How do my fellow friends on these boards make their gravy? Iam looking for new recipes. Please help......

ds

Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for twenty guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn't stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh?... And a little bit o' wine. An' a little bit o' sugar, and that's my trick.

Crush up peeled tomatoes and fry them in olive oil with onions and tomato paste (sometimes I leave out the paste). I don't use salt, but alot of pepper, garlic powder (crushed garlic if I have it), and Basil. Sometimes I'll add a piece of pork. Pretty simple.

Go to the supermarket. Go to the sauce aisle. Buy a jar and take it home. Open it and pour it into a saucepan. Heat it up on the stove. That's my secret.

Smitty, I never use paste.

I use canned Tuttorusso tomatoes with basil.

Slice up some garlic, very thin and chop up some onions, very fine.
( amount of garlic and onions used depends on both your taste and the number of cans you will be using for your gravy).

Heat up the pot (on a low flame) that you are going to use. Once the pot is heated then coat the bottom of the pot with pure extra virgin olive oil keeping the flame on low. When you begin to see the ripples in the olive oil, drop in your chopped up onions and then your sliced garlic, stirring and keeping careful watch making sure that the garlic does not burn.

Once onions and garlic begin to tan, pour in the tomatoe sauce. Stir. Then add in some parsley, some basil, salt, pepper, some oreganeo, and grated cheese. With your cooking spoon you want to stir (almost in a whipping motion) all the ingredients that you just added INTO the sauce, stirring from the middle of the pot out to the ends and then slowly back into the middle. Then drop in a little bit of sugar (not too much) and stir once again. Keep flame on low. Do not leave pot totally uncovered but do not cover completely. Try placing the cover in a position where at least a 1/4 of the pot is left uncovered.

Once your gravy begins to heat up taste and add of more the ingredients that you think are lacking if needed.

If you've browned your meatballs and sausage, add them to the pot.

Cool. It sounds great! I will have to try it soon. Thanks Don Cardi!

ds

Two things are important. As DC said, be careful not to burn the onion and garlic. The onions will carmelize and the garlic will become bitter. NOT good. Also, put your canned tomatoes through some kind of strainer to get the seeds out. Seeds will make your sauce bitter.

Most people simply add browned meatballs and sausage. However, the meat you add can make a difference in the taste of the gravy. If you like your sauce spicy, use hot sausage. If you like it sweet, add a browned chicken leg or a piece of pork (perhaps a country style rib) to your gravy. If you like it thick, cook it with the cover mostly off. If you like it thin, cover it.

I never add my sugar until the end. Depending on how you cooked it, you may not need it, so I always wait.

I am probably the only person in the universe who calls this "sauce". To me gravy is what you put on your potatoes.

That's BROWN gravy! And I love that, too. Give me a rare roast beef and brown gravy and some egg noodles or mashed potatoes, and some nice spinach or fresh broccoli. OMG!! I could eat and eat and eat. (can you tell I'm on a diet?)

Ewwwwwwwww!!!

No you're not Beth. When I opened this thread, I thought, "Good, since I suck at making gravy, now maybe I'll get some great tips on how to make good gravy (the kind you put on potatos)." At first I thought maybe it's an East Coast thing, but I'm thinking it's more a NY thing. I just can't see pouring a chicken/beef gravy over my pasta. Sauce is what goes on pasta.


TIS

TIS, to us, Sundays was always macaroni and gravy. And we differentiated by calling the other stuff brown gravy. It just might be a NY thing.

And if you need help with brown gravy, let me know. My mother taught me the right way to do it, and I've made it without fail for years.

How is she with turkey gravy? I always want to try to make homemade gravy for Thanksgiving. I fail miserably.

All brown gravy is made the same way, Beth. My mother's secret is that she doesn't use flour. Flour lumps very easily. She uses cornstarch instead. The other important thing is to never add the cornstarch when the drippings are too hot. That also avoids lumps.

I usually drain all my drippings into a pot. I also add a cup of bullion because we like lots of gravy (on Thanksgiving, I actually simmer the turkey neck with some celery and onions, drain and add that to the pot so that we have a TON of gravy). I also add some salt, pepper and a little onion powder.

In a separate cup, I mix a few tablespoons of cornstarch and water, just enough until it's smooth. Then I add that mixture slowly to the drippings, stirring constantly. After it's all mixed in, THEN I turn on the flame. I stir until it boils and thickens. Remove the pot from the flame and check to see if it's thickened to your liking. If not, mix a bit more cornstarch and water and add it as you did before. Because it's hotter than it was previously, you will have to stir quite briskly to make sure it doesn't lump. Again, do not put the gravy back on the flame until you have completely mixed in the cornstarch. Bring it to a boil again and make sure it's thick enough.

I always add a little bit of Gravy Master at the end as well.

If you were making turkey gravy, which is a larger pot, you'll have to mix more than a few tablespoons of cornstarch, but it's really trial and error. I don't have a recipe.

Do you use cold or warm water with the cornstarch?

I guess room temperature, Mig.

NO! IT MUST BE COLD! I was a cook in the navy and I have the secret to the no miss corn starch thickening trick...trust me - this works the best! Thickening any kind of sauce or gravy is a tricky thing and you can screw it up bad if not careful. Take a small bowl and add 4 Tablespoons of cold water. Take 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch and add to the cold water and mix quickly with a fork. When the mixture is blended add to your sauce you wish to thicken. Mix in with the gravy/sauce briskly and wait to see if it needs another "dose" of corn starch. The secret is equal amounts of cold water to equal amounts of cornstarch mixed thoroughly. If it needs to be thickened more, repeat the process I detailed earlier. A sauce or gravy is thick enough when you dip a spoon into mixture and it stays medium coated after you lift it out.

Thanks, Mark. I never knew that. I just turn on the faucet. And make sure not to add the cornstarch mixture when the drippings are hot, or it will lump immediately.

Anytime!

Ya learn something new everyday. What ships were you on? Thanks for the recipe.

Mig, I spent 3.5 years on the USS Orion AS-18 homeport of La Maddalena, Sardinia. Beautiful place - especially in the summer. Has the Colonel ever heard of the place? Maybe I served with Col. and I don't even know it?..

Mark, The Col. was never on the USS Orion. He was on the:
USS Canopus AS-34
USS Frank Cable As-40
USS Halyburton FFG-40
USS Vella Gulf CG-72
Plus shore facilities as well.

The Frank Cable was exactly like the ship I was on...a sub tender. Good duty...almost like shore duty.

From where I come from it's called Gravy when you put Meatballs, Sausage, Bracciole, and/or any other kinds of solid meats in it. Hence "Meats in the GRAVY. I've never heard it called meats in the sauce.

We call it sauce when it's a Marinara Sauce, a Bolognese Sauce ( chopped meat based ), Alfredo Sauce, Vodka Sauce, etc.

But when you have 'solid' meats like the ones I mentioned above, it becomes Meats in the Gravy.

TIS, you're an Italian, what did your family call it when they added and cooked meatballs and sausages in it?

DC,

In my family, the red sauce was always called "sugu" (sp). Don't know if it's slang or just perhaps Sicilian, or from a certain part of Silicy, but with or without meat it was sugu. This was passed on of course by both my grandparents who were from Sicily, so I have every reason to believe it was carried on from them but how it originated I don't know.

Now that I think about it, I did have an older cousin here in CA who I visited a few time and I believe she referred to the red sauce as gravy too. She was from my mom's side of the family so I don't know how/why the differences. Interesting though.




TIS

I never heard it called anything but sauce until I heard Paulie call it gravy on the Sopranos. Gravy was always white or brown and never on spaghetti or such.

I remember in "A Bronx Tale", C asked that black girl if she could cook "macaroni and gravy". Then in The Sopranos, I saw Paulie call it gravy and Uncle Junior called it red gravy in a scene with Tony... I thought "gravy" was strictly an east coast thing. We call it both sauce and gravy in Chicago...mostly gravy.

Gravy is what I put on biscuits. Sauce is what I put on spaghetti.

That cousin in CA I mentioned.....she was originally from Chicago. Most here eeem to be from the NY/NJ area that say "gravy" though. Maybe it is a geographical thing after all.


TIS

Great flick.

Spaghettios, Mig?!? I thought you had some class - I took you for at least a Chef Boyardee girl!

You wanna know the kind of sauce they put on spaghettios? Catsup. I don't even consider that in the pasta genre. It's a class all in itself. Although, I admit, kids seem to like them.


TIS

I apologize in advance for being gross but I always thought spaghettios smelled like kids vomit...just sayin'.

It does!

You guys(DC) will never let me live that down huh?

"DC, can you let Mig off the hook?..For old time's sake?"

Can't do it Marky.

Thanks for trying Mark. One day he'll ask me for a pass and guess what I'll say?

Probably no - but remember once a favor has been refused, Don Cardi won't ask a second time...not with this Sicilian thing that has been going on for two thousand years!

Smack!

You'll say :

"Cardi, your sitting high up on Todt Hill, And your eatin' - uh, what's he eatin'? Spaghetti, Uh, Home made Spaghetti Carbonanra -- and you're passing judgment on how I feed my Family. My family doesn't eat on Staten Island; doesn't eat in Brooklyn -- and doesn't eat in New Jersey -- with Don Geoffy. We eat spaghetti-o-s with Mark!"

No! They smell like kid's vomit!

Come on Mark your half hillbilly.( Not that I eat spaghettio's anymore )

Mig, one year on my "summer vacation", my father's sister cooked up a big bowl of scrambled eggs. She is not the best cook so we kids thought nothing about a few dark brown spots in the eggs - we thought they we burnt. After we finished breakfast and were cleaning up she asked us how we liked the scrambled eggs and pig brains...
That is a true story.

So, how were they???

They tasted like spaghetti-o-s! Honestly, we couldn't taste any difference other than they didn't need much salt. It was the fact that knowing afterwards made it all that much grosser! We probably wouldn't have even known about the secret ingredient unless told.

Mark, That's how it is when we go to the Col's Uncle's house. We never know what they are going to serve. One time I ate turtle, squirrel,pig ears. I will never eat pig ears again. Have you ever had tangle guts?

Yes - twice and it required surgery both times.

Sorry, Mig - I thought this was the tell us about your operations thread! No, I have not tasted any of those "yummy" things you listed. Needless to say that after the eggs thing we were very leary to try anything home made!

Wow! I can't believe you never ate tangle guts. I'm only 40% hillbilly and I love them.

OMG! Makes Granny Clampets' Possum stew seem halfway normal. Oh, and WTF are tangled guts????Or maybe I don't wanna know. Remind never to eat at your houses.


TIS

Tangle guts? Sounds like some sort of road kill.

TIS, tangle guts are a edible weed that grows in the mountains. You wash them and pour hot bacon grease and salt on them and they are delish. Oh yeah TIS, feel free to come to my house I cook normal food.

Could be one reason why you don't see a lot of 100 year old hillbillies. That stuff'll kill ya (then again, NY deli food isn't much healthier).

Put a plate of hillbilly food in front of me and put a plate of NY deli food in front of me and I will die a happy woman.

You put gravy on mashed potatoes, guysss.

Thank you, Bogey - back to the debate...gravy or sauce?

Yes you do.

There's

Alfredo sauce.
Pesto sauce.
Vodka sauce.
Marinara sauce.
Mushroom sauce.

But when you brown meatballs, sausage, pork & beef brocolla in a large pan and then add the meat to a pot of fresh totmato / marinara sauce, it becomes MEATS IN THE GRAVY.


It's not called meats in the sauce, or meats with tomatoes, or meats in marinara. You've never heard nor will you ever hear it reffered to anything but MEATS IN THE GRAVY!

Match, point and game - Don Cardi!

Does that mean according to your explanition if I put ham or chicken in my alfredo sauce it becomes alfredo gravy?

Absolutely not. Many restaurants make Fettucini Alfredo with Ham & Peas as well as Fettucini Alfredo with boneless chicken breast.


Now please go and pick some weeds out of the lot behind your property, pour some bacon grease fat on them and call it dinner. And make sure that you don't scare the squirrels away when you pull out those weeds!

First of all it's not a lot it's the mountains where I pick the weeds.
Second of all it's not MY property.
Third of all I can't pick any tangle guts cuz they're not in season anymore. I have to wait to the beginning of next spring. And I haven't had any to eat in a couple years.
Fourth of all don't knock it till you try it.

How many variations are there for cooking with weeds?

You askin me?

NO, I'm asking Lavinia from Italy.

Usually when you end a sentence with a question mark, it means that you're asking!

Smartass! Smartass! smartass!

I only know of 1 way to make tangleguts. That's the way I posted about. And trust me I'm not that good of a cook.

I wasn't being a smartass Mig. I asked you a question and you answered with a question! Who was really being the smartass?

One way, huh?

Gee, I wonder how many ways there are to make pasta?

Teasing!!



So what's your point?

Originally Posted By: Don Cardi
Gee, I wonder how many ways there are to make pasta?

Let's see...pasta and strangled guts, pasta and pig brains, pasta con squirrel, pig ears and pasta, pasta with dandelions, pasta ala possum, pasta and lard, spaghetti and jackrabbit sauce, rotini and elk tongue...

Bon appeitte!

Your family must be from the southern hills, BubbaMark.

Sorry, guys...you'll never catch me eating any of the before mentioned.

Well I'm not sorry for eating tangle guts or squirrel or deer. But if there ever comes a time that food is hard to come by I know my family won't go hungry.

When the end of the world comes, there's no doubt me and Don Cardi will be knocking on your, Mig!

Will you be coming over together?

Uh oh....

"Hey Colonel, go out and run over two more squirrels... we got company comin'".

No need to run them over. All he has to do is open the front door and shoot.

As I told you before, I am only half hillbilly on my pappy's side but my wife is 110% backwoods, redneck, hayseed, hillybilly bred. She melts butter to pour on her butter and can make a batch of peppered breakfast gravy - NOT sauce, and eat a whole bowl for dinner along with bacon half cooked to preserve the rubbery fat texture! She never throws out the grease - I'm told that is against the law in the south - and uses the lard to snack on while washing it down with a 12 pack of Mountain Dew...anybody know a MT. Dew interventionist?!? I knew she was an authentic hick when she cooked chicken and dumplings from scratch and my dad loved it!!! Of course, my Italian mom was instantly hacked off because a Rebel had infiltrated the Union cucina!!! I'm willing to overlook all this drama because my "Ellie May" wife is hot and looks a lot like Marie Osmond!!! HEE HAW and HOO-HAH BOY!

I'd love to meet your wife one day.

She deserves a medal putting up with me for 22 years!

I got ya beat by 5 years. A friend of mine from VA told me that she's gonna put me in for sainthood cuz I married the Col.

Speak for yourself my friend! You won't catch me eating squirrel! Mine as well eat rat! Same family.

I've eaten alligator and snake, but a squirrel is a rodent. Disgusting!

Squirrel tastes just like turkey. Don't knock it till you try it. Like I said before I won't go hungry.

It's a rodent for GOD's sake! How in the world anyone can justify eating a rodent, outside of desperately trying to survive, is beyond me!

Give me a squirrel over a slimy snake any day.

I have to admit, I didn't like snake. But the Fried Gator Bites that I ate were pretty good!

How did a request for gravy-making tips turn into snakes and squirrels and something about weeds??

See what happens when Italians marry and procreate with hillbillies (like my mother!)?!?

They make you an offer you can't understand.

Sounds like good people to me.

SC, you made me spit out some diet soda ALL over my computer.

It's called an "Italian Wannabe Hillbilly Invasion."

who's an Italian Wannabe ?