A while back, I wrote a post about Gravy vs Sauce. For those of you not familiar with the GREAT DEBATE, many Italian Americans call their ragu or meat sauce – “Gravy.” In my family we don’t refer to it as Gravy but in many Italian American families they swear by the term.
In my last post on the topic, my theory was that it might be a regional term – New York/New Jersey… although I still believe it’s more prevalent in that area, after received several comments and emails from Italian Americans in that area who do not use the term and others from outside that area who do, I had to rethink my position.
My new theory is that it may be a generational term. I’m first generation Italian American (my parents came to the US in 1970 after they took that wonderful wedding photo (see below.) My parent’s didn’t speak English when they arrived here… so “Gravy” wasn’t even a real word not to mention something that would describe my mother’s cooking! It’s possible that over a few generations, as English and Italian words started to morph and the conversations became half English and half Italian (you know exactly what I’m talking about, don’t you??) that the term “Gravy” became a part of the Italian American culture for some.
Regardless of what you call it (brodo, sugo, salsa, marinara, gravy or sauce) cooking a Sunday dinner and smelling the wonderfulness that came out of the kitchen when the sauce or the gravy was being made stirs up wonderful memories for many Italians. Here’s a great video on youtube that Susan at “My life’s Joy” sent over to me a while back narrated by Robert Loggia. I wasn’t able to embed so you’ll need to click on the link to see it.
My favorite part is when Robert Loggia talks about Thanksgiving as an Italian. Turkey’s far from the main course…. so true isn’t it? For the record: Robert Loggia is second generation and calls it “Gravy”
So if you could leave a comment with what generation Italian you are (if you are) and if you call it Gravy or Sauce, maybe we can get down to the bottom of it!
Hope you all have a wonderful Italian Thanksgiving.
I love this debate. My mother called it sauce (1st generation American) but my aunt called it gravy. My Chicago friends call it gravy. And growing up, we always had pasta before the turkey on Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! All my dishes have something Italian in them!
I’m also first generation American. We call it sauce or better and more frequently, sugo di pomodoro.
To us, gravy is what one eats with turkey (after the lasagne, of course!).
Don’t know if region plays a part but my family is from Calabria and now we live in NY.
Happy first married Thanksgiving!
Pasta al Sugo. And I’m sticking to it!
It was always Gravy when I was growing. Once my mom invited people over for “macaroni and gravy” and they came hesitantly. Pictures elbow macaroni with brown gravy. Imagine their surprise!!
Second generation. I grew up calling it ‘gravy’ but as I matured and assimilated into culture around me (particularly the food culture), I began to call it sauce. We, too, started Thanksgiving with stuffed artichokes, pasta — and then the whole American turkey dinner. We’ve stopped that too…and it’s not a bad thing. We eat enough pasta.
I’m second generation and it’s always been gravy in our house. We also start Thanksgiving with pasta; usually lasagna!
I’m 3rd generation. We called it sauce in our family. My grandpa (1st generation) also called it sauce. I never met my great grandparents (both from the Avellino area). My grandmother, who made the sauce (using my great grandmother’s recipe) was Jewish, so that could have influenced the change from gravy to sauce.
Fun video!
My mom made a ricotta, eggs, parsley, ham, and finely grated breadcrumb stuffing (she said it was her grandmother’s recipe) that she stuffed in the turkey every Thanksgiving. We all fought over the last piece every year. We also had lasagna for Thanksgiving as well as a huge spread other than the traditional American Thanksgiving spread. It was much more colorful than the orange and brown turkey foods I see most people eat on Thanksgiving. To this day, I cannot eat the traditional stuffing.
I’m a first generation (28 yrs. old) and I call it sauce…that word gravy just makes me cringe! hope you had a nice thanksgiving!
both my father and his siblings (first gen )and all of my cousins and I(second gen ) who live back and forth between Italy and the US call it sauce and when my neighbor asked for a pot for gravy I gave her a small pot (I was thinking of gravy like mash potatoes) – she said no a big pot for tomato gravy which made me laugh -I had never heard that before we live in Florida and DC
I am second generation Italian. We call it sauce. My family came here and settled in the mountains of Pennsylvania. In our family, gravy is something that goes with turkey and stuffing, not pasta.
2nd generation and it is sugo or sauce in my family…I grew up in N.E. PA…family hails from Umbria. All my friends from Philly and NJ called it gravy…..
IMy grandparents imigrated from Gavignano (outside of Rome) back in the 1920s and settled in northeastern Pennsylvania. It’s always been, and always will be, sauce to me!
We call it sauce. My nonna called it sauce to us, sugo among her siblings. She was born in the US but her brothers were born in Italy. Sugo was the common term with her generation. They emigrated from Basilicata to Ohio. I do think it’s mostly a NJ/NY thing to say gravy.
Sauce v gravy. Ny/nj call it sauce, not gravy. U guys r krazy.Gravy is for turkey.
I’m with you John…
Thought you might to see this link… http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080210113843AAuSmF6
and apparently the word GRAVY came from the French too, as a result of the Norman Conquest..
I’m 3rd generation. Gravy is brown and goes on roast or turkey… it’s an American term for me. Like most Italian immigrants, my great grandparents were from Naples. They first emigrated to Brazil, then to Brooklyn NY, then finally to Providence RI. My grandmother, the matriarch.. a real tough, fearless battle axe of a woman would get genuinely agitated when she heard “gravy” used. She said “cafones” (pronounced gah-vones) used the term gravy to describe the sauce. She made it every Saturday and served on Sunday in her 2nd floor tenement apartment. It had sausage, meatballs, and sometimes bracciole. All my uncles, aunts cousins would be there as well as the local pastor, who was Sicilian… he called it sauce, in his heavy accent. Although I do here a fair number of Italians here from Cranston, Johnston, Providence and North Providence call it “gravy.”I have to say, I am partial to sauce, my research leans that way and it just seems right. What’s more, I am afraid my nonna’s ghost will come back and give me a back-hander if I use gravy.
I am 2nd geration Italian. I grew up in NE Phila. I was born in South Phila. My entire family including my grandparents called it gravy.
My Thanksgiving is the seven coarse Italian meal with plenty of red wine. The Gnocchi are the third coarse after the wedding soup and anti-pasta. The bird comes a few hours after the pasta
It is definitely sauce.
When you are having turkey do you say pass the sauce?
Anything red to me is sauce and brown is gravy.