Canned gravy

[caseydog]

I am sure you know that the original Alfredo is made with only two ingredients. Heavy cream and Parmesan cheese. If only grandkids new how heavenly it is.

White sauce is just the exact same as Béchamel Sauce. Just a different name according to where you live. Up north it is call White Sauce. Down South, it is called Sausage Gravy. Or White Gravy.

No matter what you call any of the food sauces or additives, they are all absolutely a delight to eat! YUM!

Well, white gravy and sausage gravy are fundamentally the same, but usually made with a different fat. But they are both, at the core, a béchamel.

I still don't know why I can't find white gravy in jars in Texas.

I can find powdered mixes, but they aren't really any less work than making white gravy from scratch.

CD

 

[Andy M.]

Lets clarify a couple of things.
1. Bechamel with cheese added is MORNAY sauce not Alfredo.

2. Alfredo is made with two ingredients BUTTER AND CHEESE. There is no cream in Alfredo.

 

[caseydog]

Lets clarify a couple of things.
1. Bechamel with cheese added is MORNAY sauce not Alfredo.

2. Alfredo is made with two ingredients BUTTER AND CHEESE. There is no cream in Alfredo.

Well, that was the original, but like almost all Italian food, it has evolved. Just look at what "pizza" means today -- even in Italy.

CD

 

[Cheryl J]

Yes! The most awesome stuff ever. One of my favorite meals in the entire world is sausage gravy and biscuits. In fact, if I were on death row, that would be my last meal request. That and homemade mashed potatoes.

I prefer to make my own gravies when I can (with chicken, turkey, pork or beef drippings) but when it comes to canned gravy, the only brand I really like is Campbell's. I think it's better than the jarred stuff.

Yes! Same here....I love biscuits and homemade sausage gravy, but only have it maybe once a year. Usually around Christmas.

 

[Cheryl J]

Lets clarify a couple of things.
1. Bechamel with cheese added is MORNAY sauce not Alfredo.

2. Alfredo is made with two ingredients BUTTER AND CHEESE. There is no cream in Alfredo.

I make Alfredo sauce with heavy cream or half and half, Parm Reg, butter, and maybe garlic sometimes. I realize it's not authentic - but it's darn good. This lively thread led me to do a search .....I found this thread from several years ago and just read through it - it's fun and informative, and no one got in a snit.


http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f20/secret-ingredient-for-alfredo-sauce-78180.html

 

[Aunt Bea]

"At some point, it stops being Alfredo sauce..." - AndyM

I agree with Andy but I like to add a 3oz. package of Philadelphia brand cream cheese to the pot when I want a creamy Alfredo-style sauce over hot pasta.

 

[Linda0818]

Yes! Same here....I love biscuits and homemade sausage gravy, but only have it maybe once a year. Usually around Christmas.

Ohhhhh, it's the ultimate comfort food.

I remember, years ago, my best friend and I used to go out drinking at the bars. Then late at night, on our way home, we would stop at either Denny's or Tee Jaye's Country Place. And Tee Jaye's has a breakfast item called the Barnyard Buster. Talk about getting your chow on at 2:00am after a night of drinking. On a plate they would put two split country-style biscuits, hash brown or home fries (your choice), two eggs any style, then cover the entire thing with sausage gravy.

Oh my gosh, it was heaven, especially when all you've been doing is drinking all night and you're starving. There was only one way to describe that meal and that was to close your eyes and shake your head as you sat savoring every single bite.

 

[GotGarlic]

I am aware of what sausage gravy is. I lived in South Texas for three years. Up north we call it White Sauce. Not gravy.

If it is for sausages and biscuits, I feel save it is white gravy. Any other kind is simply unfit for the best tasting plate of food there can be.

My point is that sausage gravy is not just white gravy, as you initially said - it has the sausage in it. I didn't write it for you but for others reading this thread who may not know what it is.

 

[jennyema]

Almost posted early on in this thread that bottled Alfredo Sauce is just bechamel plus cheese and how often do Grandkids object to a little cheese?

Almost posted early on in this thread that bottled Alfredo Sauce is just bechamel plus cheese and how often do Grandkids object to a little cheese?[/QUOTE]

Alfredo sauce is not bechemel plus cheese. Bechemel plus cheese is called Mornay sauce.

Alfredo sauce is butter and parmesan

 

[skilletlicker]

Almost posted early on in this thread that bottled Alfredo Sauce is just bechamel plus cheese and how often do Grandkids object to a little cheese?

Alfredo sauce is not bechemel plus cheese. Bechemel plus cheese is called Mornay sauce.

Alfredo sauce is butter and parmesan[/QUOTE]

Here's your gold star. You'll have to share it with Andy though.
I was thinking of the inexpensive bottled Alfredo Sauce jars in the grocery store, but looking at the ingredient list on one of the store brand versions now, it is closer to Alfredo than I would have given them credit for. Still in all, suspect the distinction would escape the grandkid's notice.

 

[Caslon]

So...White sausage gravy differs from Penny's brand of canned white sauce? Thicker? Different ingredients and usages?

 

[caseydog]

Ohhhhh, it's the ultimate comfort food.

I remember, years ago, my best friend and I used to go out drinking at the bars. Then late at night, on our way home, we would stop at either Denny's or Tee Jaye's Country Place. And Tee Jaye's has a breakfast item called the Barnyard Buster. Talk about getting your chow on at 2:00am after a night of drinking. On a plate they would put two split country-style biscuits, hash brown or home fries (your choice), two eggs any style, then cover the entire thing with sausage gravy.

Oh my gosh, it was heaven, especially when all you've been doing is drinking all night and you're starving. There was only one way to describe that meal and that was to close your eyes and shake your head as you sat savoring every single bite.

Been there, done that.

CD

 

[caseydog]

So...White sausage gravy differs from Penny's brand of canned white sauce? Thicker? Different ingredients and usages?

I live in Texas. Both white gravy and sausage gravy are Texas staples. They have more in common than in difference.

White gravy is a blonde roux with dairy added -- cream, half-and-half or milk. I make it regularly. I use milk, because that's what I generally have in the fridge.

Sausage gravy is also a roux with dairy. The difference is a sausage gravy traditionally uses sausage grease as the fat, while white gravy can use other fat, such as vegetable oil. The other difference is that (surprise), sausage gravy has crumbled breakfast sausage in it.

Let's not make a big deal out of this.

CD

 

[Addie]

So...White sausage gravy differs from Penny's brand of canned white sauce? Thicker? Different ingredients and usages?

Would you really consider purchasing a canned white sauce versus making your own from scratch? What other ingredients are in the canned item? There has to be some sort of chemical stabilizer in it if they used milk like you do with homemade.

 

[Linda0818]

Been there, done that.

CD

Haha, cool. Glad I'm not the only one

I live in Texas. Both white gravy and sausage gravy are Texas staples. They have more in common than in difference.

White gravy is a blonde roux with dairy added -- cream, half-and-half or milk. I make it regularly. I use milk, because that's what I generally have in the fridge.

Sausage gravy is also a roux with dairy. The difference is a sausage gravy traditionally uses sausage grease as the fat, while white gravy can use other fat, such as vegetable oil. The other difference is that (surprise), sausage gravy has crumbled breakfast sausage in it.

Let's not make a big deal out of this.

CD

I don't get the confusion on "sausage" gravy. I mean, sausage gravy is pretty much self-explanatory.

 

[caseydog]

Would you really consider purchasing a canned white sauce versus making your own from scratch? What other ingredients are in the canned item? There has to be some sort of chemical stabilizer in it if they used milk like you do with homemade.

This thread is about canned gravies in general. I think it is about cooking a meal when you have worked all day, and just want to cook an easy meal. We've all been there. It can also be that someone is intimidated by making a homemade gravy. We've all been there, too. Until you have done something, it can seem very hard.

I love to cook, and I'm pretty good at it. But, I still cheat when I'm just not up for cooking from scratch.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Haha, cool. Glad I'm not the only one



I don't get the confusion on "sausage" gravy. I mean, sausage gravy is pretty much self-explanatory.

Well to you it is, but not to everyone. It is a southern thing, after all.

CD

 

[Cheryl J]

We love biscuits and sausage gravy here in the southwest, too.

 

[Addie]

This thread is about canned gravies in general. I think it is about cooking a meal when you have worked all day, and just want to cook an easy meal. We've all been there. It can also be that someone is intimidated by making a homemade gravy. We've all been there, too. Until you have done something, it can seem very hard.

I love to cook, and I'm pretty good at it. But, I still cheat when I'm just not up for cooking from scratch.

CD

Oh I can understand that. Been there, done that.

When I make my monthly trip to the store for my monthly supply of food, I try to buy only the foods like sugar, tea and other stuff that I have to make from scratch. Along with a lot of produce foods. I have some pasta and a can of diced clams in their natural juice. Now I could buy clams in the shell, steam them and make a clam sauce that way. And I have done it. But odd as it may sound, the canned ones make a better tasting clam sauce. When I read the list of ingredients, unfortunately sugar was the third item listed. I would have preferred no sugar. Then about three different chemicals that nobody can pronounce. I am an avid label reader. If sugar is the first or second item, it does not go into my cart. And I prefer fresh foods that I have to cook.

When I make a pumpkin pie, I buy the pumpkin fresh. Not the canned pumpkin. I cook the pumpkin in the oven after I have cleaned it out. If I have any fresh pumpkin left, it goes into the freezer to make pumpkin cookies sometime during the middle of the next year when no one is expecting to have pumpkin again until the winter holidays roll around.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Like Andy, I have to clarify this a little. Bechemel is one of the five, classic mother sauces, from which are made a host of small, or daughter sauces. Mornay Sauce is a daughter sauce of Bechemel, as is our American sausage gravy. Bechemel is made with a roux, cooked blonde, and thinned with milk to a cream, perfect sauce, seasoned with a little salt and nutmeg. SAusage gravy is made by frying breakfast sausage,and adding flour to the cooked meat and fat. The herbs and spices from the meat, and flavoring the fat season the roux. The combination of the flour and fat make a roux, and coat the meat. Milk is added and stirred to cfreate the gravy as thick or thn as you want it.

Oh, and Mornay uses Bechemel, and usuao7 Gruyere cheese, though other hard cheeses are sometimes used.

I can't imagine buyig a canned or bottled sausage gravy when it's so easy to make, and so very delicious. But that s just me.

Seeeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North