Comments on: Sauce vs. Gravy Part 2

By: Susie T

Susie T — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:15:30 +0000

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)

By: Patricia M

Patricia M — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:53:28 +0000

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!!!!!

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:40:38 +0000

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.

By: Rocco

Rocco — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 22:45:35 +0000

If it is made with meat in the process it is gravy, otherwise it is sauce.

By: John D.

John D. — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:32:04 +0000

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).

By: Paul Ked

Paul Ked — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:09:03 +0000

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

By: joe

joe — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:34:04 +0000

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

By: Ed

Ed — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:46:06 +0000

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.

By: Jimi

Jimi — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:42:57 +0000

Gravy is meat sauce. When you don’t eat meat on fridays you use the marinara and you save the gravy for Sunday.

By: Barbara "Matteucci" Krieg-Kitzis

Barbara "Matteucci" Krieg-Kitzis — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:18:39 +0000

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