What a coincidence!!! I had this same conversation with someone last week! and with the same surname - how do you explain this? I did some research on this very topic some years ago - prompted by comments from some about my "misuse" of the term gravy - yes, after all, one does not put gravy (brown) on pasta! The results of my research agree with those in your article. I do not believe this use of "gravy" is regional - Lidia Bastianich (not from northeast USA) addressed this issue on one of her shows and used the same definition you used in your article.
My recipe for gravy is much like yours!

I dearly hope you add fresh crushed or saute Garlic John ;-}.

(Vampire thing for me anyway) lol

As Granma said...

To Italians it is gravy.

To Americani it is sauce.

John Walsh..
It's all good

gravy is brown and sauce is red ( tomato sauce )....Italian, American, whatever....that is the story my friends! Did you ever go to a restaurant and order something that most times may come with brown gravy (like mashe potatoes) Does the server ask if you want "sauce" on it? NO, he will probably bring "brown gravy" in a separate container to the table. OMG !

....and it does NOT matter what previous generations called it..gravy/ sauce/ macaroni...we live to recognize language/ words of today.
Also, NOW it's called "pasta". (I know, the old version words DO bring back memories but alas, we go forward)

Never onions in Italian American gravy. Makes it too sweet.

As I grew up in an Italian household it was sauce, and Sunday at Nanas house ment the 5 hour dinner instead of soup to nuts, we had soup, salad, marconi, meatballs, homemade sausage, then the main meal of a roast with potatoes and veggies, then of course fruit this process took 5 hrs. As for the sauce debate it was sauce, slowly simmered for at least 8 hrs. Infact my grandfather in his retirement started a sauce business it was called Lemme's sauce it was well known throughout R.I. And many people today still remember and miss it. So in my world it is sauce but what ever you call it there is nothing like homemade sauce simmered all day long.

Which of the following just doesn't sound correct: tomato sauce or tomato gravy? Sauce = red, gravy = brown.
If you're wondering about what to write about that would elicit a large response, just ask how toilet paper should be placed on the roll dispenser. Here's a hint: not over the top.

On the other hand it seems people are forgetting that Alfredo sauce/gravey is basicly white ;-}. Not to mention the Southern fried steak chicken gravey is usually white also ;-}, or the white sauce garlic pizza that seems to be pretty common now.

Of copurse there are big differences between Sicilian, mainland Parma also ;-}.

Was this could go on forever. Alto Salute.

It's as simple as this: my mother was mostly Irish = Sauce, my father was Italian = Gravy. My father always cooked the Sunday meal with gravy.

There were days growing up when I wished my friends mom was mine. Italian descent, she grew up on Federal Hill and when she cooked the kitchen smelled like heaven. I used to beg my friend to ask if I could stay for diner. Most times they let me. She grew a lot of the vegetables and herbs in the back yard. She made eggplant taste good . I haven't had better in the 35 years since those days.

Gravy: Noun: The fat and juices exuding from meat during cooking
Sauce: Noun: Thick liquid served with food, usually savory dishes, to add moistness and flavor.
there is no debate, we have definitions.
Alfredo is not a "gravy" it is alfredo SAUCE, I have never ever heard anyone refer to alfredo as a gravy. If it comes from meat drippings (not just contains meat) it is a gravy, if not, sauce.

It will always be gravy to me. I guess it is an Italian thing . . . a good thing.

Cranston Voter

It will always be gravy to me! I learned how to make it from my mom God rest her soul. She learned how to make it from her mom. I passed down the recipe to my son. Start with EVOO and garlic, piece of pork, italian sausage, San Marzano tomatoes, tomatoe puree, and tomatoe paste. Salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar, a bay leaf and 2 oz red wine. I remember on Sunday mornings waking up to the smell of this magnificant GRAVY and couldn't wait to cut off the ends of the italian bread, (also known as Condutce (slang) and do AH ZOOP (dip the bread in gravy) then go to heaven. Absolutely beautiful!

sauce! and yes I AM AMERICAN! italian irish english polish indian! lol!

Do you remember when parents / grandparents went grocery shopping? Big event up the hill ! Those big "number two" cans of tomaatoes...they probably used several to fill a huge pot because on Sunday the family seemed to triple in count for dinner. One of my aunts sometimes made the meatballs in the shape of little meatloafs, browned them and then into the sauce they went. They came out of the sauce and were sliced and put onto a separate platter for serving! Always trying different versions. (that was before the chicken & salad!0 We had a beach house and my Dad had a a huge garden..(we bottled and fired to preserve at least 100 long neck bottles of timatoes each September in order to have sauce all Winter..which we loved.).but ONLY my Dad could walk through the garden....no one was going to step through his plants! They were so proud ...and rightly so. Such wonderful memories....todays generations need some guidance....I see so many issues and non conformity....wish they were like us growing up sometimes I think.......and the news on TV is not good either.

Another thing that my mother made for special occasions(also known as Sunday dinner) was braciole It is simply thin sliced beef, which has been pounded, filled, tied and braised. It is then simmered in a tomato sauce until it is very tender.

I am first generation American both my parents were born in Italy. My Nonna (grandmother) only spoke Italian and she would call it "sugo" translated into English means Gravy. The word "salsa" in Italian is sauce. So it is Gravy. (My maiden in is D'Arezzo)

I never call the stuff you buy in a can "gravy", I call it sauce. I only call it gravy when you make it yourself.