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.
if it’s red and has meat it’s gravy
2nd generation Italian
My grandparents immigrated from Italy and they always called it macaroni and gravy,as did my parents. I also used gravy growing up,but over the years have assimilated to the more “American”sauce. Thanksgiving was always an all day event at the table,starting with an antipasta,then the turkey and all the dressings,then dessert,then lasagne and more dessert,etc.
My Father was born in Italy as his parents were also born in Italy. “Gravy”goes on “Turkey”or “Beef”. If it’s red and you pour it on pasta,it’s “Sauce”.
OR –you could just go pick up any jar or can that’s labeled “Gravy”and pour it on your pasta! THEN YOU’LL SEE! LOL
Second generation. Always called it “gravy”…grew up in New Jersey. Italian grandparents from Province of Salerno. Thanksgiving was always Italian first (antipasto,pasta,meatballs,etc.) followed by turkey and trimmings and lots of grandpa’s homemade vino! Great times and memories.
Ok I have to put an end to this! Being an ex chef the deffinition of a gravy is made up from meat and its drippings or fat. We aggree on it soo far look it up and then follow me with this.A sauce is a base used to make your gravy ! I fry my meats put them on the side then with the meat fats saute garlic &onions add my (tomato sauce!!!)basil salt and pepper then add back all my meats and cook for 2 hours low temp. So now if thats not a gravy you gotta be aoutta your mind forgettabout it!
I agree with Jesse. A gravy is made with meat drippings. Pasta with sauce is made with tomatoes that never touched any meat. PASTA SAUCE
MACARONI GRAVY 2nd generation Italian from Rhode Island. The holidays at my grandparents farm started Thanksgiving Eve day. My Nonno would buy 50lb sacks of chestnuts,peanuts,and assorted fruits,as well as figs,cheeses,nuts.This was the only time of the year that we were treated to soda. Thanksgiving dinner always started with anti-pasto “wedding soup”full Italian meal and then the turkey dinner.
Well I was raised by my maternal grandparents..Anna and Nicolas Matteucci and our family always called that red stuff you put on your monies “gravy”..cause I remember asking for extra gravy with mine…This was back in Newark,New Jersey in the 50′s. My grandpa was from Rome and my grandma (Nonnie) her parents were from Naples and she was born in Jersey at the turn of the century..guess that makes me second and third generation…Every Thanksgiving,and now it is 2011,we have a big try of lasagne before the turkey and all of the other Thanksgiving splender…thanks for the chance to tell my story…Barbara
Gravy is meat sauce. When you don’t eat meat on fridays you use the marinara and you save the gravy for Sunday.
I am not Italian nor from NY or NJ. I am a mid-western farm raised boy. Gravy is made with a thickening agent –flour,cornstarch,etc. Sauce is made from about any kind of liquid from cooking about anything;it is just made without flour;can be cooked down to make it thicker.
you can call it whatever you want but the definition of gravy is sauce made with the juice from the fat of meat…GRAVY all the way,it make it soiund think and dellicious when i think of sauce i think of a red colored water,but to each your own
Did anyone think of looking p the definitions?
Gravy:
The fat and juices that drip from cooking meat,often thickened,seasoned,flavored,etc.,and used as a sauce for meat,potatoes,rice,etc.
Origin:
1350–1400;Middle English gravé,gravey <Old French gravé,perhaps misreading of grané (compare grain spice) <Latin gran?tus full of grains.
Sauce:
1. Any preparation,usually liquid or semiliquid,eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.
2. Stewed fruit,often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat,dessert,or other food:cranberry sauce.
3. Something that adds piquance or zest.
Origin:
1300–50;Middle English <Middle French <Late Latin salsa,noun use of feminine of Latin salsus salted,past participle of sallere to salt,derivative of s?l salt.
In conclusion,If it is made with a meat base it is a gravy used as a sauce otherwise it is a sauce. BOTH can be made as a Jus!!
Wales,UK
Sauce is a wide,encompassing term. All gravies are sauces,but not all sauces are gravies.
Gravy,specifically,is a liquid made with the juices/fat drippings from meat,often mixed with a thickener and sometimes strained. Stock,milk or cream can be added and it would still be a gravy,but add anything more complex and you’ve changed it to a sauce. Gravies also usually just add a simple flavor,as an enhancer (not a primary flavor),or they are meant to prevent dryness (of cooked meats).
A tomato sauce for pasta made with meat or meat drippings would still be “sauce”because the flavors and textures are more complex. For example,tomato sauce for pasta dramatically changes the flavor of a dish,whereas a brown gravy for a roast beef dish is more of an “enhancer”than a primary flavor (i.e. the beef is still the primary flavor).
If it is made with meat in the process it is gravy,otherwise it is sauce.
I’m a fourth generation Italian with my mom and dad both having German and Italian heritage and they have always known the stuff you put on pasta has gravy as have I. My dad always likes to say the “real”Italians call it gravy.
I have had this argument with my hubby and his mother for the last 14 yrs!!!! I call it sauce and so has my family for years on years and his mother calls it gravy!!! It irritates me so bad!!!!! Lmao
Sauce is red and gravy is brown!!!!!
Love the gravy vs. sauce discussion. My first husband was italian american –his parents grew up in Brooklyn. My family was German/Swedish/Irish. Culture collision! I have vivid memories of my first fancy dinner at their home. First course was melon &proscuitto (pronouced “prazshjutt”),then tortolini &brodo (with grated romano cheese sprinkled on it). then came the giant ravioli. His mom asked me if I wanted gravy on them. ???? Why would I want gravy on my ravioli? I declined. then I saw them all put tomato sauce on their ravioli. I was offered more ravioli. Assuming this was the main course I said yes –with gravy this time. After 6 enormouse ravioli and a bulging tummy,the roast was brought out and served with –you guessed it –sauce (or gravy as I grew up knowing it to be). We spent hours at the table that night. After the roast,potatoes,vegetables there were nuts,fruit and then desert,coffee and apertifs. Not once did my future father in law get up from the table to carry a dish.
As much as I was happy to be away from that family I did learn how to prepare Italian food. ;o)