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Say the words Sunday Gravy and just about everyone has an opinion! Should this amazing tomato and meat sauce be called “gravy” or “sauce”?
Either way, sugo della domenica or Sunday’s sauce – is a general term among Italians for a ‘special mama’s sauce’. Here in America, Sunday Gravy is most commonly associated with a tomato-based sauce that is cooked with a variety of meats including meatballs, pork chops, spare ribs and sausage.
Sunday gravy takes hours to cook to achieve the rich, deep flavor that inspires the love that so many people have for this dish – and the sauce is typically served over pasta with meat on the side.
My husband Jack grew up eating Sunday Gravy – and in his family, they actually did call it sauce and not gravy! 🙂 Every Sunday, the entire family would gather at his grandparents’ house for Sunday supper – and a delicious meal was enjoyed including this Sunday Gravy over pasta, Grandma Genacco’s Beef Braciole, and other Italian family classics.
So whether you call this gravy or sauce – this Sunday Gravy recipe is pure, delicious Italian comfort food for the soul. Mangia!
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Sunday Gravy
We recommend preparing this on Saturday – the day before your Sunday meal – so the flavors can meld. Also – prep time listed does not include time to prep meatballs.
Ingredients
- 1/2 of this recipe for Italian-Style Meatballs, see here
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 pound beef shin steak, or other bone-in beef cut
- 1 1/2 pounds lean bone in pork chops
- 1 1/4 pounds pork spareribs (5-6 ribs)
- 1 pound Italian sweet sausage
- 2 cups chopped onions
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh mint, divided
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, divided
- 2 6–ounce cans tomato paste
- 2 28–ounce cans crushed good quality tomato such as Cento or Pastene
- 5 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make raw meatballs according to recipe (see here) and roll into 12 even balls. Do not fry ahead but set aside refrigerated.
- In a large heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, heat ¼ cup of the olive oil over medium to medium high heat and brown all meat in three batches. Each batch should take about 3-4 minutes on each side. Do not crowd pan. As each batch is browned on both sides, remove to a platter.
- Next fry the meatballs on all sides and set aside.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the pan drippings and add onions, garlic, half of mint, half of basil and half of the red pepper flakes. Cook about three minutes or until onions are transparent scraping up all brown bits from the bottom.
- Add tomato paste and stir to combine. Add canned tomatoes and the water. Add salt and pepper and stir. Stir in the other half of the mint, basil and pepper flakes and place the pot over a heat diffuser.
- Add the cooked meat back in along with any juices collected from the platter and stir into the sauce.
- Gently place the meatballs over the top, spooning a little gravy over them and gently push them into the gravy.
- Get the heat to a medium simmer, cover and cook for one hour, occasionally making sure nothing sticks to the bottom with a large wooden spoon.
- After an hour, spoon out the meatballs and cook the gravy for an additional hour uncovered.
- After the full two hours, collect the fat that pools at the top and discard. Or chill the mixture overnight (better the next day) and pick off the fat that congeals at the top. Just before the meat is fully cooked, add the meatballs back in. Easier to spoon the fat off the top before placing the meatballs back in.
- Serve over spaghetti with a nice crusty Italian bread and grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese.
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Grandma Gennaco’s Beef Braciole
I made this yesterday and it was DELISH. I used short ribs, country style pork ribs, and my own canned tomatoes. The rest of the recipe as is. I will make this again for sure. So good!
Thanks Dru – So glad the recipe was a hit!
No chef ever refers sauce as gravy. If you’re going to be a credible source, can you please used the right word! It’s SAUCE!
Gravy is what on put on a roast, turkey and chicken!
John
Funny thing is, I grew up calling it sauce. When I was younger, I was the director of food service in a large school system in a Boston suburb. The area is predominantly Italian including most of the school lunch ladies. I had an office in the school administration building but would tour each of the 12 schools daily. Most of the major food production was done at the high school with about 30 older Italian ladies. On my very first day there, we had a pasta dish on the menu with a meat filled tomato sauce and I made the mistake of calling it sauce. I was quickly corrected that if it had meat in it or if it was made from meat bones, it was a gravy and if there was no meat, it was a sauce. I didn’t argue with 30 ladies that all looked like my grandmother so I let it be. I worked in RI with a group of people that were mostly French Canadian and when I called it gravy, not one of them even knew what I was talking about.
I think culinary terms are part cultural and part regional and in some cases, part language mash-ups. Look at the milk, ice cream and syrup drink. Is it a malted, a shake or a frappe? Is a roll a bulky or a hoagie roll? If it’s a long roll is it a sub or a grinder?
Anyway, I know your comment was meant to get a rise out of me but it didn’t. We always take the high road here on a family feast.
Good luck and happy cooking,
Jack
This is very similar to the way my italian family makes our sauce, a staple for holidays and weekends. I use pork hocks or “hockies” as my 90-year-old gram calls them. So I used pork hocks, pork ribs, sausage, chuck roast, and of course, your recipe for meatballs (almost identical to my moms). The only difference is I have not used mint (this is a first) and I have added red wine (not to yours, but when I have made my own). Also, my mom always fried the meatballs first. I did not fry them, I followed your advice. I do not like meatballs myself but my husband and son enjoyed them! Thank you, I will be making your traditional lasagna tomorrow using my Sunday sauce (your tip was the sauce is better the next day, so I also followed that). Thank you for your wonderful recipes! Happy Easter!
You’re very welcome – Happy Easter to you too Theresa!
Happy New Year! First off thanks for all of the wonderful recipes!
Q: just wondering if this Sunday gravy/sauce is freeze-able? I have 4 kids and if it takes so much time to make it I’d like to make more and freeze for last minute lunch ideas and dinners (between school, soccer, ballet, golf lessons, etc. we are sometimes (aka. many times) don’t have much time for meal preparation or forget to take something out for lunch the next day. Much thanks!
Hi Frankie – Absolutely! We freeze our sauce all of the time in zipper seal freezer bags. We lay them flat on a baking sheet, and squeeze out as much air as possible. Once they are frozen you can stack them up in your freezer.
PLEASE don’t use a diffuser if you have a flat top stove or cook top! It would scratch the heck out of it!
Great point Heather – there are diffusers that are specially made for use with flat top stoves/cook tops so if you have one, definitely look for that type. Thanks!
Hi, your recipes sound delicious, I can’t wait to make the Sunday Gravy with all the meat!! One question: I didn’t even know what a diffuser was, thanks for highlighting it. Can you use them on electric stoves? Unfortunately that’s what I have, I prefer gas through. Thankyou for sharing your recipes along with the lovely stories!
Hi Kathleen – Yes! Amazon sells diffusers for both gas and electric stoves. This is one that would work for either and it’s inexpensive: https://amzn.to/2THOk6a – hope you enjoy the recipe!
I don’t send where you added the water. Maybe I missed it.
Hi Michele – See step 4 – it says “Add canned tomatoes and water”. Hope that helps!
This looks amazing!! Question, though…. do you ever cut the meat up or remove the same? Or do you serve whole pieces?
Hi Jessi – You could remove to bones to make it easier to eat, but the bones do add great flavor and traditionally the meat is cooked on the bone in a Sunday Gravy. Hope that helps!
This is a back & forth Debate (Sauce or Gravy) all my life LOL. But a fact is when you add Meat to a Marinara Sauce it becomes a Gravy so behold thats why in Italy its called Gravy!!
Thanks Tony!
My dad was born in Cefalu, Sicily and came to America in 1920 on a boat called the “SS Madona”. We were a family of 7 and had Sugo every Sunday. Your recipe is almost identical except we did not use mint AND we put 1/4 cup white sugar to offset the tomato acidity. It seems like a lot of sugar but it’s not sweet at all. We also put in all types of meat but my favorite was the Italian Sausage with fennel. I am now 60 years old and in perfect health because I have stuck with the Mediterranean diet. Thanks, you’re article brings back many good memories.
Thank you Joe! What great memories! (The sausage is one of my favorites too!). Thank you for writing to us today.