Gravy

morning glory said:
I know, I toyed with putting it in that thread. But I thought the Gravy thing deserved a thread of its own!

The nearest I can think of, regarding white sauce with sausage meat, is Lasagne, where the béchamel is layered with tomato sauce. But that's not really the same at all...
It would be interesting to know if there are other meat and white sauce (gravy) recipes in the US.
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We traditionally don't use a bechamel sauce in lasagna <--as it's spelled here, we use tomato sauce, lasagna noodles, cheese, and meat (sausage, hamburger, or a mixture of both). It appears we do many things more differently than I realized.
 
Diane Lane said:
We traditionally don't use a bechamel sauce in lasagna <--as it's spelled here, we use tomato sauce, lasagna noodles, cheese, and meat (sausage, hamburger, or a mixture of both). It appears we do many things more differently than I realized.
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The more we all chat about it, the more differences pop up!
 
morning glory said:
It sounds like the Caribbean understanding of gravy and the UK understanding of gravy are identical! Who'd have thought it?:) Now this has got me wondering if culinary terms in the UK are closer to Caribbean than US... and, if so, why?
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I wrote a post sometime back saying we are still referred to as 'Little England". Before we became Independent in 1966, we were under British rule. Our relationship goes back to somewhere around the 17th Century so much of our systems are still based on British Law. Therefore it stands to reason that our culinary worlds will often blend. Google our relationship and you will see our ties and the whys. Me trying to explain it here might have some inconsistencies, not being much of a historian.
 
winterybella said:
I wrote a post sometime back saying we are still referred to as 'Little England". Before we became Independent in 1966, we were under British rule. Our relationship goes back to somewhere around the 17th Century so much of our systems are still based on British Law. Therefore it stands to reason that our culinary worlds will often blend. Google our relationship and you will see our ties and the whys. Me trying to explain it here might have some inconsistencies, not being much of a historian.
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Of course...of course. It was obvious when I thought about it.. I was going to post and say exactly what you said. Its not the best of histories, in terms of British rule and what we did. But, I can't help liking it that we share some food culture.
 
Okay, let's clear something up. We all make traditional gravy from the drippings of a roast. These drippings are thickened in some way, usually with flour and the color is brown. Unless it's chicken and then it's yellowish. The sausage gravy we've been refering to is really a sauce. It's like the Italians calling a rich tomato sauce, tomato gravy (see Goodfellas). This is more of a linguistic issue than a gravy issue. The "gravy" on a chicken fried steak is also more of a sauce. Some of us just call it gravy. The word is cultural depending on where one is from.
 
Dianemwj said:
Okay, let's clear something up. We all make traditional gravy from the drippings of a roast. These drippings are thickened in some way, usually with flour and the color is brown. Unless it's chicken and then it's yellowish. The sausage gravy we've been refering to is really a sauce. It's like the Italians calling a rich tomato sauce, tomato gravy (see Goodfellas). This is more of a linguistic issue than a gravy issue. The "gravy" on a chicken fried steak is also more of a sauce. Some of us just call it gravy. The word is cultural depending on where one is from.
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Yes, it is definitely more a 'sauce'. Pretty well a béchamel, in fact. But I think there is a cultural difference here. In the UK we just wouldn't put a white sauce with sausage meat. Neither would we expect to find a white sauce with a crispy chicken fried 'steak'.
 
morning glory said:
Yes, it is definitely more a 'sauce'. Pretty well a béchamel, in fact. But I think there is a cultural difference here. In the UK we just wouldn't put a white sauce with sausage meat. Neither would we expect to find a white sauce with a crispy chicken fried 'steak'.
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Same around here unless we went fine dinning and ordered something we probably had to Google with our smart phone.
morning glory said:
Of course...of course. It was obvious when I thought about it.. I was going to post and say exactly what you said. Its not the best of histories, in terms of British rule and what we did. But, I can't help liking it that we share some food culture.
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Yes, we are 'related' even though we sought to 'move out' in 66. But every child even when they 'move out' take some traditions of their household with them. Same can be said of us and customs, including traditional dishes and the like.
 
The first time I ever had sausage gravy was when I was down visiting a friend in Florida.I feel in love with it. I am not a gravy person and rarely ever eat it but this sausage gravy was amazing. The taste of it was so good. I have been hooked ever since. As soon as I got back home I had to go online and search a recipe for it. I have tried a few of them but I just can't seem to get it as good as the one I had in Florida. Biscuits and gravy..yum..yum!
 
morning glory said:
I don't think we all use gravy boats. But it is traditional to use them for gravy, especially when the gravy accompanies a roast dinner.
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I use jugs instead of a gravy boat, for my gravy. I have a number to choose from as I like the shape and end up buying more!

And gravy to me is something brown coloured, usually made from the juices of the dish, thickened a little and with additional flavourings, often in this household something like port, balsamic vinegar, redcurrant jelly etc depending on my mood.
 
This is a fairly common type of gravy here in the US - though I believe it's more prominent in the southern states, typically referred to as Biscuits & Gravy. The whole scones thing was just a twist on that. But in all honesty scones aren't much different from biscuits to begin with, aside from being a little drier and more dense. You can often find the sausage gravy itself already prepared in the canned goods sections of many grocery stores, as well as in the refrigerated foods sections near the processed meats such as sausages and hot dogs. It's not really as crazy as it sounds, the white sauce is more neutral, allowing the flavorings of the spices in the sausage to stand out more. So you can taste the typical spices in a common breakfast sausage more - such as the sage, thyme and nutmeg. That's another thing I should note, this is more commonly served for breakfast - so the sausage in it is breakfast sausage, not something like an Italian sausage or a smoked kielbasa. We typically wouldn't eat some sauce or brown gravy made with wine and caramelized onions for breakfast.
 
OhioTom76 said:
This is a fairly common type of gravy here in the US - though I believe it's more prominent in the southern states, typically referred to as Biscuits & Gravy. The whole scones thing was just a twist on that. But in all honesty scones aren't much different from biscuits to begin with, aside from being a little drier and more dense. You can often find the sausage gravy itself already prepared in the canned goods sections of many grocery stores, as well as in the refrigerated foods sections near the processed meats such as sausages and hot dogs. It's not really as crazy as it sounds, the white sauce is more neutral, allowing the flavorings of the spices in the sausage to stand out more. So you can taste the typical spices in a common breakfast sausage more - such as the sage, thyme and nutmeg. That's another thing I should note, this is more commonly served for breakfast - so the sausage in it is breakfast sausage, not something like an Italian sausage or a smoked kielbasa. We typically wouldn't eat some sauce or brown gravy made with wine and caramelized onions for breakfast.
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Thank you for this explanation. It helps to clarify things. The biscuit/scone thing has been confusing many threads on this forum, because to the UK, a biscuit is what you might call a cookie. I still find the white gravy and sausage a little strange but it makes rather more sense now you have explained it is what you call 'a breakfast sausage'. I'm now wanting to try this for breakfast! Why not?

But I now see why I found it so-oo peculiar; putting a heavily spiced continental sausage in a white
gravy would just be wrong.
 
Biscuits and thick white sausage gravy is very popular here in the US. It is one of those comfort breakfast foods you can find just about anywhere, truck stops included. The thicker the gravy the better. Simple biscuits are the best ones to use for this delicious meal. It is very cheap to make too!
 
I made biscuits and gravy for dinner last night, what a nice treat. I didn't have Bisquick, but I did use a pre-made baking mix for the biscuits, and I used the Bisquick drop biscuits recipe that's on the side of all of their boxes. I was in a rush, so I didn't make the gravy from scratch, I used one of the pouches that has the dried ingredients and you just mix in water and cook it. I'll have enough for about 2 more meals, and Kelly, my little kitty who likes people food, enjoyed them as well.
 
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