Spaghetti with gravy
Yesterday I took two 16-year old English visitors to a restaurant in downtown Guanajuato. Pasta looked more user-friendly to them than unknown dishes called tostadas and chilaquiles and the like. But the sauces didn’t. We made our way through Italian (tomato), cream and ham, shrimp, until we came to “filete picada con gravy.” Gravy! on spaghetti! They shuddered in horror, thinking Mexico was even weirder than they had imagined.
I restrained myself from launching into a lecture on the transmission of dishes. This brought to mind instantly the Old Foodie’s interesting recent postings on gravy in the English tradition as well as Almost Italian’s absorbing analysis of different “Italian” dishes created in the States, as well as my own ruminations about Italian food in Argentina. And in a random way I pondered the following:
1. The widespread use of the term gravy to mean a wet sauce around the world thanks to British influence (gravy curries, the Italian-American use of gravy for a red sauce for spaghetti).
2. The Mexican use of “salsa gravy.” Very popular for roasts, usually from a Campbell’s can available in any grocery store, though my neighbors make it from beef bones though the thickening rather escapes them.
3. Dim memories of Italian Italian recipes for pasta with meat juices if not a roux-thickened gravy.
4. Sources of Mexican pasta recipes. There are the indigenous recipes and a pasta-making tradition in Mexico that goes back to the Spanish Conquest. This tends to quite distinct from the recent “Italian” tradition which, now I think about it, has three sources: Italian immigrants to Mexico of whom there are a fair few and who have had a big impact on cheeses, say; Argentine immigrants who arrived in large numbers during the Dictadura and who opened a lot of restaurants in true immigrant fashion; and American Italian food experienced both in the States and (I think) in American chains in Mexico.
5. So the filete in the name may well derive from the Argentine filete sauce for pasta.
My 16-year old visitors should thank their lucky stars that I have a blog to talk to and that they don’t have to listen!
Rachel,
The “filete picada con gravy” sounded horrible to me too! If I saw it on a menu I would have thought it meant “chopped fish fillet with gravy”. Ugh! it took me a minute to figure out that it was the Mexican version of the Italian “filetto di pomodoro” or in other words a tomato sauce made with strips of tomato and olive oil, pepper, onions or garlic, etc. Thanks. You made me smile. I learn something new every day.
# 4!
Rachel,
Do you know where I can find any of the first mentions of pasta in New Spain?
I made Fideos Verdes two days ago. The cooking procedure intriques me greatly. I do exactly like making a paella – frying the broken vermicelli instead of rice and then adding my sauce/broth base to the noodles for them to soak up and become tender.
I have read this practice originates from the moors in Spain. What do you make of this?
On a separate subject I have been giving a lot of thought to the use of cilantro in Mexican cuisine. There are a few recipes I have noticed in Casas Regional Spanish Cooking book – but exclusive to Andulcia. Any chance the cilantro prevelance may be a far eat – mex import instead? There is an outreagously good dish from Queretero of Chicken in a smooth cilantro wine sauce.
Thanks as always,
Alex
Oh Alex, I still haven’t followed up on your cheese question and now there’s the pasta one. I have a whole essay on that ready to go when I get a moment. And some interesting photos, at least to me.
Cilantro. Another huge story and one I’m not at all clear about. Thoughts soon.
Hi Rachel,
What a coincidence you’d mention Italo-Argentinian cuisine. Holly just mentioned in our last post that Italian immigrants/expatriates make up something like 28% of the population.
With regard to gravy, it’s a little confusing. For those Italian-Americans who use the term (Mostly in the northeast), Gravy, or Sunday Gravy, actually refers to a whole meal.
While there is room for variation Sunday gravy has a few constants: Tomatoes, of course, then meatballs and sausages which are braised in the sauce. After that, it’s cook’s choice. You’ll often find pork shoulder, spare ribs, beef chuck, or beef shoulder which become part of the braise as well.
Ordinarily ‘Mama’ appropriates some of the sauce for a first course of pasta, then the braised meat is served separately along with a salad (or sauteed broccoli or spinach) and bread.
Just to add to the confusion, some Italian-Americans of southern Italian heritage make other sauces with meat (Ragu alla Napoletana, for example) which they do not call gravy. These are sauces to serve over pasta, or for use in making Lasagne or Timballo di Maccheroni.
Best regards,
Skip Lombardi