Now that most of us have had our Thanksgiving turkey, I'd like to ask:
1) What kind of gravy do your people cook?;
2) What is typical gravy for your part of the country?

My own story: My Ohio in-laws prefer a gravy that is watery, colorless and virtually tasteless. Since the death of my mother-in-law, my dutiful wife has traveled to Ohio and made the Thanksgiving dinner. Association with my family has led her to cook a thicker, heartier, darker gravy. The in-laws do not approve. So what's the situation in your part of the world?

Can't speak for the whole area, but in my suburban Chicago home, gravy only comes into play on Thanksgiving, when the making of it is regarded with awe. We usually arrive at something thick and tasty with the pan juices, giblets, turkey broth and flour coming into play. However, it takes a long time and requires two stove burners to accomplish, so NEXT year I plan to PURCHASE gravy from the gourmet store to make all the last-minute madness go smoother!

Well, I grew up in a PA Dutch (but not Amish!) family and never knew about non homemade gravy until I went away to college. Both my parents still make fabulous chicken, turkey or beef gravy, lots of rich flavor (not just salt), medium texture, neither runny nor thick, no lumps. I had dinners with homemade gravy at least twice a week growing up and never realized how unusual that was until I left home. I also never had anything but homemade mashed potatoes, homemade waffles, chocolate chip cookies, cakes, icing, pies etc. I'm 39, and very glad I grew up in a home that didn't rely on processed food. We weren't a farm family (actually we were a Bethlehem Steel family) but we knew and liked good, fresh food. Still do!

Of course, regionalism be damned ... a good gravy is preceded by a great stock ... intensely favorable, and crystal clear (clarified in the tradition of the Bordeaulais, with egg whites as employed to clear the great reds in their caves). Being Thanksgiving, the crucial element ... the perfect turkey neck, actually eight or ten of the horrid things slowly simmered with herbs and vegs of your choice, skimming all the way. You may then reduce it and bottle it for the "day of the gravy" ... but if you do, you must not cap the jar in the frig while the stock is warm (or it will sour), and every three days you must reboil your product (jump back Sarah M.!) to keep it safe. Now, you may divert to your region of choice, equipped with the mainstay for that parochial gravy. Ah, call me if a slot opens on FoodTV ... I could've been a contender. Ciao

Leone, you can apply for a show right away. Tired of that big-headed Emiril. And if my husband gives me any more grief, I'm going to audition you for another line of work.

There are a certain group of I-talians in New Jersey who refer to their spaghetti sauce as 'gravy'.

But not being an I-talian I prefer my gravy dark and not lumpy - like my women.

Most Italians I know always refer to tomato sauce as "gravy," not just those in NJ (where, coincidentally, I grew up).

For us in New England (if I can assume I speak for us all), gravy is as others have described it: based on pan juices - fat skimmed off, naturally - thick and brownish, minimal lumps.

If you think North Jersey is the only place where Italians call spaghetti sauce "gravy," then you need to get out more.

"Gravy" is pretty much accepted by Italian-Americans to mean what everyone else calls "sauce."

By the way, Italian-Americans consider "I-talian" to be derogatory, not funny. I'll excuse your using it and write it off to ignorance.

Cousins are half Italian living in the Bay Area always have referred to pasta sauce as gravy.

Okay, is pecan pronounced pee-can, or pa-con?

I am a certified nut and most certified nuts find 'pee-can' derogatory. My vegetable (and fruit) friends feel the same about po-tah-toe and toe-mah-to.

But you know what? We nuts, fruits and vegetables try to maintain our sense of humor about the whole thing and not get all p.c. on each other.

Sarah, I'm giggling ... and people are wondering why I'm standing on my desk. When I'm not cooking or being value-added on Fodors, I'm a devil on the dance floor. I'm also an in-law entertainer extraordinaire. In other words, key elements in life's survivial kit. Grazie for the laugh, and ciao.

Sorry, Leone. I've decided to nix my offer. Give Martha Stewart a call. Chow.

I grew up in NC.Grandmother made gravy with "fat back"-not appealing to me anymore, but I did like it then!It was really salty. Now I make my own according to sauces tasted in Paris.."Gravy"-when I was 19 I visited Brooklyn and my Italian boyfriends family-I was amazed when they said they were making gravy for the spaghetti!!!

I am from the South and I never had gravy on turkey until I was in college. Gravy was reserved for biscuits in the morning and not much else. This could have just been my family, but gravy and poultry did not mix. The gravy that was placed on the biscuits was awful; this sort of grayish, lumpy stuff. I like northern gravy, which seems to be much darker and not at all lumpy. Also, my family ate a lot of chocolate gravy, which has very little relation to regular gravy except that they both share one or two ingredients. It tastes like wonderfully warm chocolate pudding yet a little thicker, and therefore, more substantive.

Forget the gravy and bring on the noodles. Last year we did a big group Thanksgiving and friend Ann from central Indiana brought her homemade noodles. We cooked them in the turkey broth, and their flour coating made a very thick noodle-laden gravy which we served over the homemade mashed potatoes. My grandmother in Ohio used to do the same thing. Our New England guests were appalled, "one starch poured over another?" What else is gravy but essentially a starch? Those homemade noodles in gravy over the mashed potatoes made that dinner! We missed them this year, but Ann was with family in Indiana -- eating noodles again no doubt.

What about the gravy made from ham..all watery and salty--yuck! My favorites have been, since living in NY, the thick turkey gravy that I can only get in diners on hot turkey sandwiches...maybe that is the clue-Greeks are gravy masters?

I'm from Kentucky and I agree with Dawn. We didn't have gravy over mashed potatoes or meat when growing up. We had white "Milk Gravy" the lumpy thick kind over biscuits for breakfast and that was it with the exception of Thanksgiving. I never had brown gravy thick or thin till I moved away. I think this is a very northern thing, think Yankee Pot Roast with brown gravy. For Thanksgiving we did have Giblet Gravy which was as thin as water an a clear to light yellow (very transparent) and had pieces of cut up eggs in it. We never served this gravy over the turkey though it was giblet gravy and dressing (not stuffing as they say here in Chicago). The liquid was more to moisten the dressing than to add a topping.

Excuse me but I'm going home to whip up a big plate of Mullers spagetti and Ragu gravy, with a little Kraft grated parmeshan on top and a small bottle of Ernest and Julio Gallo burgundey.

My California Thanksgivings are not region-specific, but probably an amalgam of regional traditions. Gravy is high art at our Turkey Day celebration as well. The mantle of gravy king is currently placed on my brother-in-law's shoulders but we are a family quick to dethrone if the gravy is not perfect. One family secret is to use water from the potatoes to thicken the gravy, as it contains starch.