Gravy is a
sauce
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 flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
made from the juices of
meat
Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
s and
vegetable
Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...
s that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with thickeners for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a mix of salt and caramel food colouring) or gravy browning (gravy salt dissolved in water) or
bouillon cubes. Powders can be used as a substitute for natural meat or vegetable extracts. Canned and instant gravies are also available. Gravy is commonly served with
roasts,
meatloaf,
sandwiches,
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
,
noodles,
fries (chips),
mashed potatoes, or
biscuits (North America, see
biscuits and gravy).
History
One of the earliest recorded mentions of gravy is in a British recipe book entitled "
The Forme of Cury", dating from the 14th century. The term gravy originates from the Old French word for meat or fish bouillon, which in fourteenth century French manuscripts was "gravé" or "grané". It is suggested that the French word grané is associated with grain, connecting grain’s usage in culinary terms as a sauce made from meat and served with meat.
Popularisation in different cultures
Some think that the establishment of gravy as a British household staple came as a result of a long-running advertising campaign by the British food product brand OXO. The advertisements, which ran on British television from 1983 to 1999, featured a middle-class British family eating meals with Oxo gravy. Gravy is now an integral ingredient in the classic British
Sunday roast
A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a British dish traditionally eaten on Sunday. It consists of roast meat, roast or mash potatoes, and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, gravy, and may include condiments such as apple sauce, ...
.
The long history of British colonization and immigration in North America has influenced food production and consumption in Canada and the United States. In North America, gravy is considered a popular sauce to accompany traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and food, such as turkey and potatoes.
In the Southern United States, gravy and biscuits are popular breakfast foods that originated in Southern Appalachia in the late 1800s. While the South has developed various types of gravy, most contain sausage, flour, butter, and milk, affordable ingredients for working class families.
Gravy is one of three ingredients in the famous French-Canadian dish
poutine, made up of French fries, cheese curds, and a salty, light brown sauce combining beef and chicken stock. Poutine emerged in rural Québec in the 1950s and has become one of Canada’s most iconic meals.
In Italian American culture, gravy is sometimes used to refer to meat-based tomato sauce.
Instant gravy
The first instant gravy was developed by the British company Bisto in 1908, as a meat-flavoured powder that can be combined with water and served with meat. Instant gravy is now sold by various companies, including Heinz, Knorr, and McCormick.
Types
: ''See also
Wiktionary > gravy § Hyponyms''
* Brown gravy is the name for a gravy made from the drippings from roasted meat or fowl. The drippings are cooked on the stovetop at high heat with onions or other vegetables, and then thickened with a thin mixture of water and either wheat flour or cornstarch.
* Cream gravy, or white gravy (sawmill gravy) is a
bechamel sauce made using fats from meat—such as sausage or bacon—or meat drippings from roasting or frying meats. The fat and drippings are combined with flour to make a roux, and milk is typically used as the liquid to create the sauce, however, cream is often added or may be the primary liquid. It is frequently seasoned with black pepper, and complementing herbs and bits of meat may be added such as sausage or diced chicken liver. It is an important part of many Southern USA meals, and frequently used as an ingredient in casseroles and other southern dishes, such as
biscuits and gravy and served alongside many Southern favorites such as
mashed potatoes,
fried chicken and
chicken-fried steak. Other common names include country gravy, sawmill gravy, milk gravy, and
sausage gravy.
* Egg gravy is a variety of gravy made starting with meat drippings (usually from
bacon) followed by flour being used to make a thick
roux. Water, broth, or milk is added and the liquid is brought back up to a boil, then salt and peppered to taste. A well-beaten
egg is then slowly added while the gravy is stirred or whisked swiftly, cooking the egg immediately and separating it into small fragments in the gravy.
* Red gravy can refer to several different dishes. It is a simple, basic tomato sauce in New Orleans. In some Italian-American communities it refers to a complex long- and slow-cooked tomato sauce, frequently with meats and vegetables, although the distinction between "sauce" and "gravy" in the Italian-American tomato world is debated. There are several red gravies from India, which are variations of tomato-based curry.
* Giblet gravy has the
giblets of turkey or chicken added when it is to be served with those types of poultry, or uses stock made from the giblets.
*
Mushroom gravy is a variety of gravy made with mushrooms.
*
Onion gravy is made from large quantities of slowly
sweated, chopped
onions mixed with
stock
Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...
or
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...
. It is commonly served with
bangers and mash, eggs,
chops, or other grilled or fried meat which by way of the cooking method would not produce their own gravy.
*
Red-eye gravy is a gravy made from the drippings of ham fried in a skillet or frying pan. The pan is
deglazed with coffee, giving the gravy its name, and uses no thickening agent. This gravy is a staple of Southern United States cuisine and is usually served over ham,
grits or
biscuits.
* Vegetable gravy or vegetarian gravy is gravy made with boiled or roasted vegetables. A quick and flavourful vegetable gravy can be made from any combination of vegetable broth or vegetable stock, flour, and one of either butter, oil, or
margarine. One recipe uses vegetarian
bouillon cubes with
cornstarch (corn flour) as a thickener ("cowboy
roux"), which is whisked into boiling water. Sometimes vegetable juices are added to enrich the flavour, which may give the gravy a dark green colour. Wine could be added. Brown vegetarian gravy can also be made with savoury
yeast extract like
Marmite or
Vegemite. There are also commercially produced instant gravy granules which are suitable for both
vegetarians and
vegans, though some of the leading brands are not marketed as being vegetarian.
Cuisines
In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, a
Sunday roast
A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a British dish traditionally eaten on Sunday. It consists of roast meat, roast or mash potatoes, and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, gravy, and may include condiments such as apple sauce, ...
is usually served with gravy. It is commonly eaten with
beef,
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...
,
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
or
lamb. It is also popular in different parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to have gravy with just
chips (mostly from a
fish and chip shop or
Chinese takeaway).
In
British and
Irish cuisine, as well as in the cuisines of
Commonwealth countries like
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the word gravy refers only to the meat-based sauce derived from meat juices, stock cubes or gravy granules. Use of the word "gravy" does not include other thickened sauces. One of the most popular forms is
onion gravy, which is eaten with sausages,
Yorkshire pudding and roast meat.
Throughout the United States, gravy is commonly eaten with
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
foods such as
turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, mashed potatoes and
stuffing
Stuffing, filling, or dressing is an edible mixture, often composed of herbs and a Starch#Food, starch such as bread, used to fill a cavity in the preparation of another food item. Many foods may be stuffed, including poultry, seafood, and v ...
. One Southern United States variation is sausage gravy eaten with
American biscuits. Another Southern US dish that uses white gravy is
chicken-fried steak.
Rice and gravy is a staple of
Cajun and
Creole cuisine in the southern US state of
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
.
Gravy is a key ingredient in the Canadian dish poutine which is a combination of french fries, gravy and cheese curds. The dish emerged in Quebec and is associated with the province’s identity.
In some parts of
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, particularly
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, gravy is any thickened liquid part of a dish. For example, the liquid part of a thick
curry may be referred to as gravy.
In the Mediterranean,
Maghreb cuisine is dominated with gravy and bread-based dishes.
Tajine and most Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) dishes are derivatives of oil, meat and vegetable gravies. The dish is usually served with a loaf of bread. The bread is then dipped into the gravy and then used to gather or scoop the meat and vegetables between the index, middle finger and thumb, and consumed.
In gastronomy of
Menorca, it has been used since the English influence during the 17th century in typical Menorcan and Catalan dishes, as for example ''macarrons amb grevi'' (pasta).
[Xim Fuster i Manel Gómez: ''Menorca: gastronomía y cocina''. Sant Lluís. 2005. Ed. Triangle Postals. ]
See also
*
Au jus
''Au jus'' () is a French language, French culinary term meaning "with juice". It refers to meat dishes prepared or served together with a light broth or gravy, made from the fluids secreted by the meat as it is cooked. In French cuisine, cookin ...
– beef juice
*
Cuisine of the Southern United States
*
Gravy train (disambiguation)
*
List of sauces
*
Sauce boat, also referred to as a gravy boat
References
{{English cuisine
Sauces
Non-Newtonian fluids
Thanksgiving food
Meat-based sauces