# What's for dinner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139 "2018-02-04T00:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/382 "2018-03-23T00:24:18Z")
Has anyone else here encountered Tom Yum paste? Buy a jar in Chinatown and keep it in the fridge. Stir a few spoonfuls into a pot of chicken stock, add some greens, shiitake mushrooms, cubed tofu, lime juice, noodles, sliced green chiles, whatever else you like, and you have a quick and incredibly delicious “hot & sour” Asian soup. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/383 "2018-03-23T00:30:58Z")
I have the makin’s of a chicken Parmigiana in the house right now, but am home alone and feeling lazy and I might go out and pick up a small pizza instead. I had a brilliant kitchen idea the other day. Usually when I make something Parm, I make the sauce in a saucepan, saute or grill the meat or eggplant or squash in a frying pan (or on the grill), then layer it all into a baking dish with shredded mozzarella and shove it in the oven. “Why not saute the chicken cutlets, keep them warm on a plate, build the sauce IN THE SKILLET, then put the cutlets back in and the cheese on top, and put THE SKILLET into the oven? That way the fond from the chicken would get into the sauce. AND I WOULD ONLY HAVE ONE PAN TO WASH.” Anyone see any reason this wouldn’t work? Am I a genius who should write a cookbook for lazy fucks like me who enjoy eating good? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/384 "2018-03-23T00:33:41Z")
Fresh ravioli from the local store, salad and garlic bread, with a cheeky little California red. Just the thing for a rainy evening. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/385 "2018-03-23T00:55:21Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I have the makin’s of a chicken Parmigiana in the house right now, but am home alone and feeling lazy and I might go out and pick up a small pizza instead. > > I had a brilliant kitchen idea the other day. Usually when I make something Parm, I make the sauce in a saucepan, saute or grill the meat or eggplant or squash in a frying pan (or on the grill), then layer it all into a baking dish with shredded mozzarella and shove it in the oven. > > “Why not saute the chicken cutlets, keep them warm on a plate, build the sauce IN THE SKILLET, then put the cutlets back in and the cheese on top, and put THE SKILLET into the oven? That way the fond from the chicken would get into the sauce. AND I WOULD ONLY HAVE ONE PAN TO WASH.” > > Anyone see any reason this wouldn’t work? Am I a genius who should write a cookbook for lazy fucks like me who enjoy eating good? Should work fine as long as you’re looking for a fresh sauce and not a long simmered Sunday gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/386 "2018-03-23T00:59:34Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Should work fine as long as you’re looking for a fresh sauce and not a long simmered Sunday gravy. The cutlets would keep for as long as I wanted to cook the sauce. Saute the garlic in the olive oil left in the chicken pan, add canned crushed tomatoes, basil, parsley, S&P, maybe some crushed red pepper. Scrape up the fond. Simmer for an hour or two. A tablespoon of tomato paste, and I’ve got a nice thick “Sunday gravy.” Enough to go over the pasta, if I’m lucky. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/387 "2018-03-23T01:01:02Z")
I wouldn’t want the cutlets sitting around that long, but to each his own. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/388 "2018-03-23T01:19:35Z")
Well, if you don’t want to keep them warm, or you’re afraid of bacteria, PUT THEM IN THE REFRIGERATOR. They’re going to get hot again in the oven, ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/389 "2018-03-24T00:20:56Z")
Chicken and veg stew with dumplings. I have onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, parsnips and peas. Think that’s enough veg? If there’s leftovers I might make pot pies out of it tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/390 "2018-03-24T00:22:52Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Saute the garlic in the olive oil left in the chicken pan, add canned crushed tomatoes, basil, parsley, S&P, maybe some crushed red pepper. Scrape up the fond. Simmer for an hour or two. A tablespoon of tomato paste, and I’ve got a nice thick “Sunday gravy.” Enough to go over the pasta, if I’m lucky. It’s presumably not the greatest of surprises, but in British English, that ain’t gravy. On any day of the week. Gravy means “brown gravy” to us. Sure, you could qualify it (e.g. onion gravy), but it’s nevertheless a much narrower category. Sausage gravy, country gravy, red-eye gravy…they don’t really exist over here, but if they were served, they’d be called sauces, not gravies. And I know that. I’ve eaten in diners from New England to the west coast. I read American cookbooks, I cook American gravies of various types. Biscuits & gravy (“American biscuits and sausagey sauce”, to avoid confusion) is a favourite in my house. But a herby, Italianate tomato sauce for pasta being called “Sunday Gravy”? Is there some joke that I’m missing or is that actually a real thing? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/391 "2018-03-24T01:21:22Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > It’s presumably not the greatest of surprises, but in British English, that ain’t gravy. On any day of the week. > > Gravy means “brown gravy” to us. Sure, you could qualify it (e.g. onion gravy), but it’s nevertheless a much narrower category. Sausage gravy, country gravy, red-eye gravy…they don’t really exist over here, but if they were served, they’d be called sauces, not gravies. And I know that. I’ve eaten in diners from New England to the west coast. I read American cookbooks, I cook American gravies of various types. Biscuits & gravy (“American biscuits and sausagey sauce”, to avoid confusion) is a favourite in my house. > > But a herby, Italianate tomato sauce for pasta being called “Sunday Gravy”? Is there some joke that I’m missing or is that actually a real thing? This has been an ongoing discussion among Italian Americans as long as I can remember. My family always called it sauce as did most of the families in our neighborhood, but plenty families call it gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/392 "2018-03-24T01:33:01Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > But a herby, Italianate tomato sauce for pasta being called “Sunday Gravy”? Is there some joke that I’m missing or is that actually a real thing? Now I’m an English Irish mutt from New England, and to me, gravy is a sauce made from meat drippings and flour/corn starch, broth, or a roux and milk (met that down south with biscuits and gravy). But apparently Sunday gravy is an Italian American thing. I never really heard it much before the Sopranos was on, so it could be a new-ish thing masquerading as an old thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/393 "2018-03-24T01:45:34Z")
Like **zoid** says, it’s a weird American regionalism that pops up in certain pockets of the Italian-American community. I see it in parts of Brooklyn, but never while growing up in Cleveland. Gravy usually has “Sunday” appended to it because it’s a tomato-based sauce with a mix of slow-cooked meats, and Nonna could get it going and leave it on a slow fire while everybody went to Mass. My I-A uncle used chicken wings, pork spare ribs, and beef meatballs. To cut down on fat, I use skinless chicken thighs, Italian pork sausage, and beef meatballs. My maternal grandfather, Czech-American and a hella cook, used to make something he called “tomato gravy,” which I recall as mostly beef broth, a couple of chopped tomatoes, and chunks of stew beef. I remember it being delicious, but not what else was in it (I was 9 when he kicked the bucket). I have an email out to my older sister to get a more accurate remembrance. Then there’s “Creole Daube,” a New Orleans/Italian dish, where you simmer a pot of crushed tomatoes with pureed garlic and onion — NO seasoning except S&P — and lay a beef chuck roast in it to simmer for 3-4 hours. The meat is fork-tender, and the sauce/gravy, spooned over pasta, is like heaven. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/394 "2018-03-24T02:26:57Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I never really heard it much before the Sopranos was on, so it could be a new-ish thing masquerading as an old thing. I think it’s just become more popularized and known. I definitely know of the usage of “gravy” to mean tomato sauce from before the Sopranos, and I grew up in Chicago (we’re talking first encountering the term in the 80s), but it was a very niche usage here. I learned it from some Italian neighbors down the block. From my understanding, it comes from a translation of the word _sugo_, which kind of has a range of meaning from “sauce” to “gravy” to “juices.” ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/395 "2018-03-24T02:34:10Z")
LIke, for example, I just searched the Chicago Tribune archives and – since I don’t pay for it I can only get snippets – but I found what appears to be a food section item from Feb. 23, 1992, on page 77, that talks about some Italian deli/take out place’s “Italian meatballs with homemade red gravy ($5.75 per pound.)” That is referring to tomato sauce. I also see an item from 1990 talking about Ricobene’s breaded steak sandwich with red gravy, which I also know to be what most people would call tomato sauce. And Ricobene’s has been around since the late 40s, so the usage is certainly old. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/396 "2018-03-24T03:10:44Z")
Lamb chops, broiled asparagus, boiled potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/397 "2018-03-24T04:02:57Z")
Take-out Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/398 "2018-03-27T18:05:45Z")
Going to try out this recipe tonight: [http://auntnellies.com/recipes/red-cabbage-bacon-pasta](http://auntnellies.com/recipes/red-cabbage-bacon-pasta) Actually, a lot of the recipes on that site look good! ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/399 "2018-03-27T18:11:17Z")
Cheeseburgers ---
**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:** [March 27, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/400 "2018-03-27T18:48:29Z")
Fettuccine with asparagus, lemon zest, olive oil and Parmesan. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139/401 "2018-03-29T19:45:28Z")
Fish, chips, scraps, mushy peas. Salt & vinegar, brown sauce. Couple of IPAs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-for-dinner/808139.md?page=21)