Liquid in curry - gravy or sauce?

[Peppertrail]

What would you call the liqiud in a curry dish- gravy or sauce? And why?

The Prentice Hall dictionary of culinary terms defines gravy as a suace made from meat or poultry juices combined with liquid (milk, broth or wine) and thickening agent (flour or corn starch). It defines sauce as a thickened liquid or semiliquid preparation used to flavor and enhance other foods. Braising is defined as a combination cooking method in which foods are first browned in hot fat, then covered and slowly coked in a small amount of liquid over low heat.

Some Indian curries are prepared using the braising method. In the preparation of many other curries meats or vegetables, especially vegetables, are cooked in water and then thickening ingredients such as cooked and pureed legumes or yogurt or coocnut milk and spice blends are added. What would be the appropriate term to describe the resulting thickened liquid in a curry - sauce, gravy or braising liquid?

[Milagai]

Hi Peppertrail. great to hear from you.

I call it "gravy" because that's the terminology

I was raised with.

I don't get the "sauce" thing.

People I've asked say that "sauce"

is drizzled over or under the food.

(I then start thinking "ketchup").

The "curry gravy" doesn't at all work like that,

as you have described....

Braising liquid sounds too technical for

quick common speech, and sounds like

something you may discard, rather than

an intrinsic part of the dish.

(A cookbook in the making? she said hopefully)

Milagai

[chow guy]

Hi Peppertrail. great to hear from you.

I call it "gravy" because that's the terminology

I was raised with.

I don't get the "sauce" thing.

People I've asked say that "sauce"

is drizzled over or under the food.

(I then start thinking "ketchup"). 

The "curry gravy" doesn't at all work like that,

as you have described....

Braising liquid sounds too technical for

quick common speech, and sounds like

something you may discard, rather than

an intrinsic part of the dish.

(A cookbook in the making? she said hopefully)

Milagai

←

Interesting, many of my Italian friends in New York, similarly call their tomato sauce gravy, instead of sauce.

[scott123]

I use both 'gravy' and 'sauce' when refering to the liquid component of curries. Since gravy has such a strong association with meat/poultry (and flour) I would say sauce might be a better choice for vegetable curries.

[Milagai]

I use both 'gravy' and 'sauce' when refering to the liquid component of curries. Since gravy has such a strong association with meat/poultry (and flour) I would say sauce might be a better choice for vegetable curries.

←

Well:

You can have the same gravy for a meat/poultry OR

a veggie dish. It can be the exact same dish, except

for the "main ingredient" (eg chicken makhani or paneer makhani; etc.).

In the Indian cooking vocabulary, all the wet stuff is gravy,

and flour is almost never used to thicken.

The word "sauce" is only used by those trying to communicate

with people not familiar with Indian food....

(otherwise it's something ketchupy).

Milagai

[ghostrider]

Interesting, many of my Italian friends in New York, similarly call their tomato sauce gravy, instead of sauce.

←

That's true in Jersey also; I suspect it's a regional usage. I understand it as much as I understand why they pronounce capicolla "gabba-gool"; which is to say, I understand it not at all. But I digress.

I've always used the braising method to make curries, and never added thickeners, going for a natural reduction. From my American perspective, "braising liquid reduction" is accurate but far too unwieldy. I'd be more likely to refer to it as "sauce" than as "gravy" - gravy to me is something that you make separately & then pour over stuff - but neither seems entirely accurate. Really, it is what it is, and at the moment of serving, I would simply call it "this."

[Pan]

To me, this seems purely semantic, or perhaps more accurately, a function of how words are used by different English-speakers living or coming from different regions. Ammini, based on your definition, the sauce from a chicken/potato curry would be a "gravy," because it contains poultry juice, liquid (whether from tomatoes, yogurt, or something else), and a thickening agent (potatoes). But not to me. Within my family, I use the Malay word "kuah," which means the liquid part of most any dish, but when speaking English, I'd use "sauce" or "liquid." I restrict the word "gravy" to the liquid from baked poultry or meat, especially if such liquid is combined with other ingredients to increase its viscosity (there's that "thickening agent") on the stovetop. I don't consider stews cooked on the stove (which would include curries) to have "gravy."

[Peppertrail]

Pan, ghostrider, scott123, chow guy & milagai: Thanks so much for your replies.

Pan, I was only quoting the definitions from Dictionary of culinary terms. Personally I prefer using "sauce" instead of "gravy". I just wanted to know the general consensus about this terminology.

ghostrider, I agree "braising liquid reduction" would be too technical a term.

Scott123, I agree. I also associate gravyy with something served with meats.

chow guy, Italians and Indians use the term gravy similarly. Interesting.

Milagai: I understand most cookbooks published in India refer to the liquid in curries as gravy; at the same time most Indian cookbooks published in the US refer to it as sauce.