I am calling on the members of inthe00s to settle a debate.

Where I work, most people call it spaghetti sauce, There is a group of people, who are South Philly Italians,
swear it's called gravy. They say that it's called gravy in the old country so they'll call it gravy here. I still
say it's called sauce.

I know this is a stupid argument but I want to know, What do you call it Sauce or Gravy?

Spaghetti sauce.

I've never heard it called Gravy before, because Gravy is that brown stuff you generally put on meat, potatoes and French Fries

Here in Lancaster PA we call it sauce.

I've never heard it called Gravy before, because Gravy is that brown stuff you generally put on meat, potatoes and French Fries


That's what I told them. They insist, a true Italian calls it gravy. I say they're nuts.  :P

It's spaghetti sauce.  I have absolutely NEVER heard it referred to as anything else.

I call it sauce...not gravy.

My Nana Casella says sauce too....so there. :P



And if you wanna get quite anal...like me ::)...it's only spaghetti sauce if it's on spaghetti noodles.  Okay, I'm leaving...sorryhttp://bestsmileys.com/eek/3.gif

it's sauce....my dad is like 100% Italian...and he's never called it gravy.

Being Italian and from South Cali, its called SAUCE.  Gravy is brown and lumpy and poured over mashed potato's. Those people who call it gravy, need to be whipped with a bagguette. ;D

I call it sauce. Gravy is either that brown stuff you put on meat and potatoes or that grayish-white artery clogging crap you put on biscuits. ;D

I call it sauce but growing up in New York all of the Italian people I knew (and I knew lots of them, some from the 'old country') called it gravy.

I call it sauce too, but on the Sopranos they call it Gravy. 

I am calling on the members of inthe00s to settle a debate.

Where I work, most people call it spaghetti sauce, There is a group of people, who are South Philly Italians,
swear it's called gravy. They say that it's called gravy in the old country so they'll call it gravy here. I still
say it's called sauce.

I know this is a stupid argument but I want to know, What do you call it Sauce or Gravy?


I'll be surprised if you can settle a good debate with those south philly types, lol. It's called sauce. Gravy is thicker and usually not tomato-based. However, being that you are in an area where Italians truly relish their background (Philly, NY, and NJ), I wouldn't be surprised if they kept it real by calling it something they called it back home.

Definitely spaghetti sauce!  :)

Thanks all for your input and Tanya , you are right about settling a debate with South Philadelphians. After I
told them that the overwhelming answer is SAUCE they still argued Gravy. I was told sauce is thin and used on
pizza, clams and mussels. Once you add in meat it thickens, thereby becoming gravy.

I still say they're nuts.  :P

Thanks all for your input and Tanya , you are right about settling a debate with South Philadelphians. After I
told them that the overwhelming answer is SAUCE they still argued Gravy. I was told sauce is thin and used on
pizza, clams and mussels. Once you add in meat it thickens, thereby becoming gravy.

I still say they're nuts.  :P


They are just stubborn. It's the after-effects of eating too many soft pretzels, water ice, and cannolis. lol

It is the gravy, any old school Italian will tell you so.  It is only the whippersnappers that call it sauce.

This was in Wikipedia


Italian-Americans of southern Italian extraction often refer to thick tomato sauce served over pasta as gravy. This is a result of multiple types of meat including meatballs, sweet or hot Italian Sausage and Bresaola being cooked for many hours in the mixture along with the tomatoes, herbs, spices, olive oil and red wine. To those who use this expression, the mixing of the juices during the slow cooking process is what turns a straight tomato based Marinara Sauce into a "gravy" with an unmistakable meat flavor. It is also likely that the Italian word salsa (which includes a variety of things anglophones call sauces, including marinara) actually more literally translates as gravy.

My boss just came back from Italy, and so I asked him what they called it over there. He said he honestly did not hear them refer to it as gravy at all. He also said they didn't refer to it as sauce either.  He said they just gave it with all their meals.  ;D ;D

BUT, my boss is Italian as well, and says it's SAUCE.

I call it sauce. Gravy is either that brown stuff you put on meat and potatoes or that grayish-white artery clogging crap you put on biscuits. ;D


it is sauce...but don't hate on gravy! gravy is still goodness, so good that it does clog arteries

it is sauce...but don't hate on gravy! gravy is still goodness, so good that it does clog arteries


Oh, I'm not hating on it. I love that stuff. I consider it a food group. ;D

I think the Wikipedia thing is right, with meat(sausages, meatballs) say gravy, without sauce.

I think the Wikipedia thing is right, with meat(sausages, meatballs) say gravy, without sauce.


The Wikipedia thing says "Italian-Americans from southern Italian decent".  Of all the Italians in the US, that's probably not even half... 

Majority wins....fuhgedaboudit! :P ;D

Oh, I'm not hating on it. I love that stuff. I consider it a food group. ;D


Gravy is awesome.  Whenever I get gravy from a fast food restaurant and there is some left over, I drink it like soup ;D

The Wikipedia thing says "Italian-Americans from southern Italian decent".  Of all the Italians in the US, that's probably not even half... 

Majority wins....fuhgedaboudit! :P ;D


Nope.  The massive immigration of the late 1800s and early 1900s were Southern Italians where there was more poverty.  That's a fact, Jacks. ;). 

Nope.  The massive immigration of the late 1800s and early 1900s were Southern Italians where there was more poverty.  That's a fact, Jacks. ;). 


Could be.

My family is actually Sicilian.

Could be.

My family is actually Sicilian.


All the best food from Italy is Sicilian  :)

All the best food from Italy is Sicilian  :)



Eh, I beg to differ.  I prefer food from not only Tuscany, but also Roma.

Spaghetti sauce

I call it sauce, but I know a few Italians that call it gravy IF it has meat in it.  Otherwise, it is "sauce".  I dated a guy whose mom called it gravy and I was so confused, thinking "Why on earth would you put gravy on Ravioli?" ;D

Anything drenched with either tomato paste/sauce/gravy or cheese is sheer perfection.  :)

I call it molho,but that's just 'cause i'm weird...

Whoa! If it were actual gravy, like you put on mashed potatoes... That wouldn't be so bad on ravioli.

Whoa! If it were actual gravy, like you put on mashed potatoes... That wouldn't be so bad on ravioli.


You've got a point there Doms.  That does sound good.

Whoa! If it were actual gravy, like you put on mashed potatoes... That wouldn't be so bad on ravioli.



at Olive Garden...I always order the portobello mushroom raviolis...and it has this really good sun-dried tomato sauce...it's totally yummy!

http://www.olivegarden.com/images/menus/dinner/full/ravioli_portobello_5420.jpg

at Olive Garden...I always order the portobello mushroom raviolis...and it has this really good sun-dried tomato sauce...it's totally yummy!

http://www.olivegarden.com/images/menus/dinner/full/ravioli_portobello_5420.jpg


That does look yummy. D= Now I want some!

Man, this thread is making me hungry.



I do call it sauce but would a sauce by any other name still taste as good?




Cat

I don't refer to it as either...

... I tend to term the whole dish Spag Bol...

I don't refer to it as either...

... I tend to term the whole dish Spag Bol...


Do you always use spaghetti?  I told the children I was cooking spaghetti bolognese and they were most upset when it was bolognese on penne pasta!

Just answering for myself, if I say I'm cooking spaghetti bolognese, I use spaghetti.  If I don't use spaghetti, I call it "fill-in-pasta and meat sauce". 

Just answering for myself, if I say I'm cooking spaghetti bolognese, I use spaghetti.  If I don't use spaghetti, I call it "fill-in-pasta and meat sauce". 
You're better than me.....if, for example, I'm using mostaccioli instead of spaghetti noodles, I just call it mostaccioli....in fact, even when I use "regular" spaghetti noodles, I just call it spaghetti 8)

I thank you and karamel to all for participating in my survey. It seems the consensus says it is Sauce, though calling
it gravy is not out of the question.

It's been said that adding meat is what makes it gravy but I make a macaroni concoction with meat Sauce.

I brown groundbeef in a pan and then add Sauce, usually Marinara. While the groundbeef is browning
I cook elbow macaroni. When the macaroni is done I will add the meat Sauce with the macaroni and mix in some
shredded parmesan and mozzarella cheese. When all is stirred together, I put it in a roasting pan, top it with sliced provolone
and put it in the oven until the cheese melts slightly.

The key word in this concoction is Sauce.  ;D

Its  called sauce. Have you ever found it in the grocery store labled as gravy? I think NOT! Even with meat and sausage cooked in it, its still called sauce. Most places call it marinara SAUCE, NOT marinara GRAVY.

Let's put this in perspective. What the mainstream calls something doesn't necessarily make it correct, though. If a certain culture calls it by another name, that's fine.

Its  called sauce. Have you ever found it in the grocery store labled as gravy? I think NOT! Even with meat and sausage cooked in it, its still called sauce. Most places call it marinara SAUCE, NOT marinara GRAVY.



We've already found out that in some parts of Italy, it is called gravy.

Do you always use spaghetti?  I told the children I was cooking spaghetti bolognese and they were most upset when it was bolognese on penne pasta!


Yes, always spaghetti for some reason...

Such are my culinary skills, that the first time I cooked spaghetti, I broke the stuff up so I could get it in the pan!

Such are my culinary skills, that the first time I cooked spaghetti, I broke the stuff up so I could get it in the pan!


You're supposed to use a tall pot for cooking spaghetti noodles, silly!  ;)

Such are my culinary skills, that the first time I cooked spaghetti, I broke the stuff up so I could get it in the pan!


I actually break my pasta too, but I do it because it bugs me to wind it around the fork forever.

Yes, always spaghetti for some reason...

Such are my culinary skills, that the first time I cooked spaghetti, I broke the stuff up so I could get it in the pan!


I break it to stretch the amount that will come out. It's a money saver for me.

Yes, always spaghetti for some reason...

Such are my culinary skills, that the first time I cooked spaghetti, I broke the stuff up so I could get it in the pan!


I was taught to break the spaghetti, thought everyone did

If you cook it in a pasta pot, there's no need to break the pasta.  When you put the noodles in, the water will make the noodles pliable enough to bend so that you can put the lid on.

I was taught to break the spaghetti, thought everyone did


Well that was the logic I was using!

But as Electrophile rightly says, spaghetti tends to soften in boiling water, so there's no need!

Not that I suppose it'd make a helluva lot of difference...in any case you can get that smaller length spaghetti these days, the original stuff I used was about a yard long!

It's still good, even if you break it in half first.  Just pile on the cheese!

Both my mother and wife break spaghetti before cooking, though we seldom have spaghetti. My wife prefers
shells, rigatoni or ziti.

Both my mother and wife break spaghetti before cooking, though we seldom have spaghetti. My wife prefers
shells, rigatoni or ziti.



I used to break my spaghetti as I put it in the pot...but then, my husband (who has certification in culinary arts.) taught me to take the grouping of spag noodles by the top and slowly push down on them as they soften and fall into the pot...that way, they don't break...and they all fit. Ta Da! :D ;D

Spaghetti Sauce :)

I like Ragu the best (Traditional Mix)

I say sauce but I have heard Italians use the term gravy.
I used to break my spaghetti too but I don't anymore because your not supposed to.

Gravy goes on mashed potatoes and spaghetti sauce goes on pasta.

spaghetti sauce.... gravy is brown