I sometimes use potato starch instead of a roux, but I also do not use cornstarch in gravy, partly because it often gets too thick. I also tend not to use the term "gravy" because it means different things to different people. My Sicilian roommate in San Francisco used "gravy" to mean tomato sauce. I tend to use terms such as Bechamel, Mornay (if it has cheese), or Velouté (if it is made with stock instead of milk), and velouté is what I normally make, either for meat or vegetables, but often I just call all of them "sauce", which seems to be a nice catch-all. I tend not to like sauces that have milk or cream in them, and I especially do not like Alfredo sauce, partly because many people put nutmeg in it, but I do not like it even when no nutmeg is used. My favorite sauce is chili sauce, and it must not have any tomato in it.

Words get around. There aren't any rights or wrongs in these things. In Southern California, any rich tomato sauce, seasoned Italian style, whether vegetarian or full of meat, is commonly called "spaghetti sauce". In the East, it's commonly called "gravy". Then specific sauces started being called by their particular names, but in common usage they've also become meaningless. By definition bolognese is "from Bologna" but refers to a sauce heavy in meat. People talk about making a vegetarian bolognese all the time. Sometimes it's because they're using a particular recipe but putting in the seasonings they would have had in the meat, without the meat itself. At this point, in the U.S., bolognese is often used to mean Italian style tomato sauce with chunks, and marinara is used to mean Italian style tomato sauce without chunks, which is far from their original meanings. There are a lot of arguments about whether marinara is supposed to have fish in it, or whether it must have capers. As far as I can tell there's no singular definition of marinara sauce and the word, meaning "sailor", can be used for a whole slew of different concoctions with different origins. I would call using "gravy" to refer to an Italian tomato sauce a regional variation. Definitionally, I'd call any pourable, flavored substance to put on food a "sauce". I'd call gravy a sauce made from meat drippings OR a similar sauce poured over meat. (Edit: should be "of the type that is poured over meat" because people eat fries with gravy, etc.) Mushroom gravy often doesn't have stock or drippings, but it's still gravy. "Salsa" in U.S. parlance means "salsa picante", "hot sauce", and usually refers to the kind with chunks of vegetables with peppers in a vinegar base. "Salsa" in Spanish just means "sauce". "Mole" is a native word for "sauce". In the U.S., we think of it as a particular kind of sauce made from peppers, lots of different fruits, and chocolate, but in Mexico it just means "sauce". Pinning down exact definitions of what words mean is impossible, as it changes with time and usage. As long as enough people in a community agree on the meaning that communication happens, that's the meaning of the word. No one is going to pick up the hollandaise (salsa holandesa) if you grab a bag of chips and say, "You bring the salsa." (Well, unless you have some really different snacking habits...) I was flummoxed when I first heard "gravy" used in a TV drama to refer to a big pot. Eventually, I caught on that it was, in my parlance, "spaghetti sauce". It's not that hard to discern. :) This post was edited by plllog on Mon, Sep 1, 14 at 13:36

I love "giblet gravy" with boiled eggs and the giblets from the turkey. We had it every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My grandmother and Mom also put boiled eggs in the dressing. I make curried eggs when I have too many eggs sitting around. We eat it on noodles or rice. I have never had the eggs in tomato sauce. I think I will try it, though. Lisa

Canned/jar gravy isn't all that bad and far better than many a homemade I've had! I have news for the anti-can snobs. Just because something is homemade does NOT mean it's better. Anyone can make gravy. Not just anyone can make GOOD gravy. If you really don't like the canned stuff, go with baked potatoes, scalloped, au gratin, fried, roasted, hashbrown casserole or something. How about a wild rice "dressing" instead? As suggested there's the "imitation" homemade gravy with just roux, stock and seasonings, or the 3 condiment gravy, both of which I like too, though they're really not much different than canned IMO. Let me tell you about my last meal with brother & his wife: -Spiral cut ham put in the oven uncovered for probably 4-5 hours. Similar to ham jerky. -Soupy mashed potatoes. After all, potatoes can't stand on their own, they need a gallon of milk and margarine in them, right? -Gravy was a burned sauce of some sort, separated, lumpy... Anyone want the recipe? -Best part was the frozen corn that wasn't overcooked -Homemade lemon meringue pie consisting of a frozen pie shell with a can of lemon pie filling in it. Meringue? Added when served. It came out of a plastic tub with "Cool Whip" on the lid. Yes, it was homemade. Yum??? Hardly. I went home and had a sandwich.