Sauce vs Gravy
The difference between sauce and gravy is puzzling to many. Is sauce, a gravy or is gravy, a kind of sauce? This is a question that many have tried to answer before but have not been able to arrive at a conclusion. Often gravy is referred to as a sauce that runs out of meats and vegetables naturally during the process of cooking. In some cultures, gravy is the liquid that accompanies the vegetable and is there to enhance the taste and flavor of the vegetable or meat. Gravy is also used or rather allows a person to eat the recipe with rice or bread easily. When we think of a sauce, it comes across as a semi-solid food like meat sausages. The sauce is, in some cultures, a condiment or appetizer that is full of flavors. Some sauces are more liquid than others, and they fall like a true liquid while some are almost solid. Looks like the difference between a sauce and gravy has become more blurred. Or has it?
We have tomato sauce, also tomato gravy. If you have had the privilege to taste both, you probably know the difference. Let us talk about sauce or gravy involved in making meats. When the meat is cooked plain or floured, we call the pan juices that are left sauce. On the other hand, if flour is added to thicken these juices that are left after meat has been cooked, it is called gravy.
What is Sauce?
The sauce is a liquid or a cream or a semi-solid food. This food item is used when we are preparing food or when we are serving food. The sauce is not eaten by itself as a different dish. It is there to enhance the flavor of another dish. Since sauces are used in most types of food, naming all of them is impossible. However, we can see a few sauces that we use in preparing food. Some of them are soy sauce, tomato sauce, chili sauce, etc. However, chili sauce and tomato sauce are also eaten with prepared food items such as French fries and other kinds of fried food.
What is Gravy?
The gravy is a type of sauce. This is made by the juices that naturally run during cooking. In order to make a gravy complete, often, wheat flour or cornstarch is added to increase the texture and to thicken the gravy. Gravy is commonly served with dishes such as rice, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasts.
What is the difference between Sauce and Gravy?
Trying to differentiate between sauce and gravy is a useless exercise, it seems, as both are equally delicious and there are cases when a sauce in a country is referred to as gravy in another country. However, there are some theories to help in this regard.
• Definition of Sauce and Gravy:
• The sauce is a liquid or a cream or a semi-solid food.
• Gravy is made by adding thickening agents to the juices that naturally run during cooking.
• Connection between Sauce and Gravy:
• Gravy is a type of sauce.
• General Acceptance of Terms Sauce and Gravy:
• If it contains meat or vegetable pieces, it is referred to as gravy.
• It is a sauce if it does not have meat.
• The use of the words is regional as in some regions you talk about gravies while, in others, they are simply sauces.
• Meat, Sauce and Gravy:
• When meat is cooked plain or floured, the juices left over in the pan are called sauce.
• When flour is added to thicken the juices after the meat has been cooked, we get the gravy.
• Use:
• The sauce is used to prepare food as well as to serve food. That is people use the sauce to eat prepared food as well as to make food.
• Gravy is usually used for serving food only. That is you eat gravy only with prepared or cooked food.
These are the differences between sauce and gravy. As you can see, gravy is a type of sauce. The special difference we can see between sauce and gravy is that gravy is not usually used in preparing food. However, the sauce is used in preparing food as well as serving food.
Images Courtesy:
