Gravy - Wikipedia

Sauce made from the juices of meats For other uses, see Gravy (disambiguation). Gravy

Brown gravy, served in a sauce boat
Course	Sauce
Place of origin	France United Kingdom
Main ingredients	Juices of meats and vegetables, thickeners, gravy salt, gravy browning, bouillon cubes
Other information	Main uses: Sunday roast or with chips (United Kingdom), turkey stuffing and American biscuits (North America), poutine (Canada), bread-based dishes (Mediterranean cuisine)
Cookbook: Gravy   Media: Gravy

Gravy is a sauce made from the juices of meats and vegetables 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.[1] Gravy is commonly served with roasts, meatloaf, sandwiches, rice,[2] noodles, fries (chips), mashed potatoes, or biscuits (North America; see biscuits and gravy).

History

[edit]

One of the earliest recorded mentions of gravy is in a 14th-century English recipe book, The Forme of Cury.[3] 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.[4]

Popularisation in different cultures

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The long history of English immigration to 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.[5] While the South has developed various types of gravy, most contain sausage, flour, butter, and milk, affordable ingredients for working-class families.[6][7]

Gravy is one of three ingredients in the 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.[8]

Instant gravy

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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.[9] Instant gravy is now sold by various companies, including Heinz, Knorr, and McCormick.[10][11][12]

Types

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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 U.S. meals, and frequently used as an ingredient in casseroles and other Southern dishes such as biscuits and gravy and served alongside other regional dishes including mashed potatoes, fried chicken and chicken-fried steak.[13] 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 salted 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.[14] In some Italian-American communities it refers to a complex long- and slow-cooked tomato sauce, frequently with meats and vegetables,[15] although the distinction between "sauce" and "gravy" in the Italian-American tomato world is debated.[16] There are several red gravies from India, which are variations of tomato-based curry.[17]
• 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.

Cuisines

[edit]

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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.[18]

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.[19]

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.[20][21]

In the Mediterranean, Maghreb cuisine is dominated by gravy and bread-based dishes. Tajine and most other Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) dishes are derivatives of oil, meat and vegetable gravies. These dishes are 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 Menorca, due to English influence since the 17th century, gravy has been used in typical Menorcan and Catalan dishes, as for example macarrons amb grevi (pasta).[22]

See also

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• 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

References

[edit] Look up gravy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gravy.

1. ^ Peter, K.V. (2012). Handbook of Herbs and Spices. Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition. Elsevier Science. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-85709-567-1. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
2. ^ "Rice and Gravy | RealCajunRecipes.com: la cuisine de maw-maw!". RealCajunRecipes.com. January 1, 1970.
3. ^ Pegge, Samuel (1390). The Forme of Cury.[page needed]
4. ^ Tebben, Maryann (2014). Sauces: A Global History. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78023-351-2.[page needed]
5. ^ Hutcherson, Aaron (2019-07-22). "The surprising history served with a plate of biscuits and gravy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
6. ^ Hutcherson, Aaron; Fowler, Geoffrey A.; Frankel, Todd; Natanson, Hannah; Voght, Kara; Amenabar, Teddy; Valiño, Álvaro; Galocha, Artur; Andrews, Travis (2019-07-22). "The surprising history served with a plate of biscuits and gravy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
7. ^ Allen, Lauren (2020-03-12). "The BEST Biscuits and Gravy recipe". Tastes Better From Scratch. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
8. ^ Ricardocuisine. "Brown Gravy Sauce for Poutine and Hot Chicken". Ricardo. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
9. ^ Davies, Jeffrey (2023). "Everything You Never Knew About Bisto". Britshop. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
10. ^ "Gravy and Sauces". McCormick. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
11. ^ "Gravies Classic and delicious". Knorr. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
12. ^ "Make Every Day a Gravy Day | Heinz". www.heinz.com. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
13. ^ "Homemade Southern Cream Gravy With Drippings". The Spruce Eats.
14. ^ "New Orleans Red Gravy". www.gumbopages.com.
15. ^ "Do You Prefer Sauce or Gravy?". 22 March 2018.
16. ^ "Let's Finally Settle the Decades-old Sauce vs. Gravy Debate". 17 May 2020.
17. ^ "Restaurant Style Red Gravy: All-purpose curry base". www.vegetariantastebuds.com/. 29 August 2022.
18. ^ Istre, Elista Dawn (2013). 'Honey, We's All Creoles': Exploring South Louisiana's Creole Identity, Culture, and Heritage (Thesis). ProQuest 1425348034.[page needed]
19. ^ Sicotte, Geneviève (8 October 2024). "La légende dorée de la poutine: Tentative de décodage d'un récit des origines". Ethnologies. 46 (1): 153–174. doi:10.7202/1113963ar.
20. ^ "Basic Indian gravy". Archived from the original on 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
21. ^ "List of Indian gravy dishes". Archived from the original on December 11, 2009.
22. ^ Xim Fuster i Manel Gómez: Menorca: gastronomía y cocina. Sant Lluís. 2005. Ed. Triangle Postals. ISBN 84-8478-187-9

v t e English cuisine
Roman times	Dishes Sausages
Middle Agesto 15th century	Exemplars Utilis Coquinario (c. 1300) The Forme of Cury (c. 1390) Dishes Apple pie Bacon Banbury cake Cheesecake Custard Game pie Gingerbread Kippers Mince pie Mortis Pasty Pease pudding Pie Pottage
16th century	Exemplars Richard Pynson (The Boke of Cokery, 1500) Thomas Dawson (The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1585) Dishes Black pudding Fruit fool Pancake Scones Syllabub Trifle (without jelly)
17th century	Exemplars Elinor Fettiplace (Receipt Book, 1604) Gervase Markham (The English Huswife, 1615) Robert May (The Accomplisht Cook, 1660) Hannah Woolley (The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet 1670) John Evelyn (Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets 1699) Kenelm Digby (The Closet Opened 1699) Dishes Battalia pie Currant bun Queen of Puddings Sponge cake Sussex pond pudding Sweet and sour Tea
18th century	Exemplars Mary Kettilby (A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery 1714) Mary Eales (Mrs Mary Eales's Receipts 1718) John Nott (The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary, 1723) Eliza Smith (The Compleat Housewife 1727) Hannah Glasse (The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy 1747) Ann Cook (Professed Cookery, 1754) Martha Bradley (The British Housewife 1758) Primitive Cookery (1767) Elizabeth Raffald (The Experienced English Housekeeper 1769) Richard Briggs (The English Art of Cookery 1788) William Augustus Henderson (The Housekeeper's Instructor 1791) Dishes Bread and butter pudding Christmas pudding Chutney Curry Cottage or Shepherd's pie Eccles cake Jellied eels Jugged hare Ketchup Marmalade Parkin Piccalilli Pork pie Roast beef Sandwich Scouse Suet pudding Toad in the hole Trifle (with jelly) Welsh rarebit Yorkshire pudding
19th century	Exemplars Maria Rundell (A New System of Domestic Cookery 1806) Martha Brotherton (Vegetable Cookery 1812) Eliza Acton (Modern Cookery for Private Families 1845) Charles Elmé Francatelli (The Modern Cook 1846) Isabella Beeton (Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management 1861) Dishes Battenberg cake Bubble and squeak Cauliflower cheese Cobbler Devilled kidneys Eton mess Eve's pudding Faggots Fish and chips Full English breakfast HP Sauce Ice cream cone Jam roly-poly Lancashire hotpot Lardy cake Madeira cake Potted shrimps Sausage roll Steak and kidney pudding Summer pudding Windsor soup Worcestershire sauce
20th century	Exemplars Florence Petty Elizabeth David (A Book of Mediterranean Food 1950) Dorothy Hartley (Food in England 1954) Constance Spry Fanny Cradock Marguerite Patten Jane Grigson Delia Smith Rick Stein Nigel Slater Keith Floyd Marco Pierre White Nigella Lawson Jamie Oliver Fergus Henderson (The Whole Beast 1999) Gordon Ramsay Gary Rhodes Mary Berry Dishes Bakewell tart Beef Wellington Carrot cake Chicken tikka masala Coronation chicken Crumble Knickerbocker glory Ploughman's lunch Salad cream Steak Diane Sticky toffee pudding
21st century	Exemplars Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck) Lizzie Collingham Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (River Cottage) Rachel Khoo Michel Roux Jr. (Le Gavroche) Antony Worrall Thompson Clarissa Dickson Wright (A History of English Food 2011) Dishes Coronation quiche Platinum Pudding
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