The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[dfandreatta]

There is a distinction, by definition, between "sauce" and "gravy" - which are sometimes used here interchangeably.

It would seem that a "sauce" can be a "gravy" - but can "gravy" really be considered "sauce"?

From "Food & Culture Encylopedia" - courtesy of "Answers.com" - used without permission:

"The term "gravy" first appears in Middle English as gravé and is presumed to derive from French, since the word may be found in numerous medieval French cookbooks. The original medieval meaning was precise: the gravé consisted of the natural cooking juices that flowed from roasting meat. By implication, this meat was spit-roasted, and therefore two important implements were required to make and collect the gravy: a flesh fork for piercing the meat in order to increase the flow of drippings, and a dripping pan beneath the roast, designed to collect the gravy for use at table. Normally the gravy was skimmed of fat, salted, and then sent up as a sauce, although presalting was not necessary, since this could be accomplished to taste at table. The term in this sense has been replaced today by jus, as in beefsteak au jus.

The medieval roasted meat with gravé was generally served rare and not likely to have a counterpart in contemporary Byzantine cookery, since the Eastern Church forbade the consumption of blood or bloody food. Among Byzantine Christians, the gravy of pork, mutton, goat, and the mouflon of Cyprus (a species of wild goat prepared like venison) was often reduced over high heat and mixed with garum (fish sauce) or wine, as reported by several medieval travelers. The preparation was then served as a dipping sauce, since the meat was cut up into small pieces and eaten with a fork. The idea of treating gravy as a sauce base is extremely old and may in fact trace back to antiquity. The debate among purists as to whether gravy with additional ingredients constitutes a sauce has not been settled, and probably never will be."

"Sauce" (from the same source):

"Sauces are food preparations with a fluid consistency, often with nutritional richness and a relatively pronounced taste, that are used to complement other foods. Although they typically stand out as a special development of cookery, their social and historical importance tends to be underrecognized.

Sauces may be divided into two broad categories. First, they can be essentially nutritious partners to a staple, such as the sauces eaten with pasta, corn chips, rice, and so on. Historically, this group arrived with settled society, when communities relied on perhaps only one cereal (such as barley, wheat, rice, or maize) or tuber (potato, taro, yam, or cassava). These foods could be cultivated in bulk and stored from one crop to the next. However, they were starchy foods that were nutritionally incomplete, requiring the addition of vegetables, legumes, meat and other animal products, often cooked separately as a sauce.

A second category primarily imparts flavor and is often served separately on, or in addition to, meat and vegetables rather than the staple cereal or tuber. These sauces range from relishes, such as tomato ketchup, which are often preserved, to subtle compositions often based on stocks and egg emulsifications and slightly sticky to form a coating. Because they are so refined and velvety, sauces became the pride of French cooking. Just as the first category of sauces catered to the culinary needs of civilization, the second brought to dining a certain luxury and high standard of taste.

Sauces are not normally eaten by themselves, generally require some sort of preparation (a raw ingredient, such as poured cream, is not conventionally considered a sauce), often have a homogenous look and texture, and are usually soft or runny in consistency. However, the boundaries are blurred, variations are many, and language is imprecise.

Some sauces merge with soups and stews, which differ in that it is possible to eat either alone. On the other side of the spectrum, some sauces merge with relishes and condiments. A fluid state is normal, although many pounded compositions are considered sauces (e.g., Italian pesto consisting of basil, Parmesan, garlic, and olive oil), and chopped ingredients often act like sauces. For example, pizza toppings are virtually identical to pasta sauces. Although sauces are usually placed on top of other foods, they can also bind other ingredients or function as fillings, encased in buns, pastry packets, sheets of pasta, rice balls, and so on. While the range includes sweet toppings (such as chocolate sauce), soft, sweet pastry fillings are more likely to be called creams or crèmes. Runny custard (crème anglaise) can be a sauce, but usually not a set custard or ice cream. Nonetheless, one's definition of the "sauce" category should be flexible, especially for sauces that fill the two roles already described, namely, as a nutritional complement to a staple, or a taste complement to a nutritional complement."

So, is pizza "sauce" a "sauce", or a "gravy"?
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"Papa Don"
Apollo Beach, Florida

[pizza]

I don't think I want to get i the middle of this debate.

I will say this: to this very day when I get together with my relatives there is still a
huge argument going on about this very topic:

Is it gravy or is it sauce?

I did create a video with my own personal sauce / gravy recipe.
I did try to answer the question, with inconclusive evidence...

You can find the video and the recipe on this page:

http://pizzatherapy.com/basic.htm

Hey I think my old pal, William Shakespeare said it best: