PSA: gravy and sauce are not interchangable. (2024)

FAQs

Is sauce and gravy the same thing? ›

Gravy is a sauce, but one that is specifically made from meat juices. Gravies are usually combined with some form of liquid, like chicken broth, milk, wine, or beef broth, before being introduced to a thickening agent like flour or cornstarch.

Here's the gist: the two ways Italians say “sauce” in Italian are salsa and/or sugo. Both words translate as “sauce” but never as “gravy.” Ragù doesn't even translate as “gravy” but comes close enough since it involves meat which is what people really mean when they say “gravy” (my personal opinion).

In classical French cuisine, a brown sauce is generally a sauce with a meat stock base, thickened by reduction, and sometimes the addition of a browned roux, similar in some ways to, but more involved than, a gravy.

Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with corn starch or other thickeners for added texture.

Some people believe that when sauce stands alone, it can be called sauce, but when meat is added, it becomes gravy. An article from Matador Network contributes it to immigrants assimilating - they saw people putting actual gravy on turkey and started calling sauce gravy, since it went on top of meat too.

To me, a pan sauce is thinner than gravy. Both are made with deglazed pan scrapings. Sauce is a French word, while gravy is old English. I would add that gravy is probably always thickened with a roux, while a sauce has more possibilities (like egg yolks or cream).

Italians do not call anything gravy. It's a made up reference to sauce probably originated in New York and on screen. No one from Italy would use this word.

Finally, this quote is right from Anthony himself: “My family is from Sicily, and as I got older I found that the Sicilians called it sauce and the mainland Italians called it gravy.

In the U.S. we also use the word gravy in reference to a sauce made from the juices of cooked meat thickened with flour or other starches. This is the first thing that comes to mind for many of use when we hear the word gravy. We make this from roast beef, chicken, turkey, etc.

"Steak sauce" is a similar product in the United States.

What do the British call brown sauce? ›

HP Sauce is a British brown sauce the main ingredients of which are tomatoes and tamarind extract. It was named after London's Houses of Parliament.

This is sauce. Some Italians call tomato sauce gravy but we always consider gravy to be brown or white and tomatoes are a red sauce! But gravy has flour or cornstarch to thicken it. And tomatoes use purée to thicken it so we call that sauce!

If you haven't heard of pasta sauce being referred to before as gravy, you aren't alone, since apparently gravy is the accepted term only in certain areas of the United States, like the Bronx, east Boston and Chicago.

Originally Answered: What are the biggest differences between gravy in the United States and the U.K.? Milk. British gravy is more like what America would consider a jus or red wine sauce, but thickened with cornflour. Think of an American 'au jus' but with a consistency of whole milk.

What is the gravy at KFC made of? The restaurant uses a simple combination of gravy powder, water, and – their secret ingredient – chicken crackling. This is a collection of the browned bits and pieces leftover from frying their world famous chicken.

In its simplest form, curry is an Indian gravy or sauce that is used in tandem with meat, tofu, or vegetables. It's served rice, most popularly Basmati rice, and contains many different kinds of spices.

If this is a Bolognese, it is slow simmered—diced meats and vegetables form a rich, elegant sauce which is always served over fresh fettuccini.

In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsa, meaning salted.