» Italian American culture tomato sauce

Respect Your Pasta

Joe — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:15:49 +0000

When you’re making pasta… please, please, please make sure to mix your pasta sauce (not gravy… you turkey) with your pasta before serving it! Don’t serve pasta with sauce just plopped on top.

Italians don't do this... mix your sauce with your pasta!

Sauce vs. Gravy Part 2

Joe — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:54:35 +0000

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.

Gravy vs. Sauce

Joe — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Well my last post certainly triggered some rants and stirred the pot a little…. I like that. It also got me thinking about a topic that I have always wanted to post about but it’s a monster of a debate, so I have stayed away …. until now. Maria from Philly mentioned it in her comment. The topic is “Gravy.” che cosa? exactly….. GRAVY.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, “Gravy” is a term that some Italian-Americans use to refer to their pasta sauce.

I’ll start with a sprinkle of what I think and add in a pinch of what I know.

What I think: The short answer is I think gravy is for turkeys… I’m not making fun, I just think it’s what you should have with turkey.. not pasta.

What I know: “Gravy” is not an Italian term (then again, neither is “sauce”.) It is however a legitimate Italian-American term in certain regions, so it has its place in Italian-American culture. If you are an Italian-American from New York or New Jersey… maybe even outside of that area you may refer to your pasta sauce as “Gravy”. I grew up in New England and as far as I know, Italian American’s in this area do not use the term.

I think the word “Gravy” may originate from a sauce that is made with meat. It’s common practice to make a tomato sauce starting with meat and then pull the meat out as a separate dish. The juice from the meat remains though…. so like making gravy, you’re using the juices from meat.

So the closest definition of “Gravy” in Italian would be Ragu, which is a meat based sauce.(not the porcheria you see in a jar at the supermarket)

What is Italian? Sugo, ragu, salsa di pomodoro
Look up sugo in an Italian/English dictionary and you’ll find both sauce and gravy (sugo di carne.) It is a lively debate. If you grew up using the term, you swear by it and if you didn’t it’s a crazy concept. Either way… buon appetito!

I’ll leave you with this little clip from the Sopranos… I just wanted to use the first part of it but couldn’t find a shorter version, so sorry for the profanity…. and play nice!

PS – Notice how the Italians think Paulie is cRaZy!

Thanks to rickyracoon2007 for the clip