[renielarson]

In my family, gravy is only made with meat drippings, flour, milk and/or water. It's served over mashed potatoes or, my favorite, over chicken fried steak (making the gravy from the beef drippings). It's also used as a thickener and flavor for sheperd's pie or chicken pot pie only if it's flavored with the meat used in the dish. I think of sausage gravy and biscuits too...YUM!

To me, gravy is made by thickening meat juices. Sauces are all others...especially tomato based.

I don't really care what we call it...gravy or sauce. I love both!

[JohnnyM]

Read the can:
ALL NATURAL SICILIAN TOMATO SAUCE = Gravy!

[Russ_Boston]

From the dictionary:

Gravy - the fat and juices that drip from cooking meat, often thickened, seasoned, flavored, etc

Therefore if it you start it with the fat from the cooking meat then it's gravy. If it is simply tomato marinara then it is sauce.


But I'm from RI Italian so we ALWAYS make it with meat and it is always called GRAVY!

[barb1191]

I guess it's a geographical thingy depending upon where you and your ancestors hail from it's sauce or gravy.

It's kinda a thingy like....."Ont" or "Ant" or Ontie Bessie or Antie Bessie, huh?

Well, we in Boston say Ahnt like cahn't. Then we also say Havad Squaya.

Oops, I think I digressed; did I digress Boomer? [Boomer sez I digressed....big time.]

ciao......b

[Russ_Boston]

From a strictly culinary point - Gravy is a form of sauce. It is a type of sauce that is started from meat drippings and thickened. So it may be geographical as to what people say but technically it is gravy if made from meat.

But you want catch me calling it gravy in a restaurant - they look at you funny!

[Boomer]

Originally Posted by barb1191

I guess it's a geographical thingy depending upon where you and your ancestors hail from it's sauce or gravy.

It's kinda a thingy like....."Ont" or "Ant" or Ontie Bessie or Antie Bessie, huh?

Well, we in Boston say Ahnt like cahn't. Then we also say Havad Squaya.

Oops, I think I digressed; did I digress Boomer? [Boomer sez I digressed....big time.]

ciao......b

Yes, Barb, you did digress. But that's OK. At least you did not start talking about some old boyfriend right in the middle of "The Village Kitchen" thread.

I probably need to stay out of the kitchen. That's where my computer is, you know.

Anyway, you can digress along with me any old time. I like your accent. If you heard me talk, you would probably think that I sound just a little bit southern. (That's what those guys from Cleveland used to tell me.) -- Buckeye accents will vary.

Oh my. I am digressing again. I am supposed to be in here cleaning up the kitchen. Late supper tonight.

Boomer

[Whalen]

OK this is my take.
Grew up in South Brooklyn, in an Italian neighborhood.
Marinara is sauce, tomatos, garlic, herbs cook 30 - 45 minutes.
Gravy, ummm, Sunday, tomatos, through a Mouli food mill, paste, meatballs, sausage, some form of pork, ribs, neck bones, beef braciola (Spell?)
start cooking in the morning had dinner after Mass, usually about 2.
And nobody ate pasta, it was macaroni.


Have a local restaurant that does Grandma's Sunday Gravy on sunday and serves it family style.

[TallerTrees]

Sicilians do their sauce lumpy or puree. Yuk. Northern Italians have sauce and it is smooth unless marinara style, which is NOT puree.

Just a few of the finer points you might like to know Don't ask for recipes in my house. It's all done without measures.

[Donna]

Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe courtesy Mario Batali

Show: Molto Mario Episode: Basic Pasta Sauces

Mario calls it sauce too...

[Yoda]

iT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW iTALIAN YOU ARE. GRAVY!!

[Donna]

100% Italian is as Italian as they come..SAUCE!

[scottke]

My Italian husband says gravy and I'm Irish and I say sauce - now who is right

[Bryan]

You say "potato", someone else (not me) says "patato" - yada, yada, yada. If it tastes good, eat it!

On that intellectual note, I will say I always thought of "gravy" as brown stuff like on "potatoes and gravy" or "roast beef and gravy" and I always associated "sauce" with Italian (i.e. Marianna Sauce) and French cooking.

[chelsea24]

Talked to a friend of mine last night and most of her family is from Italy, some still live there -- It seems like this is a debate that even goes on in Italy and quite heated! My understanding is that it's a Regional thing.

[Halle]

We lived in Sicily for three years just outside of Catania, a small town called Motta St. Anastasia and all the locals called it sauce. Of course the Italians from the mainland and the Sicilians couldn't even understand each other half the time because of the local dialect, so my bet is that it is regional. If you ever visit Sicily go into one of the local Bars and order a ravioli you will be very surprised at what you get. Sure would love a cannoli right now.