Is It SAUCE or GRAVY – What Do You Call It

The Great Debate, is it GRAVY Or SAUCE ???

What do you Call it?

CHARLIE SCORSESE Makes SAUCE

GOODFELLAS

GIA Says :

It’s interesting to me that people who call it “gravy” believe that the people calling it “sauce” must only be those who came as immigrants later and that “sauce” is a newer term. Not in my estimation.
My grandparents from Italy only spoke Italian, came over in the 20’s and their families called it “SAUCE” no matter if there was meat in it or not. Sundays was always meat in it the “sauce” and on Weds, leftovers, less meat or no meat at all. They lived in the Cobble Hill area of Brooklyn and Park Slope respectively as the children (my Father) became adults. We NEVER said “gravy” and I never heard the term “gravy” until I was much older and it became grounds for a silly argument. I am a second generation Italian American and all my Aunts and Uncles called it “Sauce” regardless if it had meat in it or not. Sometimes it was just a marinara w/out meat but it was always referred to as Sauce on Sundays and Weds. Sundays were characteristically special when you had the relatives over and there was plenty of meatballs and sausage and lets not forget the cheese!! In our house it was always ROMANO on the table. Left overs were eaten on Weds and the meat was either gone or a bit more was added to it usually in the form of ground beef. Many times we ate it without meat due to budget or just not being able to get to the butcher in time.
Again, in my mind “gravy” has a completely different smell, consistency and color and sometimes has onions in it and is usually very salty. It;s usually white or brown flour based and goes over mashed potatoes, biscuits, liver etc.

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Cooking a Pot of SUNDAY SAUCE

or is It GRAVY ???

What Do You Call It ???

ANDREA ANTANUCCI says :

I’m “really” Italian-American and I get extremely annoyed when Italian-Americans call it gravy instead of sauce. Even more irritating is when the pretend to know how to speak Italian and pronounce Italian words incorrectly, almost always chopping the vowel off of the end. I feel Italian is the most beautiful of the romance languages and they make it sound horrible 😦

JAMES PASTO :

Hi Andrea, thanks for your comment. I get your point, but as I see it, “gravy” is a term that somehow emerged as the preferred term for a lot of Italian immigrants to America. The usage is very widespread so it is ‘correct’ as far as they see it. We always called it “gravy” and to me this was one of the ways we distinguished ourselves as “Italians.” On the pronunciation of words: I don’t think it is a matter of pretense but of language adaptation in a new setting as well as the fact that many of the “Italian” words that resulted were originally dialectical forms and not standard Italian. I agree that Italian is a beautiful language and it is too bad many if not most Italian Americans lost it, but I think there is a certain charm to the Italian American “Italgish” that emerged. I don’t see it as a detriment to the Italian language but rather as its survival in a majority English environment under great pressure to give up all non-English forms. But that is my view….

CHELLE says :

I agree, Andrea. I’m first generation US born, 1/2 Italian, who has been to Italy a handful of times. My grandmother born and raised in Italy, living there until her mid-20’s, called it sauce. I find it annoying when people here call it gravy. My grandmother made lovely gravies, from creams and wines, that were truly gravies. I dislike, even more, that I’m always corrected with “gravy” every time I say I’m making my grandmother’s sauce. The people correcting me have never been to Italy, let alone their parents and sometimes even their grandparents…they are 3rd and 4th generation to the US.

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We Know What New York Italian-American

Author Daniel Bellino “Z”

Calls It … GRAVY !!!

AMAZON.com

JR in Rhode Island says :

By my standards in good ol’ Italian-America Rhode Island, a gravy is a tomato sauce with meat, but not like a bolognese. The base of this gravy is made with braciole, pork, sausage, meatballs, and my favorite, chunks of pepperoni. Getting some color first on the braciole, pork, and sausage is a must, meatballs can be fried or baked separately then tossed in the gravy to finish cooking, and the pepperoni can just be tossed in as well. In addition, a proper gravy must cook for a solid 2-3 hours, then simmer for another couple hours. It needs that time to properly cook the tomatoes and get all that flavor out of the meats… so delicious. Also, it is typically made in big batches and freezes pretty well. Buon Appetito!

NONNA’S MEATBALLS

Recipe

JULES ZUFFOLETTO says :

Growing up an Italiana-Americana, my family always called pasta with marinara, “sauce.” Ours always had some form of carne or meat: meatballs and sausage for sure, and sometimes we would add ribs or make Braciola. No matter what, there usually wasn’t much left after dinner and we all had to retire to the living room to crash on the couch and digest for awhile. My late Grandmother, Carmella, made our Sunday Sauce dinners most of the time since we would then be visiting both her and Grandpa, Nunzio. Later, I learned how to make it and my Dad began calling me, “the meatball machine,” when I was in high school. I usually made mine a bit larger than my Grandma’s, and near softball size. The mo’ the better, right?! Plus, they did look quite impressive on the plate, if I do say so. Nowadays, I make them smaller or maybe NYY baseball size. It helps with the waistline and there’s more to go around if there are a few peeps dining. So, God Bless Sunday Sauce and my Angels (my Grandparents) up in Heaven from Abruzzi (Italia) that taught me how to make it and create a special connection with family and friends, while enjoying a deliziosoa feast. Mangiare! Mangiare!

ANDREA TAVOMINA from BROOKLYN says :

Hi,
My Nonna & Nonno & my Pop’s were all in Brooklyn, NY and we have always called it sauce. This gravy thing is so strange to me as that’s the brown stuff you put on a turkey at Thanksgiving.I know there is no right or wrong answer here but some get very upset over this “Gravy” thing and consider those if us who were raised using sauce to be “not true Italians”. That is what upsets me, my last name is Tavormina and it’s due to it getting a “V” added at Ellis Island (or so my Pop’s was told and then I was told) my nonno being from Taormina and Nonna from Palermo. So weather your a sauce or a gravy italian…please remember just because some of us are Sicilian and say sauce doesn’t make us any less a true Italian!

Mille Grazie

ANTHONY says :

It’s called gravy only by Italian Americans in South Philly??? Oh I don’t think so. Its Gravy…. for most of New England (North East United States) at least is true for Massachusetts and Connecticut Italian-Americans I grew up with. We actually call it gravy, Sunday Gravy, Sunday Sauce and Sauce. My Italian grandmother, grandma Salerno called it gravy and my mom calls it gravy. I have an Italian-American Recipe website and I have talked with a LOT of Italian-Americans of the past 15 years on this subject and the term “Gravy” for the pasta sauce is definitely confined to the northeast United States. You can see much discussion about this and many other things Italian-American food related …

ROBERT from da BRONX says :
Good morning James! Great story. My family is from the The Bronx and we were raised to call it gravy. We still call it gravy. I don’t believe that there is a right or wrong here. Both sets of my grandparents are immigrants from Italy and when they arrived here, they called it gravy. Another issue is that some folks only called it gravy when there was meat cooked in the tomatoes. Now that is made up here in the U.S. Someone tried to calm the powers to be and come up with something in the middle…..Ours was always gravy no matter what or how it was being cooked. There was a comment above about how she was a “real Italian American” and could not stand how some people spoke Italian and would chop off a vowell at the end. The truth be known is that there are hundreds of dialects in the Italian language and some were real proper and some were somewhat slang. It also depended on where you lived….for instance if you were living in the mountains, it was somewhat slang. The folks that lived in the hills were mostly farmers and schooling was not that important. Different story if you were living in the flatlands or in the cities.

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SUNDAY SAUCE

When Italian-Americans Cook

AMAZON.com

ANTOINETTE SAVIANI of CHICAGO says :

Hi, just want to say as a 2nd generation Italian from Chicago (mama’s family from Calabria /pa’s from Abruzzi) that we call it Sunday Gravy. All of my 24 aunts and uncles and 27 cousins did the same.We put it on before mass, went to Visit Nonna/grandma at my aunts house, came home, boiled the water and put the pasta /macaroni on and ate. It was loaded with meatballs, sausage, etc. On Fridays we didn’t eat meat but we had datalini with sugo (meatless gravy). I’m in my 60’s now and I have about 22 +/- people over almost every Sunday’s for “pasta Sunday’s” my older sister, her children and grandchildren and my own. We crowd around the table(s), adults and kids.A table cloth and real dishes just like Mama taught me. I will make several pots of gravy with a lot of meat and pounds of pasta. We pass the pasta,gravy and freshly grated cheese around, eat,talk, laugh and enjoy. The youngest are 1 year old twins and the oldest …well older then me. It is getting harder to do but even the little ones ask in the middle of the week, is it almost “pasta Sunday”. It doesn’t matter what you call it gravy/sauce, it’s the heritage and link to our past. Keep the traditions going and pass the recipes down. There’s always enough to give every family leftovers with extra “gravy” LOL

Robert from Harlem, New York says :

My Sicilian Grandmother called it salsa and she cooked it every Sunday for the whole family gang of aunts, uncles and cousins. We lived in Italian Harlem in New York City. My aunt from Queens called it gravy but we all ate with the same gusto.

TIM SANTUCCI says “

There are Italians in the south. lol…I know not many but we are here. Both my mom’s and dad’s family came from italy straight to the south!!! Mississippi delta to be exact. The first italians here. No influence on us from previous italians here. There are other italians here too. Most of us call it gravy. Some call it sauce. I personally have witnessed the birth of the word “gravy” being used once Italians started learning english here. My mom and other italians here called it gravy because it was thick like a “type of gravy”. It was not thin like a salsa or sauce. So the war goes on here in the south too!!!! Tooooo funny. As I grew up what I noticed was white southern americans calling anything red was a sauce. Especially because their gravy was brown. We knew nothing about that stuff. So to them the only gravy in the whole world was brown so they called our “Sugo”, “Ragu’” “Condimento” etc. a sauce. I see it being called sauce more now. As with anything involving food and language nothing is right or wrong. To me it was just a matter of how they wanted to translate or “find” an english word that would describe it. Our “Sugo” is pretty thick so I guess that’s why we call it gravy. Such an interesting subject. Please don’t think the only italians that came to america only live in the north east. Many of us in the south came in through New Orleans!!!!!!!

All I know is that whatever you calll it, it is sure good!!!!

Ciao tutti!!!

Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe alla Bellino

SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS alla BELLINO

Searching for “Spaghetti & Meatballs” returns several results, but not for a specific dish or recipe with that name

. The most likely interpretations of this query are:

A recipe by Daniel Bellino-Zwicke, a food writer who publishes Spaghetti and Meatballs recipes on his blog.

Daniel Bellino-Zwicke’s Spaghetti & Meatballs

Author and food blogger Daniel Bellino-Zwicke has written about Spaghetti and Meatballs on several occasions, referencing the dish in his book SUNDAY SAUCE and on his food blog. For many, the association comes from the tradition of simmering a sauce all day with different meats, including meatballs. He’s known for sharing classic Italian-American recipes rooted in Bellino Family tradition.

“SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS – Recipe alla Bellino

MEATBALLS – Ingredients;

1 lb ground beef and pork mix
Bellino marinara sauce
Bellino extra virgin olive oil
Bellino minced garlic
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped fresh parsley
Spaghetti
Salt & ground Black Pepper

TOMATO SAUCE – Ingredients :

6 tablespoons Olive Oil

4 cloves Garlic, peeled and minced

2 – 28 jars Tomato Passata (Puree) Mutti Brand recommended

1/4 cup fresh Basil, washed and torn into pieces

tablespoon each Salt & Black Pepper (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Place the olive oil and garlic in a 4-6 quart stainless steel pol. Turn flame onto low and cook garlic for 3 minutes, making sure not to burn.

Add the red pepper flakes. Add the Tomato Passata. Turn heat to high. Cook until the tomatoes start to bubble, than turn the heat down very low. Cook for 20 minutes.

Add the fresh Basil, and cook 10-15 minutes more. As the sauce cooks be sure to stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.

MEATBALLS :

Prepare the Meatballs: In a large bowl, combine the ground meats, egg, breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, parsley, and a portion of the Bellino minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Roll the meatballs: Mix until just combined, then form the mixture into meatballs of your desired size.
Brown the meatballs: Heat olive oil in a large pot or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs in batches and brown them on all sides. Remove them from the pan and set them aside.
Once the meatballs have finished browning, put into the tomato sauce, and let simmer on a low flame for 15- 20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through, and no longer raw in the center.
Cook Spaghetti in a large pot of boing salted water according to the directions on package.
Once the Spaghetti is finished cooking, drain into a colander.
Place the Spaghetti back in the pot it cooked in and add 2-3 cups the Tomato Sauce to the Spaghetti. mix until the Spaghetti is coated with the sauce.
Place the Spaghetti onto 4-5 plates, in equal portions. Add about 1/2 cup sauce to the top of each plate of Spaghetti.
Place 2 to 3 Meatballs on each plate, and top each meatball with a bit more Tomato Sauce.
Serve and Enjoy! Serve with grated Pecorino or Parmigiana Cheese on the side.

“MANGIA BENE” !!!

Recipe Excerpted from “SUNDAY SAUCE” by Daniel Bellino

Amazon.com

SUNDAY SAUCE

SPAGHETTI MEATBALLS RECIPE

TOMATO SAUCE – MARINARA

AND MORE …

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SPAGHETTI & MEATBALLS

alla BELLINO

RECIPE

Ronzoni Sono Buoni – Ronzoni Pasta is So Good – New York Italian

RONZONI

MEZZE RIGATONI

“Ronzoni Sono Buoni,”
if you are Italian and grew up in the New York area in the great
decades of the 1960’s and or 70s you know the slogan. We Italians do love our
pasta, we’re weened on it! Pasta is the main staple of our diet. Many are
fanatical about and love it so, they insist on having it several times a week.
I’m one. Pasta, can be covered in a wide variety of sauces, in some soups like; Pasta Fagoli (Pasta Fazool),
in Minestrone’s, with Pasta and Peas, and Pasta con Ceci (Chick Peas). Yes, we
are weened on it. Mommy gave me, my bothers and sister Pastina coated in a bit
of butter and Parmigiano when we were just toddlers and every so
often I have to pick up a box of Ronzoni Pastina, as I love and crave it still,
and of late as with many my age, you start craving things you loved as a child,
thus my stints with PASTINA .“Ronzoni Sono Buoni,” it means, Ronzoni
is So Good, and that it is. This brand of Pasta, born in New York City at the
turn of the 20th Century has been a mainstay of not only
Italian-Americans of the East Coast but, for all. For years before the surge of
many a imported pasta product in the U.S., Ronzoni, was not the only game in
town for Macaroni, there was the Prince and Creamette, as well, but Ronzoni
dominated the market and though I don’t have stats, I would wage to say that 85
to 90 % of all commercial pasta sold in the New York, New Jersey, and
Philadelphia areas was Ronzoni, the pasta in the bright blue boxes, Ronzoni
Sono Buoni. God I wonder how many plates and bowls of Spaghetti, Ziti and other
Ronzoni pastas I ate over the years, starting with Pastina as
a toddler and moving to Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce or Meatballs,
Baked Ziti, Stuffed Shells and more. Oh “Stuffed Shells,” they bring back
memories of my mother who loved them. We had them often, along with Lasagna
made with Ronzoni Lasagana. You don’t see Stuffed Shells around that much any
more, they used to be on many a restaurant and even more home menus. There
popularity has waned, but every once and a while I’ll pick up a box of Ronzoni
large shells, just for the purpose of bringing back those memories of mom
making them and me loving them as a child. I’ll make a batch of
tomato sauce, cook the Ronzoni Shells, and stuff them with ricotta and
Parmigiano, bake them in tomato sauce, and “Voila” Stuffed Shells of
days gone by. I do the same with a Pastina as I still love the dish so, dressed
with butter and fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano, “makes me feel like a kid
again!” Yum, delicious little pleasure you can whip up in minutes and
bring back visions of your youth. All with some butter, Parmigiano and a box of
Ronzoni Pastina. That’s Ronzoni, every bit a part of my life and youth as
a spring ol Slinky, Etch-A-Sketch, The Three Stooges, Saturday Morning
Cartoons, and all the favorites of my youth,

Ronzon Sono Buoni

“Ronzoni it’s
so good!”

… Daniel Bellino Z …..

SPAGHETTI

RONZONI – HISTORICAL TIME LINE

1915: Ronzoni officially begins business as a private family-owned company

1984: Ronzoni is sold to General Foods

1990: General Foods sells Ronzoni to Hershey Pasta Group

1999: General Foods sells to a group of investors led by the New York firm Joesph Littlejohn and Levy. The new company took the name New World Pasta

2006: The Ebro Puleva Group acquires New World Pasta, which included the Ronzoni brand

2016: The Ebro Puleva Group merges with Ebro Foods

2021: 8th Avenue Food & Provisions (formerly Dakota Growers Pasta Company) acquires Ronzoni and a dry pasta manufacturing facility in Virginia. The Virginia facility is the company’s third manufacturing location; the previous two were in North Dakota and Minnesota.

SEGRETO ITALIANO

SECRET ITALIAN RECIPES

SALSA SEGRETO

FAMOUS PASTA SAUCE

RECCIPE of GINO’S NEW YORK

AMAZON.com

RONZONI MACARONI COMPANY

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS NEW YORK

1918

RONZONI FACTS

From an Article in the New York Times 1974

I’m sure these facts are no longer true, as many Americans now buy a lot more imported Italian pasta then they did back in 1974. In the 1950’s, 60’s 70’s and even into the 1980’s Ronzoni dominated the past market, not only in New York, but for the entire country.

1 – New York is the largest market for pasta in America, accounting for 20% of all pasta sales in

America, comes from New York.

2 – Ronzoni sells more than 40% of all pasta sold in New York.

3 – Ronzoni’s sales were more than $40 Million dollars in 1973.

RONZONI PASTINA

“NO MORE” !

SAD NEWS

The Ronzoni Macaroni Company is discontinuing Pastina, due to low sales. “What” ? Yes folks, it’s true. After 107 of being one of Italian-America’s favorite pastas, and the one maccheroni products is always the first one we eat, as Italian mothers feed their little babies Ronzoni Pastina, dressed in a little butter as one of the first solid foods their baby will eat, thus one of Italian-America’s most time honored traditions. We all Love our pastina. But no more. Not Ronzoni Pastina anyway. Yes, a sad day for us Italians. We will have to find another brand of pastina, even though Ronzoni’s is our most beloved, it will be no more.

SINATRA SAUCE

The COOKBOOK

COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK

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Clemenza Teaches Michael How to Make Sauce in The Godfather Coppola and Pacino Corleone

CLEMENZA Teaches MICHAEL How to Make SUNDAY SAUCE

Richard Castellano as Peter Clemenza and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone

In FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S The GODFATHER

Novel by MARIO PUZO

SUNDAY SAUCE

by Daniel Bellino “Z”

“Come here kid, lem-me show you something. You never know when you’re gonna have to cook for 20 guys some day.” Pete Clemenza says to Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. It’s one of the most famed movie scenes in history, and of great importance to Italian-Americans. Clemenza is making “Gravy” aka Sunday Sauce, the Supreme Dish of Italian-America, and the dish that brings Italian Families together each and every Sunday. Learn How to Make Clemenza’s Sunday Sauce, Meatballs, Pasta Fazool, Momma DiMaggio’s Gravy, Goodfellas Sauce, and all of the great favorites of The Italian American Table.

Cook Sinatra’s Spaghetti & Meatballs, Italian Wedding Soup and more, and delight in the many stories and factual information written by Italian Food & Wine Writer Daniel Bellino Zwicke. This book is filled with Joy & Love, and you will get many years of both, reading, cooking and eating the dishes in SUNDAY SAUCE “When Italian-Americans Eat”.Do you Love Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Italian Food? Of course you do. Learn How to make Clemenza’s Brooklyn Mob War Sauce for 20 people some day. Remember that scene in Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo classic Film Trilogy of the Corleone Family of Sicily and Brooklyn, New York. Recipes in Italian-American New York Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke’s Best Selling Cookbook (2 Years Amazon Kindle)

SUNDAY SAUCE includes ; Frank Sinatra Sunday Sauce, Dolly Sinatra’s Spaghetti Meatballs, Joe DiMaggio ‘s mom’s Sunday Gravy, and Charlie Scorsese making Sauce in Prison in Martin Scorsese’s GOODFELLAS – starring; Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesce, and Ray Liotta making Veal & Peppers and Sunday Sauce. And by-the-way, Joe Pesci and Liotta are both Italians from New Jersey, so they know their stuff when it comes to Italian Food and all things Italian (Mafia speak and so-forth).

SUNDAY SAUCE

The Unofficial GODFATHER COOKBOOK

AVAILABLE on AMAZON.com

WATCH The VIDEO

CLEMENZA (Richard Castellano) Teaches MICHAEL (Al Pacino)

HOW to MAKE SUNDAY SAUCE

RECIPE

SUNDAY SAUCE

alla CLEMENZA

LEARN HOW to MAKE IT

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SUNDAY SAUCE

The Unofficial GODFATHER COOKBOOK

ITALIAN-AMERICAN GRAVY

PASTA – MEATBALLS and Much More

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FLIGHTS & HOTELS

WORLDWIDE

FLY with EXPEDIA

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Sylvester Stallone – The Italian Stallion

SYLVESTER STALLONE

“THE ITALIAN STALLION”

ROCKY

Stallone was born in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, the elder son of Frank Stallone, Sr. (1919–2011), a hairdresser and beautician, and Jacqueline “Jackie” Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, former dancer, and promoter of women’s wrestling. Stallone’s father was born in Gioia del Colle, Apulia, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in the 1930s. Stallone’s mother is of half French (from Brittany) and half Russian Jewish (from Soviet Union, Odessa) descent. His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone.

Complications his mother suffered during labor forced her obstetricians to use two pairs of forceps during his birth; misuse of these accidentally severed a nerve and caused paralysis in parts of Stallone’s face. As a result, the lower left side of his face is paralyzed – including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin – an accident which has given Stallone his snarling look and slightly slurred speech. Stallone was baptized Catholic. Around the age of 4, Stallone was flat-footed and put in a tap dancing school by his mother. His father moved the family to Washington, D.C. in the early 1950s, where he opened a beauty school. His mother opened a women’s gymnasium called Barbella’s in 1954. Stallone’s parents divorced when Sylvester was nine, and he eventually lived with his mother. When Stallone was 16, he scored poorly in school and his mother got him a summer job at her beauty salon. He attended Notre Dame Academy and Lincoln High School in Philadelphia, and Charlotte Hall Military Academy, prior to attending Miami Dade College and the University of Miami .

ROCKY BALBOA

Sylvester “SLY” Stallone

Stallone gained worldwide fame with his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Muhammad Ali–Chuck Wepner fight. That night Stallone went home, and after three days and 20 straight hours, he had written the script, but Stallone subsequently denied that Wepner provided any inspiration for it. Other possible inspirations for the film may have included Rocky Graziano’s autobiography Somebody Up There Likes Me, and the movie of the same name. Wepner filed a lawsuit which was eventually settled with Stallone for an undisclosed amount. Stallone attempted to sell the script to multiple studios, with the intention of playing the lead role himself. Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff became interested and offered Stallone US$350,000 for the rights, but had their own casting ideas for the lead role, including Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds. Stallone refused to sell unless he played the lead character and eventually, after a substantial budget cut to compromise, it was agreed he could be the star.

Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Stallone. The film went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing.