"Gravy" or "sauce"? - Page 2

I've never heard anyone, outside of TV Italians and Italian wannabes, ever call anything tomato-based "gravy". 

I had never heard the term gravy until The Sopranos on HBO!!

My husband is nuts for that show.  His sister gave me the cookbook.

It's funny how the definitions depend on where you come from and what you learned while there!

For me - 

Gravy = any kind of pourable liquid that is based on the juices and seasonings of the item being cooked.

Sauce = any kind of pourable liquid that is made from scratch without the benefit of an item having been cooked to produce it.

---------

fair disclaimer - i've had a couple...

:P

Then you never lived or hung out in New York or Jersey or with wise guys. Although not his real name , they made a movie about a friend of mine named Donny Brasco!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

The older Sicilians who arrived in New York on Ellis Island and some who still live in the old neighborhoods still refer to it as GRAVY. and if you hung out with the guys from Brooklyn or Queens they would invite you over for "Sunday Familia Dinner" where grandma made the gravy that she started to cook the day before. Marinara on the other hand is a quick sauce concoction that was started when the men signaled the woman on shore, with raised flags on their boats that they had a catch and were coming in.

It is also known as Sunday Sauce pronounced sou-asse

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceMan 

I've never heard anyone, outside of TV Italians and Italian wannabes, ever call anything tomato-based "gravy". 

How old are you IceMan?  How many real, old-school Italian-Americans do you know?   My parents came off the boat when they were kids with their own families.  Most of the food words they used were italian (sugo, brodo, melanzane), but most of their friends were first generation.  I grew up with people who could have all been on the sopranos, though they weren't mafiosi, they just dressed, talked and acted at home like them.  Never saw a better, more sensitively described view of italian americans, and being one, i know.  

Most of these friends of my parents spoke no italian themselves, but their parents did.  They all said gravy.  all of them.  They'd all be in their 80s and 90s  or 100s by now if they were alive.  I imagine some of their kids picked it up too, some of my friends over there still say gravy, but most of them have been influenced by television and the new cooking fads and fashions, and are using balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes and other similar stuff, which was unheard of then and will use sauce.  Even in italy, except in the regions they come from.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

It is also known as Sunday Sauce pronounced sou-asse

  sounds so familiar!
 

Koukouvagia and Siduri you both nailed it.

    A lot of yonger people on the site won't remember these things. My insperation to get into cooking was my grandmothers neighbors .They made the  wine, The Sunday  Gravy or Sauce , Brassoile, sausage and meatballs. One time even had a live rabbit in their bathtub which later became dinner. I used to help her get the things ready for cooking. Her son in law  Al  went on to form Aiello Dairies and became a huge manufacturer of Riccotta and Mozzerella in New York area. Son in law  also bought a dairy farm in Flemington New Jersey that I stayed at. This was when Flemington was all farms, very few paved roads . This was back in mid fifties. They were great times.

Oh they're still around Siduri.  You should hear the crazy stuff I hear down at my nearest Italian deli.

Supersot (sopressatta)

Mazzerelle (mozzarella)

Brozchooot (prosciutto)

All vowels at the end of the word are sleeping with the fishes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

Oh they're still around Siduri.  You should hear the crazy stuff I hear down at my nearest Italian deli.

 

Supersot (sopressatta)

Mazzerelle (mozzarella)

Brozchooot (prosciutto)

 

All vowels at the end of the word are sleeping with the fishes.

LOL< that’s how my husband says them … he’s from Philly … I asked him if his family every used the term gravy and it was an emphatic, “NO !  People in Jersey and New York say that”.  It seems that there is quite the rivalry between them?  I’D NEVER KNOW, braddah, I from Hawaii.  You should see what they call Spaghetti there ….   

     And here in Sunny Florida  Lasagna is pronounced  Lazzagana, Bracciole is Brasseeolee.  Sopressatta  and Panchetta could be a disease , the natives  would not  know. Oh well this is only place I have ever seen Bologna and Soft Salami come in frozen

Thank you Siduri for noticing something I have posted. Now to answer your questions ... I am kinda old. My 50th is coming up this Saturday. NO, I'm not Irish. I grew up with half my life being exposed to old-school Italian-American Chicagoans. Much of my family on my father's side actually are "Soprano-types". I spent a lot of time in "gentleman's clubs" (private associations) that did not include any nude dancers or any type of lap-dances. They were filled with grey-suited guys smoking cigars drinking regular drinks without any fancy names. I learned a lot of my Italian cuisine from this time of my life. I'll put my braciole up on the table with any. There will be none of mine left at the end of the meal. Anyway, including my time in Sicily, I've only heard the term "gravy" used twice; once by "Paulie Walnuts" on the "The Sopranos", and once by a Chicago-Irish co-worker trying to sound Italian. Also, I've never heard of "Sunday sauce". Everything I ever made or ate was as good as it was all the time, every time. I'm not calling anyone out with this post, I'm just explaining what I know and have experienced. Thank you for listening. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Bada bada boom,  forgetaboutit

I'm usually listening, iceman.  Maybe it's just chicago. 

My family was from tuscany, so they spoke real italian, if archaic.  Prosciutto, ricotta, capocollo - but their friends were from "bassitalia" and had dialects, and the first generationers there all spoke americanizations of dialects.  Pretty funny.  Koukouvagia hit it.  Boston is not so far from Noo Yawk!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

     ...Sopressatta  and Panchetta could be a disease , the natives  would not  know. ..

Haha!

What amazes me about Italians is that almost none of the Italian Americans I know actually speak Italian.  It's like they move to America and let go of the language.  It's quite different than Greeks.  Greek american kids all speak greek, even 2nd generation.  Greek is the only language spoken at home and everyone attends greek school.  I wonder why there is such a big difference between the 2 cultures. 

KK, my Dad’s grandmother was fresh off the boat from the Azores. 

The family made sure that they learned English real quick and then it was forbidden to speak Portuguese. 

Every once in awhile Grandma would slip and Grandpa would scold her. 

When I asked her about this, she said, “We’re Americans now”.   

My husband said that his family was the exact same way from Italy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

KK, my Dad’s grandmother was fresh off the boat from the Azores. 

The family made sure that they learned English real quick and then it was forbidden to speak Portuguese. 

Every once in awhile Grandma would slip and Grandpa would scold her. 

When I asked her about this, she said, “We’re Americans now”.   

My husband said that his family was the exact same way from Italy.

 

I can understand that but it also makes me a little sad.  It sounds like it was a decision made out of fear and necessity.  It's not like that with Greeks, way too narcissistic.  I grew up hearing my mother tell me on several occasions "you are not like those american kids."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

I can understand that but it also makes me a little sad.  It sounds like it was a decision made out of fear and necessity.  It's not like that with Greeks, way too narcissistic.  I grew up hearing my mother tell me on several occasions "you are not like those american kids."

 

Again, Koukouvagia, another similarity.  My parents were the same.  I think for many of the families we knew the immigrants had such a hard time in america that they didn;t want their kids to have the same hard time and be stigmatized, so they only spoke english at home.  But my parents were a little different, and a later generation of immigrants, going over in the 20s.  My mother would speak italian to me when she wanted to speak badly about "Americans" and not let them understand, and would speak Italian when she didn;t want me to understand when she was talking to my father about something i was not supposed to know.  I could understand it but never spoke it till i came to italy. 

At work, the club I work for you Must speak English, which I think is very good.  If I were going to live in Italy or Greece I would do my utmost to learn the language, even prior to moving there as well as the customs.  I always used to tell the staff that" we are going to pay you in the currency of the language that you speak." My how quickly they learned  to speak english,

LOL, chefed... 

A few days ago I made tomato sauce with San Marzano canned tomatoes, but I added meatballs and sweet as well as hot Italian Sausages. 

I must say that it tasted WAY better to me and my American-Italian husband than a "plain" marinara or quick tomato sauce, if you will.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

A few days ago I made tomato sauce with San Marzano canned tomatoes, but I added meatballs and sweet as well as hot Italian Sausages. 

I must say that it tasted WAY better to me and my American-Italian husband than a "plain" marinara or quick tomato sauce, if you will.

That's what they call "gravy"

Jersey Style!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWvlcs1IJcw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHXZLR0BYnk

for pasta, i would have thought it was a sauce you use, like tomato sauce etc. I usually would associate gravy with dishes such as beef and chicken. There completely different things!

definitions;

Sauce - Thick liquid served with food, usually savory dishes, to add moistness and flavor

Gravey - The fat and juices exuding from meat during cooking. A sauce made from these juices together with stock and other ingredients.

My Nonnie who's parents came here from italy called red sauce gravy as do I.  

Let me ask you dave, are you from New York or New Jersey? 

'cause it seems to me that that's where this all revolves back to

don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing 

gravy or sauce, either way it says DELICIOUS to me!

Not only new york, kaneohegirlinaz, but also boston - maybe the northeast. 

My Nonnie was raised in Central Pa.  I was born in wash dc.  Her parents did come here from italy though.

OMG (oh my gravy, HA!) talking about…

I buy my San Marzano canned tomatoes at Sprouts

They were $5.99/28 oz can!

Well, I guess I just have to bite the bullet

It taste good, it’s better than most of those jarred “sauces,”

And I can control the amount of salt, oil, etc.

And then I can turn around and make “Sunday Gravy” with the meats we like

Mangiamo !!

Confession: me hates san marzano canned tomatoes.  I've tried every type I can find and still hate them.  Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes are my top pick.

You know KK, I think that I could say that I’ve tried every brand of canned tomatoes that I could find, even store brands, and funny, I use the Muir Glen fire roasted for chili and some of my soup recipes and then the San Marzano (the one I find at Sprouts, forget the name off hand) for Sauce or Gravy if you will. 
Maybe there’s a Molecular Scientist in our midst who could explain that one…