OK... What do you call Tomato Sauce... "Sauce" or "Gravy" ???

[countryguy]

I've never, ever heard anyone refer to tomato sauce as gravy. All the cans in the stores around here say tomato sauce....not tomato gravy.

 

[retro-man]

Was grocery shopping the other day and for the 1st time there was a small display of jars set up and the label on the front in big letters say Red Gravy. Never saw it before. Its made by a local company called "Ya Mammas'.

Jon

 

[sudsmaster]

Or just don't call it anything.

 

I picked up a four pack of Bertoli "Organic Olive Oil, Basil, and Garlic", with "sauce" in tiny letters that are not readily readable in the store. It's not bad over cavatappi pasta, which I have a surplus of these days.

 

[toploader55]

There are some pretty darn good jarred sauces out there.

One of my favorite quick Pasta Dinners is saute some Onions and Garlic in Olive Oil. Add some white wine, a can of Tuna, (Preferably Tonno in Olive Oil), and then some Marinara and a pinch of Crushed Red Pepper. Serve on Fusilli or Rotini. or any Pasta that will hold the sauce.

 

[joe_in_philly]

Over the weekend I saw this sign outside a restaurant in the Italian Market near me.

 

[toploader55]

See...

Gravy does exist in certain areas.

 

[miele_ge]

Eddie, We have a name for that in our house.....

"Assistante del tonno" - Tuna Helper in Italian!  

 

I love it - my partner can't stand the idea of it - reminds him of Tuna Helper when he was a kid.  

 

But I make mine with canned San Marzano tomatoes - no jarred sauce in my house!  Found 2 versions of it - one from Marcella Hazan and one from Biba Caggiano  which is my preferred one - after  all "You Can't Make A Booboo with Biba!"

 

Green Acres fans will remember my tag line from the episode where Lisa makes a boxed cake mix IN THE BOX.  The Brand was "Bibbers" and their slogan was "You Can't Make a Booboo with Bibbers".  I guess they were right because Oliver proclaimed in surprise that the cake was good.  Of course, anything was better than those Hot Cakes!  

 

 

 

 

[toploader55]

Hey Alan

When the woman that showed me how to make this Tuna Sauce, she called it "Linguine con Tonno".

The jarred sauce thing...

Sometimes when your in the Kitchen (Restaurant) all day and it's busy, you forget to eat sometimes. And after awhile, you get tired of everything that you have in house. In house meaning food at the restaurant.

So you get home, have a drink or glass of wine and then it strikes you ... " I haven't eaten a thing all day".... Enter the wonderful world of Pantry Staples.
Box of Pasta, Can of Tuna, Jar of Sauce. In the fridge.. That Spanish onion that is beginning to sprout, a wedge of cheese and some garlic.

The possibilities are endless.

 

[miele_ge]

Eddie - i think i get it now

When you do something for a living you don't always want to do it for fun - especially when you're tired and hungry.  Point taken

 

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Pantry Staples:

Of course I get it Eddie. There's days where the inmates eat twice before I see more than a cup of coffee. Also there are some days where I get tired of the prison food(although it is fairly good) and just want something else. Coming Home I don't want to do a big meal and then it's pizza night.
WK78

 

[ptcruiser51]

Garden State translation

I didn't have many Italian friends as a young child. We always called anything red "tomato sauce" or "spaghetti sauce". We were poor, so all we ever had was actual spaghetti or macaroni. Maybe on rare occasions rotini (spirals). Or for a real treat, "wagon wheels". Gravy for us was always meat-based brown stuff. Served over meat, spuds, or leftovers. Even the greasy spoons/diners referred to your choice of french fries or home fries as a "frenchy gravy". I still order this way, responded by puzzled expressions.

 

[toploader55]

You Know Nick.

I am surrounded by Fresh Seafood that is not in my cooler more than 36 hours we're so busy and have the ordering down pat.

 

But when I get home, just a nice simple pasta or Roast Chicken is heaven !!!

 

Yup. Those days where you jump on the line and it's just busy and it rolls into the dinner rush, you just want to get out.

 

[foraloysius]

Here's a recipe for tomato based gravy

http://www.hungryboar.com/2009/12/sundaygravy/

 

[perc-o-prince]

Of course, anything was better than those Hot Cakes!

Oh, but remember when it was in Lisa Douglas-ese it was "hots cakes!" Still love that show, and the best moments were the electrical system that was run on the system of 7!

Chuck

 

[agiflow2]

Being from the NY/NJ area we probably have the highest concentration of Italians in the US. In my neck of the woods it was called making a "pot of gravy".

 

[mrsalvo]

"Up here it is sauce, as gravy is what you put on meat and potatoes. Pasta is referred to what it is, noodles, macaroni or spaghetti. We call it soda but other regions call it pop. Its interesting to see every part of this big country has a lot of diversity in what things are referred to as."

My family is from Missouri/Arkansas region, we always called it sauce, gravy was brown or white to go over various meat / potato dishes. Sodas were called Cokes, no matter the flavor. Southern cooking was really loaded in fat (mostly lard and cornmeal, most things fried except the Sunday Brisket or Pot Roast, not the most healthy diet by far but socio economic factors played heavily into the foods. In Lous. the foods were often spicy (NOT a family favorite) and coffee was made much, much stronger (Cajun)....could grow hair on your chest!!!! LOL.

Fried Chicken, Fried Mushrooms, Green Fried Tomatoes, Fried pork, Fried Fish, Fried Noodles, Fried Okra, Fried Potatoes, Fried Squash, Fried Funnel Cakes, Fried Eggs, ETC. ETC. If it was cookable it was fried, sadly it still is in many economically depressed areas. Arteries were clogged by the age of 40, many died in their 50's. Sorry guys, I got off topic.

 

[askolover]

First you make a roux

as they say in NOLA.  Gravy is made from meat drippings and flour.  And the generic term for a soft drink here is "coke".  "What kind of coke do you want?  Dr. Pepper please." 

Tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, lasagna sauce.  We refer to pasta as the particular noodle that it is...spaghetti, macaroni, rotini, etc.

 

[agiflow2]

Well I would say our sauces/Gravy were flavored with meat BIG TIME. We would make meatballs, sausage, pork neck bones and braciole. Let that simmer in the "Gravy" after you fried all the meat up. What a delicious meal. We never said pasta either when referring to what kind we eat. We said ziti or spaghetti.

 

[brucelucenta]

Whadda you crazy? It's sauce of course!

 

[vacerator]

Sicilians

call it "sugo" which means sauce. Amaggio sauce is chunky, served mainly with breaded steak Siciliano. Marinara is meatless sauce. Bolognese sauce can have meat, and wine.
There is also vodka red tomato sauce. Call it all gravy if you wish.
The french have 3 basic sauces. The mother sauce, or white sauce, also known as bechemel. Butter sauce, or Bernaise, and Gastrique's, which are meat and or wine sauces reduced by at least 1/3 to 1/2 to enhance flavors.

A thickened sauce from butter and flour is began with a roiux. When cream or milk is added, it becomes a white sauce, like for macaroni and cheese. Tempering in egg yolks and lemon juice makes it hollandaise sauce.
If stock, and or wine is added, it becomes a gumbo, etoufe', or gravy.
Is fille' gumbo a soup, or sauce, or a stew? I guess it depends on the meats and vegetables added