# What was this U.S. breakfast dish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527 "2008-12-10T06:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/161 "2008-12-17T23:54:06Z")
So what do you think is gravy? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/162 "2008-12-18T00:02:13Z")
> [@Across](#): > > I was telling my husband about this thread last night (“you wouldn’t \*believe \* what the Americans think is gravy!”) and when I repeated the question that started it all off he said . . . > > “Why doesn’t this guy just call the hotel and ask them?” It might work. I would guess, however, that no one would begin to answer the question of “What gravies were on your breakfast buffet years ago?” ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/163 "2008-12-18T02:29:41Z")
> [@Across](#): > > “Why doesn’t this guy just call the hotel and ask them?” I think the hotel was one of the Wyndham chain of hotels, but I can’t seem to find it on google maps. It had a very small triangular park outside the front entrance and the park had some kind of statue in the centre. It might have closed down? In any case, I can’t find it now. ---
**Author:** ![Across](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Across](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Across)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/164 "2008-12-18T03:02:14Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > So what do you think is gravy? Australians consider gravy a condiment - as mentioned upthread. Meat dripping, usually from a roast, thickened with flour, to be served over the roast meat and the roast vegetables accompanying it. It’s very odd to see multiple recipes for different flavours of gravy and that it’s considered a meal! The weirdest would have to be the bolognaise sauces called “gravy”. And isn’t “cocoa gravy” basically hot chocolate sauce? Like what you have on sundaes? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/165 "2008-12-18T03:29:00Z")
Not all Americans consider gravy to be a meal. I suspect that most don’t. I suspect that most consider it to be a condiment. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/166 "2008-12-18T14:50:17Z")
> [@Across](#): > > The weirdest would have to be the bolognaise sauces called “gravy”. That’s a holdover of the Italian-American dialect that has since become more general. And even within the Italian community that wasn’t universal - my family always called spaghetti sauce “sauce”. ---
**Author:** ![warmark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/58f4c7/32.png) [@warmark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/167 "2008-12-18T15:21:17Z")
> [@Across](#): > > And isn’t “cocoa gravy” basically hot chocolate sauce? Like what you have on sundaes? Not the way I grew up with it. It had about the same consistency as sawmill gravy, only it was chocolate flavored instead of sausage flavored ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/168 "2008-12-18T16:21:46Z")
This thread had me thinking about gravy. So on the way back to the house this morning I stopped at the gas station and got a ‘breakfast bowl’. (Dog’s breakfast bowl, more like! Ooh, it looked nasty!) Apparently Jack-In-The-Box sells something like it, and this is the mini-mart’s version. I couldn’t really tell what was in it. I think it was a biscuit, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, eggs, onions, celery, and lots of sausage gravy. Oh, and cheese. I’m sure it’s popular with some people. I might have liked it better if it didn’t have cheese in it. (Gravy and cheese? Come on!) But I don’t think I’ll ever get it again. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/169 "2008-12-18T16:24:02Z")
> [@Across](#): > > Australians consider gravy a condiment - as mentioned upthread. Meat dripping, usually from a roast, thickened with flour, to be served over the roast meat and the roast vegetables accompanying it. It’s very odd to see multiple recipes for different flavours of gravy and that it’s considered a meal! The weirdest would have to be the bolognaise sauces called “gravy”. > > And isn’t “cocoa gravy” basically hot chocolate sauce? Like what you have on sundaes? Americans also consider it a condiment. The comments about it being a meal were intended to be humorous. Mostly. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/170 "2008-12-18T17:59:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I might have liked it better if it didn’t have cheese in it. (Gravy and cheese? Come on!) But I don’t think I’ll ever get it again. That’s what I think every time I see a commercial for those KFC bowls. I’ve not had one and won’t be doing so. For one, cheese and gravy do not go together. For two, I’m really not big on having an entire meal of separate components dumped into one bowl together. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/171 "2008-12-18T18:12:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > This thread had me thinking about gravy. So on the way back to the house this morning I stopped at the gas station and got a ‘breakfast bowl’. (Dog’s breakfast bowl, more like! Ooh, it looked nasty!) Apparently Jack-In-The-Box sells something like it, and this is the mini-mart’s version. I couldn’t really tell what was in it. I think it was a biscuit, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, eggs, onions, celery, and lots of sausage gravy. Oh, and cheese. > > I’m sure it’s popular with some people. I might have liked it better if it didn’t have cheese in it. (Gravy and cheese? Come on!) But I don’t think I’ll ever get it again. Celery? Are you sure it wasn’t green peppers? [QUOTE=redtail23] That’s what I think every time I see a commercial for those KFC bowls. I’ve not had one and won’t be doing so. For one, cheese and gravy do not go together. For two, I’m really not big on having an entire meal of separate components dumped into one bowl together. Yuck. [/QUOTE] The thing that icks me out the most, is the corn. ---
**Author:** ![Rapier42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/90db22/32.png) [@Rapier42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rapier42)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/172 "2008-12-18T18:20:01Z")
> [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](#): > > IHOP does a passable biscuits and gravy, but so far, they are only in the US, Canada, and Mexico. So much for globalization! (And so much for the \*\*International \*\*House of Pancakes!) Like hell they do. They serve a runny white sauce with occasional bits of sausage floating in over a flat-bread. IHOPs biscuits and gravy are an abomination upon the face of this earth, and whoever designed that dish and placed it on their menu will be second up against the wall when I am king (firsties going to whoever thought artificial bacon was a good idea). ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527/173 "2008-12-18T18:27:31Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#): > > The thing that icks me out the most, is the corn. 😛 Goes to show that MMV. I love corn and gravy, although usually it’s brown gravy rather than cream gravy. Now corn stuck in my mashed taters, not so much. Besides, the chicken bits would get soggy soaking in all that muck. Blech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-u-s-breakfast-dish/476527.md?page=8)