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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
Funny people can get down right mean about this gravy sauce thing. So, I just call it that big old pot of red stuff hanging out on the back burner.
LOL Fred – Love this suggestion!
I don’t understand why you brown all of the meat except the meatballs. The Maillard reaction does wonderful things to meatballs!
I don’t know if everyone will see the same other recipe suggestions as I’m shown, but I’ve got an Italian-style meatballs recipe with a picture showing wonderfully browned meatballs. It’s mouthwatering! Why would you deny that in this recipe, and essentially just boil the raw meatballs in the sauce?
Brown all your meats! It is a wonderful flavor addition that takes very little time and adds a huge amount to any recipe.
Excellent question. When I grew up, my Dad made this each week and this is the way he made this recipe. I guess I never questioned it but maybe I should have. Whatever his reason for not browning them I can’t be certain but I’m actually going to edit the recipe to reflect browning because I agree with everything you say here. Thanks for the call out.
Jack
I made your gravy today. It is wonderful.! Thank you for sharing. From my part of the country we call it sauce. But here is my deal after making this. When I make my recipe, I will call it sauce. When I make yours it will be called Sunday Gravy. That way when family comes they will know that the gravy has different meats. Mine just has ground round and Sweet Italian Sausage or meatballs. (Just two meats). I used ox tail, sausage, and Country Ribs for the gravy today.. This was awesome. Next time I will make it on Sunday! Lol. Thank you!!! By the way, that man was horrible acting, sending that message. It takes time to be nasty. It takes less energy to be nice! Ugly goes to the bone!!!
So glad you enjoyed the gravy Sam!
(We get all kinds of readers here…the majority are quite nice, even if they don’t like a recipe. Every once in a while we get a nasty comment, but always know that their tone says more about them and their own unhappiness than anything else.)
Good sauce, family liked it, but you can achieve the same effect with ground hamburger or even beef bone. I don’t see any reason to go nuts and put as much meat in this as it calls for.
Thanks for your feedback Tony.
Can u freeze this after it’s made? Thx!
Hi Karen – Yes, you can freeze this sauce.
Delicious everyone loved it! Was nervous to make it for first time for a big group, but it was amazing .
So glad the recipe was a hit Jenn!
Man, That was pretty rude Mr. John Scott. I come from a family of off the boat Italians. Came here and made the American Dream come true. High steel welders, even Shoe Makers. And you’re complaining that she used the word gravy. Well it is GRAVY !! You have a lot of nerve. Call it what you want n let others do the same.
Thanks Randy!
Martha and Jack,
I’m Irish and Polish and grew up in an Italian neighborhood in a Boston Suburb. I know exactly what you are talking about! My mother made Spaghetti and Meatballs weekly and calls it Spaghetti Sauce when just referring to a tomato sauce that may or may not have meatballs or sausages. And I, too, have never heard anyone insist or even refer to a type of tomato sauce as gravy, …but I do believe it and do not want to challenge that whatsoever! I love how food travels with us through time and collides with families, friend, and cultures as we do. But, within one region or one family living in the same house, there are countless names and pronunciations of dishes, and variations of our mothers’ mothers’ dishes according to preference, availability of ingredients, resources, and dietary considerations. I LOVE your response to one recent reviewer about that. I’m marrying into an Italian (American) family and am constantly challenged to defend my recipe titles, food choices, ingredients, recipe lineage, consistency of sauces, pronunciation of cheeses…meats…Omg it’s exhausting 🙂 and I just don’t really understand that hostility. (I say Keilbasa…my mother says Kibahsee….so what?) I refer to this type of sauce here as a “tomato sauce” since I prefer to use a different type of pasta than spaghetti. And I recently started calling it a “Sunday Sauce,” although I’ve never heard it referred ato as such until recently. I really like the images and smells and sounds and it evokes, so I say let’s make a “Sunday Sauce” when I want to bring back those memories. Thank you for this recipe! (my mother is out of town and doesn’t write anything down anyway!)
Thanks so much for your note Shannon – I think this happens in every family/culture, etc. My family is Polish and we have a “Kapusta” recipe here on our site from my grandmother whom we called “Babci” – you’ll see in the comments on that post that I’ve been corrected many times – that it should be “Babcia” and kapusta is really just the word for cabbage, and our recipe should be called Kapuniak. 🙂 We write about what we know and what we grew up with – never claiming to be the experts, just sharing our family recipes and experiences. We hope you enjoy the recipe and it’s half as delicious as your mother’s sauce!
I made this last week exactly as written. It was insanely delicious! My partner, who comes from a traditional Italian family said it was the BEST he ever had!
Wow Eric – that’s quite the compliment! So glad you both enjoyed the recipe.
Thank you very much for your recipe. I made it yesterday and it was great. I appreciate your posting it.
You’re very welcome Dave – we’re glad you enjoyed the recipe.