I never heard anyone call tomato sauce "gravy" until I moved to NJ, so I thougt it was just some strange NJ expression. In Brooklyn, among the american-born, it was "sauce." (I think my grandmother called it "sugo" if it had meat in it, but our generic English word was just "sauce.") Gravy was the brown thing served with Thanksgiving turkey that never showed up again till the next November.

You are right Ira. Here's the definition of gravy:

Gravy is a sauce made from meat juices, usually combined with a liquid such as chicken or beef broth, wine or milk and thickened with flour, cornstarch, or some other thickening agent. A gravy may also be the simple juices left in the pan after the meat, poultry, or fish has been cooked.

An old boyfriend from Brooklyn called it gravy too.

Sorry my last three years were spent in Spain so, I get mixed up when Ièm not careful, even worse Im from Montreal so I speak french allday and my wife is italian otherwise anyone with ONeill as last name would not be making homemade gnochi - bragiole. We are so insane for italian food we went to visit Roccos from the TV show Restaurant Very disapointing, my wife makes the best meatballs also

New question my wifeès family is from Naples region and she wants to visit the ancestral paese her mother always used to refer to Galuche GAA LOO shhh.
I have a michilen itally atlas and the closest thing I find which is near naples is gallucio, any idea if these could be the same

Two Cs in Galluccio.

Hi all,

the "gravy" term is strictly an East Coast thing. Don't know where it came from, but every Sunday dinner I had growing up, visiting the Italian boyfriend's house...his mama was making "da gravy". YO Vinne! And I might add, his grampa was downstairs in the cellar making "dago red", but that's another whole thread I guess.

Here on the West Coast, it's a whole different story! As a former East Coast girl, with a dating experience of having Sunday dinners with various EYE TALIAN boyfriends (and most times,long after the relationship ended I was still invited for dinner) it's entirely different in California!

Story: when I first got to CA, I was working in a law firm with a girl who was Italian. Finding out I had no where to go at Christmas, she insisted I must come to her house for dinner. I was at her parents house, and things were very "civilized" compared to my East Coast experiences. Dishes being passed, everyone quiet, polite, and when I was passed a plate of squid, I said "I'm sorry, I make it a policy not to eat anything with SUCKERS on it". That broke the mood and suddenly I was at a table with REAL Italians that I'd grown up with! Everyone laughing and pointing! Very fun. And my first experience with calamari (but not my last by any means)!

Melodie

Gravy is not used for a substitute sauce with Italian born here on the east coast.

"Gravy" is not used ALL over the east coast. It's used in some families and some neighborhoods. I was from Brooklyn and never heard "gravy" for tomato sauce until I moved to NJ. Just for fun we did a survey a few years ago on another forum re whether people had grown up saying "gravy" or "sauce." Most of the respondents had grown up on the east coast, not in rural areas, but the gravy vs sauce answers didn't seem to fall into any obvious patterns.

Seems like there is an amusing posting here every once in a while about someone who goes to Italy and thinks that "Prego!" (the brand of spaghetti sauce sold in the US) is the correct word in Italian.

Maccaroni is short pasta and Spaghetti long thin pasta. We never used the word pasta at all growing up. It was either maccaroni or spaghetti. Sauce was marinara and gravy was sauce with meat in it. Family was born and raised in Brooklyn. Call it what you want it was all good.

<<home made gnochi with bragiol italian sausage hard peperoni and even sometimes chicken wings>>

because of the absence of commas, I can't tell if "bragiol" is something separate from "italian sausage", or a modifier...

Care to clarify?

I had a maccheroni pie in a restaurant in Ferrara a few years ago -- the maccheroni looked just like what we used to call "elbow macaroni" in the US.

I think the menu said this pie was a specialty of Ferrara. It was very good -- ah, happy memories!

The only thing I can clarify is that this thread is making my heart miss Italy and my tummy hungry!

((U)), Tiff

On bragiole or braciole Im talking about that delicious parsley minced garlic rolled in thin steak or veal or pork tied with a string and cooked in sauce, normally like homemade gnochi reserved for special meals because its too much work for everyday unless of course your grandmom lives with you.

mj, macaroni is elbow. I love farfalle, what we called bow ties and campanelle that looks like bells. The Nidi-nests, are angel hair. Match larger, heavier pasta with thick or chunky sauces and smaller, thinner pastas with light sauces or soups(stelline, orzo, ditalini) and always al dente

"Gravy was the brown thing served with Thanksgiving turkey that never showed up again till the next November."

Well it's clear you didn't grow up in the midwest where no meat could be cooked without making gravy for it or the mashed potatoes that accompanied it. Fried chicken gravy, roast pork gravy, Swiss steak gravy, chicken-fried stead gravy, calves liver gravy -- you name it.

By the way, any of you other midwesterners grow up putting home made thick noodles (usually cooked in chicken stock) on top of your mashed potatoes?

You're right. I definitely did NOT grow up in the midwest.

My BIL had a roommate in college from NYC who called EVERYTHING sauce...salad dressing, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc. Always got a laugh out of that being a southernern transplanted to the midwest.

Do you call it soda or pop (sounds like paaaapp here).

Both - as in "soda pop". Soda is for baking (or for grandparents to brush their teeth with).