# What Is Brown Gravy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203 "2011-04-29T19:42:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/21 "2011-04-29T23:45:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ve made it and had it from others. I prefer brown myself. And of course sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy would fit in the white gravy category. It’s just a descriptive phrase. In any case, in my family gravy is considered a beverage. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/22 "2011-04-30T11:57:16Z")
I’m struggling to understand this. After you roast a piece of animal, the bottom of the pan is always going to be at least a little brown in the fat and delicious drippy bits cast off. Even if you don’t cook the roux all the way out, the gravy is always going to be at least a little brown, surely? Mine always is. Mind you my sister’s gravy is always and unfailingly grey in colour, and tastes disgusting too, so obviously this isn’t as foolproof as I always thought. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/23 "2011-04-30T12:04:36Z")
> [@Teacake](#): > > I’m struggling to understand this. After you roast a piece of animal, the bottom of the pan is always going to be at least a little brown in the fat and delicious drippy bits cast off. Even if you don’t cook the roux all the way out, the gravy is always going to be at least a little brown, surely? Mine always is. > > Mind you my sister’s gravy is always and unfailingly grey in colour, and tastes disgusting too, so obviously this isn’t as foolproof as I always thought. Americans tend to make a fair number of gravies with milk/cream and without cooking out the flour for the roux very much. They also tend to use the term “gravy” very liberally, for most sauces that are served with meat (so you get sausage gravy, turkey gravy, brown gravy, bacon gravy), whereas in the Commonwealth “gravy” tends to refer to the brown kind, made without cream or milk, pretty much regardless of what meat you make it with, but usually refers to roasted meat drippings only. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/24 "2011-04-30T12:21:57Z")
I’m sure it is a regionalism, but I have heard what I would call sauce called gravy. Spaghetti Sauce is called, at least in parts of PA, gravy or red gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/25 "2011-04-30T13:15:31Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > Americans tend to make a fair number of gravies with milk/cream and without cooking out the flour for the roux very much. > > They also tend to use the term “gravy” very liberally, for most sauces that are served with meat (so you get sausage gravy, turkey gravy, brown gravy, bacon gravy), whereas in the Commonwealth “gravy” tends to refer to the brown kind, made without cream or milk, pretty much regardless of what meat you make it with, but usually refers to roasted meat drippings only. No, no, I understand all that. I love all kinds of gravy - in fact we’re having biscuits and gravy tonight - but this appeared to be asking about meat gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/26 "2011-04-30T13:32:07Z")
Who above said turkey gravy is brown? Turkey and chicken gravy is yellow unless you deliberately darken it. At least is should be, if you’re making it delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/27 "2011-04-30T14:29:54Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Who above said turkey gravy is brown? Turkey and chicken gravy is yellow unless you deliberately darken it. At least is should be, if you’re making it delicious. It’s only yellow if you haven’t allowed the flour to brown in the fat. More browning equals deeper color and flavor. Uncooked flour is the biggest failure point in making gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/28 "2011-04-30T15:08:23Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s only yellow if you haven’t allowed the flour to brown in the fat. More browning equals deeper color and flavor. Uncooked flour is the biggest failure point in making gravy. Nope, not true. There’s nothing I hate more than raw flour flavor so I cook my flour. But poultry drippings are no where near as dark as beef or pork drippings. Plus chicken and turkey broth is yellow in color, which makes for a much lighter and yellower gravy. Turkey and chicken gravy are not brown. [Turkey gravy](http://beyondwonderful.com/images/recipes/condiments_turkey_gravy_carucci_300x450.jpg) [Chicken gravy](http://img4.southernliving.com/i/2010/08/gravy-how-to/gravy-boat-l.jpg?400:400) [Brown gravy.](http://www.thomcooks.com/images/Food/brown-gravy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/29 "2011-04-30T15:25:06Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Nope, not true. There’s nothing I hate more than raw flour flavor so I cook my flour. But poultry drippings are no where near as dark as beef or pork drippings. Plus chicken and turkey broth is yellow in color, which makes for a much lighter and yellower gravy. > > Turkey and chicken gravy are not brown. > [Turkey gravy](http://beyondwonderful.com/images/recipes/condiments_turkey_gravy_carucci_300x450.jpg) > > [Chicken gravy](http://img4.southernliving.com/i/2010/08/gravy-how-to/gravy-boat-l.jpg?400:400) > > [Brown gravy.](http://www.thomcooks.com/images/Food/brown-gravy.jpg) That turkey gravy looks anything but yellow to me. It’s just a lighter shade of brown. But then I’m partially colorblind. The beef gravy you linked to looks more like an _au jus_. By the way, there is nothing untrue in my statement about the flour. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/30 "2011-04-30T15:28:23Z")
Those are all shades of brown, and I’m not colourblind. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/31 "2011-04-30T15:44:32Z")
Agree those are all shades of brown. Chicken or turkey gravy isn’t going to really be literally yellow unless you put food coloring in it. **Gary T** gave the essential answer to this question. It’s “brown” as opposed to “white” from the addition of dairy. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/32 "2011-04-30T16:28:12Z")
Yellow chicken gravy comes from a packet, and it’s gross. And I’m pretty firmly in the “gravy is a beverage” camp. As far as I’m concerned, mashed potatoes are merely the vehicle for transporting gravy to my gaping maw. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/33 "2011-04-30T16:41:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Yellow chicken gravy comes from a packet, and it’s gross. > > And I’m pretty firmly in the “gravy is a beverage” camp. As far as I’m concerned, mashed potatoes are merely the vehicle for transporting gravy to my gaping maw. I always knew that you were a standup guy. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/34 "2011-04-30T18:25:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Agree those are all shades of brown. Chicken or turkey gravy isn’t going to really be literally yellow unless you put food coloring in it. > > **Gary T** gave the essential answer to this question. It’s “brown” as opposed to “white” from the addition of dairy. Those gravies are all shades of brown. Gravy isn’t yellow, bearnaise sauce is yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/35 "2011-04-30T19:01:51Z")
Quoth **Khadaji** : > [@](#): > > I’m sure it is a regionalism, but I have heard what I would call sauce called gravy. Spaghetti Sauce is called, at least in parts of PA, gravy or red gravy. What’s really baffling is that some of them apparently have no conception that gravy could possibly be anything other than spaghetti sauce. I was at a church service once in the Philadelphia area, and the pastor was trying to reassure the congregation about some minor change in the liturgy. He explained that some things were essential, and some things were flexible, using a gravy analogy: “I could ask you all for your gravy recipes, and they’d all of them be different. But every one of them would include tomatoes”. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/36 "2011-04-30T19:44:29Z")
It’s just brown and water. Joe ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/37 "2011-04-30T19:47:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Khadaji** :What’s really baffling is that some of them apparently have no conception that gravy could possibly be anything other than spaghetti sauce. I was at a church service once in the Philadelphia area, and the pastor was trying to reassure the congregation about some minor change in the liturgy. He explained that some things were essential, and some things were flexible, using a gravy analogy: “I could ask you all for your gravy recipes, and they’d all of them be different. But every one of them would include tomatoes”. Sauce=Gravy is an Italian thing, not restricted to PA, but I noticed it’s predominance from Philly up to Scranton, and out into Jersey. I don’t think there’s a clear delineation between sauce and gravy anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/38 "2011-04-30T20:57:54Z")
Right, it doesn’t baffle me that spaghetti sauce might be called gravy. What baffles me is the notion that nothing but spaghetti sauce could conceivably be called gravy. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/39 "2011-04-30T21:04:22Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I remember the southern mother of a friend of mine. She had this bottle of liquid stuff she would pour into a cast iron skillet to brown with other ingredients. Called BVE or some such. IIRC it was basically bottled cows blood. Now, I have nutin against eating a nice slab of beef, but for some reason that bottled blood squeeked me out a bit. I just tried not to think about it much as I enjoyed that great gravy 🙂 I think you’re thinking of [Wilson’s B-V](http://www.brandnamecooking.com/b-v.html). If so, it wasn’t cow’s blood. It was just bouillon, basically. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203/40 "2011-05-01T05:30:17Z")
[Gravy Browning](http://babaton.net/images/P/p-33.jpg). (It makes it brown if it is otherwise unappetizingly pale.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-brown-gravy/580203.md?page=1)