red stuff as sugo. The tradition continues, as even my English wife calls it sauce. She makes gravy for the roast beef.
- —Guest Rocco
Gravy- if it's made with meat
- I grew up in NJ and learned to cook from my grandmother and mother- better than any culinary school! It's gravy if made with any meat, pork, veal, meatballs. We also call every 'pasta' macaroni with the exception of spaghetti, lasagne and manicotti.
- —poroman
GRAVY--of course!
- I grew up in northern NJ--Down Neck Newark, to be exact! "It" simmered all Saturday afternoon and was ready when we came home from Mass on Sunday.
- —Guest annette
SAUCE OR GRAVY
- ACTUALLY ITS A SAUCE THAT GOES OVER PASTA AND GRAVY THAT GOES OVER MEATS & POTATOES LIKE ROAST BEEF, MEATLOAF, MASHED POTATOES ETC.
- —madzee1
Gravy
- Gravy, because it is made with meat as a base (bracciole, meatballs, sausages). It simmers all day on Sunday. Sauce has no meat, like Marinara and Alfredo. (My family is from the south of Italy and came to NY.)
- —Guest Sofia
Sauce for me..gravy for them
- I went to an Italian college in the northeast US. all the italian students (mostly from the south) called it gravy. My irish american family called it sauce...gravy was what you ladled over meat.
- —renaccio
Sauce in this Irish-German houshold
- We have mostly red sauce with pasta. Fettuccine Alfredo doesn't have really either sauce or gravy, since it seems sucked up into the noodles. Also, that standard Velveeta mac'n'cheese here is a sauce. I make "gravy" several times a week. I start with browned ground beef, add flour and milk and some flavor such as mustard or curry (or wine). We eat it over mashed potatoes or rice. We could eat it over pasta, but we don't.
- —Guest Jen
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