Gravy

One of the earliest recorded mentions of gravy is in a British recipe book entitled "The Forme of Cury", dating from the 14th century.{{cite book |last1=Pegge |first1=Samuel |date=1390 |title=The Forme of Cury }}{{pn|date=April 2025}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Tebben |first1=Maryann |title=Sauces: A Global History |date=2014 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-351-2 }}{{pn|date=April 2025}}

Some{{Who?|date=April 2025}} think that the establishment of gravy as a British household staple came as a result{{citation needed|date=April 2025}} of a long-running advertising campaign by the British food product brand OXO.{{Dubious|date=May 2025}} The advertisements, which ran on British television from 1983 to 1999, featured a middle-class British family eating meals with Oxo gravy.{{Cite web |last=freestyle |date=2014-10-27 |title=WHY THE OXO FAMILY IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF A BRAND STORY |url=https://hootmarketing.co.uk/blog/why-the-oxo-family-is-a-great-example-of-a-brand-story/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Hoot Marketing |language=en-US}} Gravy is now an integral ingredient in the classic British Sunday roast.

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.{{Cite news |last=Hutcherson |first=Aaron |date=2019-07-22 |title=The surprising history served with a plate of biscuits and gravy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/07/22/today-even-fancy-restaurants-serve-biscuits-and-gravy-but-the-dish-comes-from-modest-beginnings/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post }} While the South has developed various types of gravy, most contain sausage, flour, butter, and milk, affordable ingredients for working class families.{{Cite news |last1=Hutcherson |first1=Aaron |last2=Fowler |first2=Geoffrey A. |last3=Frankel |first3=Todd |last4=Natanson |first4=Hannah |last5=Voght |first5=Kara |last6=Amenabar |first6=Teddy |last7=Valiño |first7=Álvaro |last8=Galocha |first8=Artur |last9=Andrews |first9=Travis |date=2019-07-22 |title=The surprising history served with a plate of biscuits and gravy |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/07/22/today-even-fancy-restaurants-serve-biscuits-and-gravy-but-the-dish-comes-from-modest-beginnings/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post }}{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Lauren |date=2020-03-12 |title=The BEST Biscuits and Gravy recipe |url=https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/sausage-gravy-biscuits/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Tastes Better From Scratch |language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Ricardocuisine |title=Brown Gravy Sauce for Poutine and Hot Chicken |url=https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/recipes/4854-brown-gravy-sauce-for-poutine-and-hot-chicken |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Ricardo |language=en}}

In Italian American culture, gravy is sometimes used to refer to meat-based tomato sauce.{{Cite web |last=johndeike |date=2020-05-17 |title=Let's Finally Settle the Decades-old Sauce vs. Gravy Debate |url=https://orderisda.org/culture/language/lets-finally-settle-the-decades-old-sauce-vs-gravy-debate/#:~:text=In%201902,%20an%20Italian%20woman,Boyardee%20canned%20his%20%E2%80%9Csauce.%E2%80%9D |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Italian Sons and Daughters of America |language=en-US}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=Jeffrey |date=2023 |title=Everything You Never Knew About Bisto |url=https://www.britshop.ca/blogs/britshop-blogs/everything-you-never-knew-about-bisto |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Britshop}} Instant gravy is now sold by various companies, including Heinz, Knorr, and McCormick.{{Cite web |title=Gravy and Sauces |url=https://www.mccormick.com/spices-and-flavors/recipe-mixes/gravies-and-sauces |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=McCormick |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Gravies Classic and delicious |url=https://www.knorr.com/ca/en/knorr-products/knorr-gravies.html |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Knorr}}{{Cite web |title=Make Every Day a Gravy Day {{!}} Heinz |url=https://www.heinz.com/everyday-gravy |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.heinz.com}}

{{more citations needed section|date=July 2021}}

: See also Wiktionary > gravy § Hyponyms

• {{anchor|brown}}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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thespruceeats.com/tys-southern-cream-gravy-3057039|title=Homemade Southern Cream Gravy With Drippings|website=The Spruce Eats}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gumbopages.com/food/sauces/red-gravy.html|title=New Orleans Red Gravy|website=www.gumbopages.com}} In some Italian-American communities it refers to a complex long- and slow-cooked tomato sauce, frequently with meats and vegetables,{{cite web | url=https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/do-you-prefer-sauce-or-gravy | title=Do You Prefer Sauce or Gravy?| date=22 March 2018}} although the distinction between "sauce" and "gravy" in the Italian-American tomato world is debated.{{cite web | url=https://orderisda.org/culture/language/lets-finally-settle-the-decades-old-sauce-vs-gravy-debate/. | title=Let's Finally Settle the Decades-old Sauce vs. Gravy Debate | date=17 May 2020}} There are several red gravies from India, which are variations of tomato-based curry.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegetariantastebuds.com/restaurant-style-red-gravy/|title=Restaurant Style Red Gravy: All-purpose curry base|website=www.vegetariantastebuds.com/|date=29 August 2022 }}
• 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 or wine. 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.

{{More citations needed section|date=July 2021}}

File:-2019-12-22 Roast turkey served vegtables, pigs in blanket, stuffing, cranberry sauce tartlet, and gravy, Trimingham.JPG

File:2021-11-25 21 30 25 Mashed potatoes with gravy from Wegmans in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpges and gravy from an American supermarket]]

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a Sunday roast is usually served with gravy. It is commonly eaten with beef, pork, chicken 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, Canada and New Zealand, 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 foods such as turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. 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.{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|1425348034}} |last1=Istre |first1=Elista Dawn |date=2013 |title='Honey, We's All Creoles': Exploring South Louisiana's Creole Identity, Culture, and Heritage }}{{pn|date=April 2025}}

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.{{cite journal |last1=Sicotte |first1=Geneviève |title=La légende dorée de la poutine: Tentative de décodage d'un récit des origines |journal=Ethnologies |date=8 October 2024 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=153–174 |doi=10.7202/1113963ar }}

In some parts of Asia, particularly India, gravy is any thickened liquid part of a dish. For example, the liquid part of a thick curry may be referred to as gravy.{{Cite web |url=http://indianfood.about.com/od/masalarecipes/r/basicgravy.htm |title=Basic Indian gravy |access-date=2009-12-07 |archive-date=2017-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122195639/http://indianfood.about.com/od/masalarecipes/r/basicgravy.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.daawat.com/recipes/indian/veg/gravy.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211213011/http://www.daawat.com/recipes/indian/veg/gravy.htm|url-status=dead|title=List of Indian gravy dishes|archivedate=December 11, 2009}}

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. {{ISBN|84-8478-187-9}}

{{Portal|Food}}

• Au jus – beef juice
• Cuisine of the Southern United States
• Gravy train (disambiguation)
• List of sauces
• Sauce boat, also referred to as a gravy boat

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Commons category|Gravy}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Lists of prepared foods|state=collapsed}}

{{English cuisine}}

Category:Sauces

Category:Non-Newtonian fluids

Category:Thanksgiving food

Category:Meat-based sauces