>> On Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:33:18 -0400, Joseph DeMartino wrote   
   (in article    
   <731a5eb7-7e62-4c0c-a049-bde0c1fc64c4@h25g2000vba.googlegroups.com>):   
   > On Sep 10, 9:59 am, Amy Guskin  wrote:   
   >    
   >> (This is one of those subjects that has always made me long for someone to   
   >> create a comprehensive regional US food encyclopedia/lexicon/travel guide.     
   >> Probably there's a website already.  I know there's one for soda/pop/coke.     
   >> The other weird one here in Philly is that they call spaghetti sauce "gravy"   
   >> or "Sunday gravy.")   
   >    
   > That's just a classic Italian-Americanism - certainly as true in New   
   > York and Boston as in the Philly area.<<   
   Nope.  No way!  I never heard it until I moved down here.  And I lived in    
   Brooklyn, and Long Island, and Brooklyn again, and knew many, many *serious*    
   Italian families (people who still spoke Italian in the home, and whose older    
   generation ‹ the ones my parents age ‹ were either the first ones born here,    
   or they came over when they were tykes).  And spent a lot of time in Little    
   Italy, shopping, eating, hanging around, etc.  Never, ever, ever heard the    
   term "gravy" until moving to Philadelphia.  I think there are some parts of    
   New York ‹ definitely not downstate ‹ that have an Italian population from    
   different regions of Italy than where the metropolitan area ones came from.     
   If they say it, I wouldn't know it.  But people in the NYC metro area    
   definitely do not say it.   
   >> It is true that in common culinary parlance a "gravy" is one of a   
   > particular subset of sauces, usually derived from meat drippings and   
   > including a thickening agent.  Tomato sauce would not seem to qualify,   
   > but it is "gravy" in every Italian household I've ever lived in, and   
   > this is reflected in that fine study of Italian-American culture "The   
   > Godfather".  If you want to argue with Clemenza and the boys, that's   
   > up to you. <<   
   Clemenza says "gravy"???  And I used to have such respect for him as a man of    
   refinement and knowledge (he is, after all, the man who said, "Leave the gun;    
   take the cannoli.").  :-(   
   I do remember hearing it as "salsa," but pronounced more like street Italian,    
   so kind of like "SAU-za."  (Sort of like the difference between "aspetto" in    
   book Italian versus street Italian -- in street Italian it's more like    
   "ah-SHPETT.")   
   >> A big pot of gravy would usually be made on Sunday (starting with the   
   > frying of meatballs early in the morning, followed by grilling the   
   > sausage, maybe some pork and then the bracciolla - "brahz-yol" -   
   > rolled seasoned beef, all of which would finish cooking in the   
   > gravy.)   This job usually fell to the grandma of the house, who would   
   > always fry extra meatballs and slice some bread so she had something   
   > to distract the hungry throng between the time everyone got back from   
   > church and the time dinner was officially served.  Needless to say   
   > leftovers would continue to be eaten throughout the week. <<   
   Seeing "brahz-yol" makes me think of all the funny ways I would see    
   "capicola" spelled in forums about The Sopranos, because of how Tony    
   pronounced it.  :-)   
   Amy   
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