Gravy

[caroline]

Yesterday a Mexican friend told me that she loved chicken with "salsa gravy." And a dozen images flashed through my mind.

Gravy in the British Empire

Gravy over plate lunches in Hawaii

Chile gravy in Robb Walsh's Tex-Mex book

Dim memories of Indians using gravy as a synonym for "curry"

Gravy mixes (yuk)

The Oxford English Dictionary helpfully comments that the word "gravy" is of obscure origin.

Obscure maybe. But potent. Just how far has the word gravy spread? And does it always include flour or a roux?

Rachel

[Holly Moore]

In South Philly gravy is tomato sauce.

[Squeat Mungry]

Redeye gravy has no roux: just ham grease (or bacon grease), black coffee, salt and pepper. Yum yum! Eat it on your grits, or just on bread.

Squeat

[Carrot Top]

To my (ex) Italian MIL and many other natives of Italy I've known, 'gravy' means ragu (they also say something that sounds like ooraoo which means the same thing) which of course is any variety of a tomato sauce.

'Cream Gravy' has no roux or thickener...it is just cream poured into the pan to deglaze the drippings of a sauteed pork chop or slice of ham...and it is heaven itself....

[andiesenji]

And sausage gravy is........... simply sublime.

[fifi]

Yesterday a Mexican friend told me that she loved chicken with "salsa gravy." And a dozen images flashed through my mind.

Oh dear. That reminds me of a chicken dish that I haven't made in a while. It is pretty much cooked down salsa. Yes... for this I have been known to use the stuff in the jar.

And I always dream of sausage gravy... the little brown specks that have broken off of the crispy sausage patties... lots of black pepper... SWOON!

But, my mystery of the week is how in the heck to get a good brown gravy to serve with meatloaf. There is this commercial for some kind of antacid where the lady is serving a great looking meatloaf and this lovely brown gravy.

[patti]

My family's favorite gravies are maybe more 'au jus' than gravy. For roast beef, pork chops, or round steak, no roux or slurry is added to thicken. The hard part is that sometimes there is less gravy than one would optimally desire. Disclaimer: I am just a regular old home cook, no special skills or specialized education other than from cookbooks, cooking shows, and life experience.

[Suzanne F]

In South Philly gravy is tomato sauce.

Among New York City Italians, too.

fifi: if you ever go to southern Vermont, stop in Wilmington (Route 9, halfway between Bennington and Brattleboro) at Dot's. I don't know how authentic their sausage gravy and biscuit is, but oh! is it goooooooooooood. If you get it with the eggs and home fries, you need not eat again until the next day (almost ).

[Katherine]

But, my mystery of the week is how in the heck to get a good brown gravy to serve with meatloaf. There is this commercial for some kind of antacid where the lady is serving a great looking meatloaf and this lovely brown gravy.

Meatloaf doesn't provide decent drippings to make a good gravy. Cheat and make a brown sauce.

[Suzanne F]

But, my mystery of the week is how in the heck to get a good brown gravy to serve with meatloaf. There is this commercial for some kind of antacid where the lady is serving a great looking meatloaf and this lovely brown gravy.

Meatloaf doesn't provide decent drippings to make a good gravy. Cheat and make a brown sauce.

Oh, gosh, mine usually does; I make it in a bread pan. But also way too much extra fat, so the runoff has to be carefully separated. I can often just add a little beef stock to the degreased juices, burr mix it with a hand blender to break up the clumps of protein, and then either whisk that into a roux or whisk in a slurry and boil it.

[Gifted Gourmet]

did someone say "gravy"???

Newest thread on southern favorite: red eye gravy!

[patti]

In South Philly gravy is tomato sauce.

I guess we'd sound redundant to you here in south Louisiana when we call it red gravy to differentiate it from regular (brown) gravy.

FiFi, my husband prefers red gravy with his meatloaf, so I rarely have that problem, but when I've attempted a brown meatloaf gravy, I've used a little beef stock and/or roux to help it along, in addition to a bit of the pan drippings. Personally, I prefer meatloaf without gravy, and better yet, leftover the next day in a sandwich.

[TheFoodTutor]

I'd have to agree with those who are a little weirded out by descriptions of a variety of sauces as "gravy."

Gravy to me is a meat-based, pan-dripping sauce, thickened with cornstarch or flour, to adorn the original meat product or the potatoes alongside it.

A meat sauce thickened by reduction, instead of the addition of starch, is a demi-glace.

And I have no idea what would inspire anyone to call a tomato sauce "gravy." Chacun a son gout, as they say.

Anyway, I've seen inappropriate descriptions of certain sauces, referred to as gravy, on Asian menus and others. I always just assumed it came from poor translation out of a book, and that could very well explain certain Italian immigrants calling their tomato sauces gravy as well.

[JasonCampbell]

In my simple Welsh mind whenever I’m making a sauce I’m either making a gravy or a custard, unless it’s a marinade. So basically anything thickened with egg is custard, anything not thickened with egg is gravy. French dressing is a marinade, salsa is raw, chutney is what it becomes if you heat it.

I make no claims for the validity of my definitions beyond the confines of my own mind.

[stovetop]

Jason there is always more then one way to skin a cat but nameing that process always seems to end up in semantics. Gravy, sauce whatever as a chef I understand what you mean, is that not the goal??

Happy Gravy making

yum

steve

Edited August 22, 2004 by stovetop (log)

[Carrot Top]

In my simple Welsh mind whenever I’m making a sauce I’m either making a gravy or a custard, unless it’s a marinade. So basically anything thickened with egg is custard, anything not thickened with egg is gravy. French dressing is a marinade, salsa is raw, chutney is what it becomes if you heat it.

I make no claims for the validity of my definitions beyond the confines of my own mind.

:laugh I love that last line...

As James Thurber wrote: Looks can be deceiving-it's eating that's believing.

[TheFoodTutor]

I've had some cups of coffee that could be described as "gravy."

Mmmmm. Chewy.

[Mayhaw Man]

In New Orleans red sauce is often called Spaghetti Gravy.

[caroline]

Is red sauce or red gravy what I would call tomato sauce? Is it the case that Italian immigrants just assumed gravy meant sauce and thus used gravy for tomato-based sauces?

Rachel

[Carrot Top]

Is red sauce or red gravy what I would call tomato sauce? Is it the case that Italian immigrants just assumed gravy meant sauce and thus used gravy for tomato-based sauces?

Rachel

I read something on this in a food history book sometime in the past...and it said that it is just one of those cultural phenomenas that occur when a group of immigrants to a country is learning the language.

When the huge influx of Italians came to America around the turn of the century, the word 'gravy' started being used by them to descibe their tomato sauce, (which resembles 'our' gravy in that it is ladled over pastas and meats as we ladle ours over potatoes and meats...) to the other people in the neighborhood who did not understand what they were talking about.

Slang, an adopted word, pure and simple.

And as for tomato sauces...gee, I can not remember EVER having had a bad one! Can you?!

[patti]

Gravy to me is a meat-based, pan-dripping sauce, thickened with cornstarch or flour, to adorn the original meat product or the potatoes alongside it.

Ah. See, how we differ? We serve gravy over rice, as opposed to potatoes. Occasionally we have gravy over mashed potatoes, but on a day-to-day basis, gravy is for rice.

A meat sauce thickened by reduction, instead of the addition of starch, is a demi-glace.

I can see it now, on place lunch menu boards across Acadiana: Rice 'n Demi-glace Special!

And I have no idea what would inspire anyone to call a tomato sauce "gravy."

Prolly their mamas and daddies.

[TheFoodTutor]

And as for tomato sauces...gee, I can not remember EVER having had a bad one! Can you?!

You have obviously never been to my ex-mother-in-law's.

And patti, terrific observations on the English language. Everyone has their own interpretation of every word.

For instance, is a myriad more than a plethora, or less?

[Farbunkle]

Having been born and raised in the North and living most of my adult life in the South I can appreciate the nuances of Northern gravy and southern gravy. One is meat based and one is coffee or tomato based. They are ALL delicious! As a totally food addicted person the only thing I can say here is ...don't argue the trivia...just enjoy the differences.

[tryska]

But, my mystery of the week is how in the heck to get a good brown gravy to serve with meatloaf. There is this commercial for some kind of antacid where the lady is serving a great looking meatloaf and this lovely brown gravy.

my last gravy for meatloaf - i made with "better than buillion" beef flavor - a tablespoon of that simmered in a cup i think of water.

well actually first i made a roux, cooked mushrooms in it, and then added the "stock". simple, yummy, tasted good with meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

oh and to me, gravy is any sort of saucelike liquid that's the end result of cooking meat. :D (this includes curries, ragu, and traditional "gravies")

Edited August 24, 2004 by tryska (log)

[cakes]

And as for tomato sauces...gee, I can not remember EVER having had a bad one! Can you?!

You have obviously never been to my ex-mother-in-law's.

And patti, terrific observations on the English language. Everyone has their own interpretation of every word.

For instance, is a myriad more than a plethora, or less?

That's easy. A plethora is more than you need and a myriad is more than you can imagine.