We enjoy the gravies -- they are listed as sauces -- at Tony's Italian Deli in Edison Park, on Northwest Highway just south of Park Ridge. This is one of those old, Italian delis you mentioned and it's a great place for subs (including a terrific Muffaletta) and for lazy people who like home-cooked Italian foods. Fortunately, it's their home.

You can browse through their offerings at: http://www.tonysdeliandsubs.com

The next installment of Home Cookin' features Sunday gravy. Coming soon to an LTH homepage.

admich wrote:Since this is shopping and cooking, and since I didn't want to start a new thread, I will throw this out here.

Where in Chicago can one buy a good pint (or quart) of good gravy? I'm guessing some of the older delis or sandwich shops might sell it, but I don't really know where to start. Anyone got a spot?

Minelli's has frozen gravy/sauce, which you can soup up with their excellent sausages, etc.

Minelli's
7900 N. Milwaukee
Niles, IL 60714

http://minellimeatanddeli.com/

Freddie's in Cicero. You can buy fresh there but they also have their stuff in the freezer. I'll contribute further to this thread.

Here is a interesting recipe for Sunday gravy from a priest. I think if you add meat, you have to simmer it for a few hours so it becomes tender and infuses the sauce with flavor. I'd nix the cinnamon in the sauce. I know Greeks do that but I was not aware that Italians would. Perhaps this is regional.

http://www.carmelites.net/blog/under-the-broom-tree/

Serrelli's on North Ave. on Oak Park makes their own and it's quite passable.

bw77 wrote:

admich wrote:Since this is shopping and cooking, and since I didn't want to start a new thread, I will throw this out here.

Where in Chicago can one buy a good pint (or quart) of good gravy? I'm guessing some of the older delis or sandwich shops might sell it, but I don't really know where to start. Anyone got a spot?

Minelli's has frozen gravy/sauce, which you can soup up with their excellent sausages, etc.

Minelli's
7900 N. Milwaukee
Niles, IL 60714

http://minellimeatanddeli.com/

I stopped in this weekend and should correct the above. They have plenty of packaged fresh sauces as well - not just frozen. We had the marinara and it was nice and thick and had a lot of flavor. I saw pork necks behind the counter if you wanted use them to cook their sauce down even further.

bw77 wrote: I saw pork necks behind the counter if you wanted use them to cook their sauce down even further.

If you were going to do this what steps would you take and what's your process?

First I would braise the pork necks in olive oil, minced garlic & a little diced onion and celery for maybe 30 minutes over medium heat, turning them occasionally. Remove the pork necks and set aside. Then deglaze the pan with no more than a 1/4 cup of red wine. Have some Minelli's marinara (which I've had--very good) heating in a pot, put pork necks and deglazed bits, onion & celery from the other into the sauce. Stir, set on medium low, and cook for 2 hours, covered until the last 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should be fantastic.

jnm123 wrote:First I would braise the pork necks in olive oil, minced garlic & a little diced onion and celery for maybe 30 minutes over medium heat, turning them occasionally. Remove the pork necks and set aside. Then deglaze the pan with no more than a 1/4 cup of red wine. Have some Minelli's marinara (which I've had--very good) heating in a pot, put pork necks and deglazed bits, onion & celery from the other into the sauce. Stir, set on medium low, and cook for 2 hours, covered until the last 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should be fantastic.

What he said. I can't do any better than that.

Here's an excellent Sunday gravy recipe from the last Home Cookin' article:
http://www.lthforum.com/2015/04/craigs-recipes-sunday-gravy-frankie-ts-meatballs/

Never in my entire life have I heard pasta sauce referred to as "gravy".

Must be a Jersey thing?

Roger Ramjet wrote:Never in my entire life have I heard pasta sauce referred to as "gravy".

Must be a Jersey thing?

I grew up in Northern NJ, although not in an Italian American family, and never heard the term until around the time the Sopranos became popular. My Sicilian American girlfriend's family from slightly upstate NY but originally from the city would never refer to sauce as gravy.

I have puzzled over the gravy/sauce line for years now. My Sicilian-American family uses "sauce", my mom's best friend made "gravy" for her family. Both women were raised on the north side of Chicago. I'm not sure exactly where "Aunt" Tina's family emigrated from, but I'm certain it was from southern Italy.

Personally, I think this is a job for Antonious, where ever he's lurking.

Giovanna

Cathy2 wrote:When the cookbook was being promoted about the series, the Sunday Gravy recipe was in the newspapers.

Regards,

This link no longer works.

hungryrabbi wrote:

DougMose wrote:I'm looking for the definitive recipe for "red gravy" -- you know, the kind of meat-packed red sauce that Tony Soporano likes to sit down to on Sunday afternoon.

Any suggestions of what goes in (meatballs, sausage, chuck roast or pork shoulder) and what stays out? What kind of pasta to serve with it? etc, etc?

anybody want to share mama's secret recipe?

thanks

Doug

Amazon Books Link

http://www.niaf.org/image_identity/stereotyping.asp

[Moderator edit to shorten Amazon link]

These links no longer works either.

Since neither sauce nor gravy are Italian words, not sure there's much relevance to one's ancestral paese. I've certainly heard it in both Chicago and on the East Coast, though not as regulalry pre-Soprano.

At two of Chicago's best -- Sarah's and La Milanese, may they RIP -- places for Italian breaded steak sandwiches, if you wanted extra red sauce then you asked for "more gravy".

Roger Ramjet wrote:Never in my entire life have I heard pasta sauce referred to as "gravy".

Must be a Jersey thing?

No, it's heard in Chicago, too. I associate it with both the East Coast and Chicago Italian-American community, but the use or non-use of the word varies wildly from family to family (as you can see from some of the answers.) I first became aware of it in the 90s, when I went to college and met some Italian-Americans from Chicago and New York.

hungryrabbi wrote:

DougMose wrote:I'm looking for the definitive recipe for "red gravy" -- you know, the kind of meat-packed red sauce that Tony Soporano likes to sit down to on Sunday afternoon.

Any suggestions of what goes in (meatballs, sausage, chuck roast or pork shoulder) and what stays out? What kind of pasta to serve with it? etc, etc?

anybody want to share mama's secret recipe?

thanks

Doug

Soprano's Sunday Gravy (Spaghetti Sauce)

Some of the most eminent Italo-American families in Kansas City called it "red gravy."

Geo

As an Italian-American (50% to be exact), I had heard it occasionally from my now-deceased relatives in the Boston area, but around here it's in my opinion a bit more comical, with the 'Sunday gravy' thang being spouted more by wannabes (restaurants and people) than anything else.

My impression of 'gravy' way back when visiting the Boston gang was a red sauce made with leftover meat from the week. I distinctly remember my aunts telling me 'don't choke on the bones'. I'd pull one out of my mouth and have no earthly idea to what animal it originally been attached. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb--it didn't much matter, as long as it was being used up.

And they loved ziti, which you don't really see around here that much--Chicagoans tend to opt for penne a lot more, a regional difference to be sure.

It's ziti on Long Island, to be sure. Always a fixture at my wife's family Christmas parties.

Geo

jnm123 wrote:And they loved ziti, which you don't really see around here that much--Chicagoans tend to opt for penne a lot more, a regional difference to be sure.

That's the other thing I noticed from my East Coast Italian friends. I don't think I had even heard of ziti until making friends with folks from that part of the US, and then it was usually in the context of their grandmother's or aunt's famous baked ziti. I also noticed that what was to my non-Italian upbringing one of the ubiquitous pasta shapes, mostaccioli, was much lesser known in other parts. (Seriously, almost every banquet I went to as a kid on the Southwest Side of Chicago, mostaccioli was the pasta of choice. Beef, fried chicken, Polish (fresh, unsmoked) or Italian sausage, mostaccioli, mashed potatoes, salad.)

Chiming in from a Philadelphia perspective, most of the folks I knew when I lived there called it sauce. But my brother-in-law is rather insistent on using the term gravy which was the preferred term on the Sundays of his youth. He also insists it be served with 'pencil points' - which to my guess are penne. But ziti was far more common in my neck of the woods. It wasn't until I came to Chicago that penne seems to have overtaken ziti.

While the Italian side of his family resided in South Philly I'm not sure where in Italy their ancestors came from.

Incidentally, I don't recall hearing 'gravy' apart from my brother-in-law until recently and now, more often than not, by 'wannabes' as jnm123 observed as well.