Red Pasta Sauce is Sometimes Called “Gravy”

Melissa in Grand Prairie, Texas, hails from a family in New Jersey that refers to red pasta sauce with meat in it as gravy. Her family has Italian roots, and in their local dialect, the word for “sauce” can also be translated as “gravy.” Sicilian-Americans do this as well. In his book The New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Craig Claiborne says that sauce and gravy mean the same thing. The Sopranos Family Cookbook uses the word gravy in the same way, a usage also immortalized in a famous scene from the hit TV show. This is part of a complete episode.