What, if any, is the difference between spaghetti sauce & marinara sauce?

[bcla]

Spaghetti sauce is any sauce that you put over/in your spaghetti.
It can be tomato based. It can have meat. Any variation.

If you see the description on a jar, it's usually going to be some tomato based sauce. White sauces (and some tomato based) seem to be labeled "pasta sauce" these days. My wife bought a jar of Ragu brand sauce, and in the corner of the label, it just says "SAUCE".

I've worked with Italians. Some would (playfully) give me an earful if my pronunciation was wrong. They had a long list of pet peeves about how Americans (or even Italian Americans) referred to food. One was "fettuccine Alfredo", since its called something else in Italy. Another was "biscotti", which just means cookie, and not necessarily the twice-baked long cookies. They had a specific word for that kind of cookie.

 

[RedAngie]

I grew up hearing the term "gravy" from Italian kids and families in the neighborhood. Gravy meant the entire meal, not just the tomato based sauce. And it didn't necessarily include pasta. It meant some type of meat slow simmered in tomato sauce. Meatballs, sausage, chicken, braciole, pork, etc.

"We have gravy for supper every Sunday."

 

[powellrj]

We love Rao's marinara! It is my go-to. Once I got hooked on it, none of the other jarred sauces even compare. Most of them are 'yuck'.
I make some meatballs, then drain them well, no grease or drippings left.
Then add them to a pan/pot of Rao's Marinara and simmer for a few minutes.

I have always wanted to try Rao's, but at $9 a jar I have always passed. Is it that price everywhere? I can make lots of spaghetti for that price with Paul Newmans or homemade!

 

[mjkacmom]

I'm another one who has only really ever heard tomato sauce/marinara/spaghetti sauce referred to as gravy here on the DIS as well. However, I'm not of Italian descent & don't live anywhere near the Northeast, so I've always just assumed sauce/gravy is kind of like pop/soda/coke.

Just out of curiosity, what do you call the stuff that you serve at Thanksgiving that goes over the turkey & mashed potatoes?

And, here in the South, biscuits & gravy is popular. Normally, it's a sausage gravy which is a flour base. Or, you can get country-fried steak or chicken which is served w/ a white flour-based gravy.

Red Eye Gravy is also common. It's a ham gravy made w/ coffee.

EDITED TO ADD - Linguistic differences as they relate to different regional areas fascinate me. I found this article regarding sauce vs. gravy - http://bostoniano.info/northendspirit/eternal-italian-american-debate-gravy-sauce/

And here's another good one - http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_...te_investigation_into_the_linguistics_of.html

So, according to both articles, it seems like the early Italian immigrants referred to their tomato sauces as "gravy" as a way to fit in w/ the new-to-them American culture.

Also, I never knew that, to Italian Americans, all pasta is macaroni.

I like this article, a little OT. I was watching My Cousin Vinny with the kids, and told them one aspect of the movie that people found funny was the accent. The said "what accent?"
http://www.atlasobscura.com/article...agool-the-italian-new-jersey-accent-explained

 

[The Mystery Machine]

While watching a cooking show yesterday, she mentioned to use your favorite marinara sauce. I have also seen people say to use your favorite spaghetti sauce. Is there a difference? Even at the store, I have seen jars of spaghetti sauce and marinara sauce. I have always thought they were the same, but maybe not?

We usually do spaghetti & meatballs every Sunday and I will pick up a mixture of canned tomato sauce, puree & paste and then add in some seasonings, parm cheese, salt & pepper, a little sugar and make my sauce. Then drop in my raw meatballs and let it simmer all day.

And when I make chicken parm, I will usually make up the same sauce as I do for my meatballs but top my chicken/noodles with that.

My son wants chicken parm this week and I was just thinking of picking up a jar or two of marinara sauce to try it out. Yay? Nay? Should I just stick with making my sauce as is?

That sounds delicious. What time is dinner?

 

[tvguy]

ACCORDING TO REFERENCE.COM
Marinara sauce is made from tomatoes, tomato juice, oregano, garlic, basil and olive oil. ... When other ingredients are added, however, it is no longermarinara sauce. Spaghetti sauces with ingredients such as sausage, peppers, olives or mushrooms are not marinara sauces. Rather, they are tomato-basedsauces.


https://www.reference.com/food/difference-between-marinara-spaghetti-sauce-e3dddaf2dc9b4420

 

[bookgirl]

As far as I'm concerned there is no difference between marinara or spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce as I dislike them all. HaHa

Actually I'm just not a fan of most of the traditional spices and herbs used in Italian seasonings and I don't like peppers or onions. I like plain tomato sauce.

I use tomato sauce a lot, it's just a can of tomato base for things like chili or American goulash.

I make gravy with pan drippings or a roux mixed with milk.

Pasta Sauce is the jarred stuff I buy and avoid eating. Usually Ragu.

Alfredo sauce is a white garlic/cheese sauce which I do like.

I am from the Midwest. No Italian in my heritage at all and honestly not really the heritage of anyone I grew up with. We were all Franco American spagettiOs kids so to speak and I never ate authentic Italian food until I was practically an adult. I have heard sauce referred to as gravy but mostly in books or movies.

 

[morgan98]

My dad's heritage is 100% Italian - his dad was born in Italy - and I never heard the term "gravy" used for a tomato based sauce until I read it here. I live in NY too, with lots of other Italians around me. None of us call it gravy. We called the stuff you make from meat drippings gravy.

And I grew up with homemade sauce - my mother, who was of German heritage, made the most amazing sauce. She used canned tomatoes, but she slow cooked them and added all sorts of herbs, spices and tons of garlic. She never added sugar. And she baked her meatballs in the oven, then added the cooked meatballs to the sauce and let them cook together for a few hours. Thank goodness she taught me how to make her sauce before she passed away. I just don't like jarred sauce. I've tried all sorts of brands, but they just don't taste right to me. And making sauce isn't hard, it just takes time. It freezes well, so I spend a few hours making sauce on a Saturday and we have great sauce for a while.

In fact, I was planning to make sauce yesterday, but I didn't want to go out because of the snow. I hope to get out to the store today and then I'll make my sauce. Yum.

100% agree with you about what gravy is...drippings from meat. My mother was born in Italy and immigrated to the Chicago area. My husband in Italian as well with dual Italian citizenship and we go to Italy once or twice a year. I have only heard the term "gravy' for spaghetti sauce here on the DIS. Best as I can tell the Italian term sugo (used for sauce) can loosely also be translated as gravy, so that must be how it came about. We do not call anything we put on pasta, gravy.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I have always wanted to try Rao's, but at $9 a jar I have always passed. Is it that price everywhere? I can make lots of spaghetti for that price with Paul Newmans or homemade!

I can get it cheaper than that. Our Walmart carries it.
I have used Paul Newmans... Try the Rao's!

I don't garden enough, or have the stamina, to put up a years worth of Marinara with ripe tomatoes in the summer.
The cost of pounds of good ripe tomatoes can really add up, as well.

 

[bcla]

I don't garden enough, or have the stamina, to put up a years worth of Marinara with ripe tomatoes in the summer.
The cost of pounds of good ripe tomatoes can really add up, as well.

Where do you get that unless you grow you own or know someone who does? The majority of "fresh" tomatoes are picked green and gassed to turn red. They lack a rich tomato flavor. However, most buyers want a cosmetically ideal tomato rather than something that actually tastes like a tomato.

Most commercially prepared ketchup has a rich tomato flavor from vine ripened tomatoes. The best pizza and pasta places I've been to use canned tomatos because they're picked ripe. In a can, nobody cares that the tomato looks mushy or bruised.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I live in NJ, am married into an Italian family. My husband is second generation. His grandparents were born in italy moved here and had their family. My FIL didn't even speak English at all until he started school. They are a sauce family. Gravy is what you make from pan drippings and put over meat or potatoes.

Marinara for them is a loose "quick" sauce. It is a pasta sauce as it's most basic. It does not simmer all day long and become thick etc. At most an hour on the stove, usually closer to 30 minutes. For a thicker sauce, a sauce with meat, ground beef anything else etc they start with the marinara and go from there. That's usually a few hours on the stove.

 

[mjkacmom]

Where do you get that unless you grow you own or know someone who does? The majority of "fresh" tomatoes are picked green and gassed to turn red. They lack a rich tomato flavor. However, most buyers want a cosmetically ideal tomato rather than something that actually tastes like a tomato.

Most commercially prepared ketchup has a rich tomato flavor from vine ripened tomatoes. The best pizza and pasta places I've been to use canned tomatos because they're picked ripe. In a can, nobody cares that the tomato looks mushy or bruised.

I think they get them from local farms, big boxes. Lots of people garden here, but space is at a premium.

 

[mjkacmom]

I live in NJ, am married into an Italian family. My husband is second generation. His grandparents were born in italy moved here and had their family. My FIL didn't even speak English at all until he started school. They are a sauce family. Gravy is what you make from pan drippings and put over meat or potatoes.

Marinara for them is a loose "quick" sauce. It is a pasta sauce as it's most basic. It does not simmer all day long and become thick etc. At most an hour on the stove, usually closer to 30 minutes. For a thicker sauce, a sauce with meat, ground beef anything else etc they start with the marinara and go from there. That's usually a few hours on the stove.

Maybe the gravy folks came from a certain region in italy? I know folks who used the term gravy who could barely speak English, and some who used sauce (like DH's grandmother, who barely spoke English). Italy had a lot of different dialects.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Where do you get that unless you grow you own or know someone who does? The majority of "fresh" tomatoes are picked green and gassed to turn red. They lack a rich tomato flavor. However, most buyers want a cosmetically ideal tomato rather than something that actually tastes like a tomato.

Most commercially prepared ketchup has a rich tomato flavor from vine ripened tomatoes. The best pizza and pasta places I've been to use canned tomatos because they're picked ripe. In a can, nobody cares that the tomato looks mushy or bruised.

Farmstands/farmer's markets are great sources for boxes of "blemished" tomatoes. We had a farm share last summer, you could order boxes of blemished tomatoes--not as cheap as a farm stand or market, but delivered to your door. If you establish a relationship with a farm, they'll set aside some for you. Otherwise, it's luck of the draw. I would never use store-bought tomatoes for sauce, for the reasons you mentioned.

Also, when I mentioned earlier that marinara is "just tomatoes", I really meant tomatoes with a few seasonings (garlic, spices). It's a very simple sauce. Spaghetti sauce can be anything from a hearty bolognese to one packed with vegetables. Traditionally, Italian spaghetti sauce is made with three meats and simmered all day. Food of the gods!

P.S. It's never gravy, ever. Gravy goes with turkey (or beef). FTR, my father hailed from the central region of Italy--Montecassino is the nearest landmark of note.

 

[North of Mouse]

Have never heard the term 'gravy' being used as a topping for spaghetti! That term was always used as a topping for biscuits, potatoes, rice where I grew up/live.

Never use the term marinara sauce for spaghetti here either. Yuck to any jarred sauce - that's why we 'never' eat Italian food out, always tastes like they just opened a jar of Ragu!

 

[mjkacmom]

Have never heard the term 'gravy' being used as a topping for spaghetti! That term was always used as a topping for biscuits, potatoes, rice where I grew up/live.

Never use the term marinara sauce for spaghetti here either. Yuck to any jarred sauce - that's why we 'never' eat Italian food out, always tastes like they just opened a jar of Ragu!

I've never heard of putting gravy on rice, although it makes sense.

 

[North of Mouse]

I've never heard of putting gravy on rice, although it makes sense.

The favorite way in deep south!! Way before serving it on potatoes!!

 

[bookgirl]

I've never heard of putting gravy on rice, although it makes sense.

The favorite way in deep south!! Way before serving it on potatoes!!

Midwest here and it's all about the potatoes but I have seen and served gravy with meat and rice.

Honestly gravy is pretty much a condiment here, we serve it with anything and with any meal.

 

[mjkacmom]

Midwest here and it's all about the potatoes but I have seen and served gravy with meat and rice.

Honestly gravy is pretty much a condiment here, we serve it with anything and with any meal.

Northeast, once a year at thanksgiving, maybe a pot roast once or twice a year, and then on fries with mozzarella as a tasty treat.

 

[bcla]

Have never heard the term 'gravy' being used as a topping for spaghetti! That term was always used as a topping for biscuits, potatoes, rice where I grew up/live.

Never use the term marinara sauce for spaghetti here either. Yuck to any jarred sauce - that's why we 'never' eat Italian food out, always tastes like they just opened a jar of Ragu!

I've seen marinara as a label on some sort of dipping sauce. It would typically be paired with deep fried stuff like fried cheese sticks.