Your irrational pet peeves

[KennyTheKangaroo]

Do you wear a bib, too? Or is that considered savage as well

[mac5155]

im a fan of the drumsticks though. grip dip twist and rip

[dodint]

I've never ever heard them called flats either. Sounds like something a stuffy Englishman who wears a derby and monocle would say

Yes its like those clownshoes that refer to pasta sauce as gravy.

That's probably number one on my list of pet peeves. I've found its mainly people from NJ.

Oh, this, a thousand times this.

[tifosi77]

Yes its like those clownshoes that refer to pasta sauce as gravy.

By 'clownshoes' do you mean "Italians, who invented the f**king thing"?

Gravy is a meat sauce from southern Italy - NOT Sicily - as opposed to a sugo which is just pureed tomatoes and aromatics. People form southern Italy do not historically consume much meat in their diets. (The landscape from about Naples on down to the toe and heel is not viable for pasturage on a large scale.) After coming to America, they were suddenly able to eat meat like never before, and the evolution of their cuisine reflects that. Meatballs in Italy are normally about 50% breadcrumbs and are only about as big as a ping pong ball. In America, they are all meat and the size of a baseball. The smaller ones with breadcrumbs are better. Sunday gravy is something that was (and still is) an all day affair, where available meat scraps would be cooked for hours and hours to make them edible. The meat would be removed from the cooking liquid and served as a secondo, while the now-much-thickened liquid (gravy) would be used to dress the pasta primi.

Anyway, they refer to this habit of putting a lot of previously rare things in oversized packages as 'abondanza' (abundance), and it is one of the key differentiators of Italian cooking vs Italian-American cooking.

Basically, railing on people who call pasta sauce gravy is like clowning people for calling hamburger sandwiches 'burgers'. Those cretins.

[viva la ben]

Then what is the Italian word for gravy?

[KennyTheKangaroo]

By 'clownshoes' do you mean "Italians, who invented the f**king thing"?

Gravy is a meat sauce from southern Italy - NOT Sicily - as opposed to a sugo which is just pureed tomatoes and aromatics. People form southern Italy do not historically consume much meat in their diets. (The landscape from about Naples on down to the toe and heel is not viable for pasturage on a large scale.) After coming to America, they were suddenly able to eat meat like never before, and the evolution of their cuisine reflects that. Meatballs in Italy are normally about 50% breadcrumbs and are only about as big as a ping pong ball. In America, they are all meat and the size of a baseball. The smaller ones with breadcrumbs are better. Sunday gravy is something that was (and still is) an all day affair, where available meat scraps would be cooked for hours and hours to make them edible. The meat would be removed from the cooking liquid and served as a secondo, while the now-much-thickened liquid (gravy) would be used to dress the pasta primi.

Anyway, they refer to this habit of putting a lot of previously rare things in oversized packages as 'abondanza' (abundance), and it is one of the key differentiators of Italian cooking vs Italian-American cooking.

Basically, railing on people who call pasta sauce gravy is like clowning people for calling hamburger sandwiches 'burgers'. Those cretins.

This gentleman is referring to the numbskulls on staten island, not the island of sicily.

[count2infinity]

Then what is the Italian word for gravy?

google translate says it's Sugo

[slappybrown]

@tif - You're mixing up salsa and sugo. The former coveys meatless in Italian.

You're also underestimating the amount of lamb, goat, and pig/boar that southern Italians eat. Calabria, Puglia, and Basilicata and their topography generally do not lend themselves to cattle farming, this is true, but these other animals are historically well-represented to the point that those regions boast famous dishes incorporating those meats. Abruzzo and Molise have lots of cattle farming, and though admittedly to the east rather than south of Naples, those two places are distinctively and unquestionably southern Italian.

I'm also not sure about the notion that meatballs in Italy are ping-pong ball sized. Personally, I've never seen that but for in restaurants. Also, where are you seeing baseball sized meatballs made without bread crumbs? Absent a novelty type dish, I've never seen that size, and I've never heard of meatballs made without bread crumbs.

This is really a question of how to translate these distinctions into the English language. Personally, sauce and meat sauce are sufficient from my perspective. Calling what my grandmothers make on Sunday gravy is **** ing stupid IMO, partially driven by the fact that I've personally found that to be used most by people from NJ.

[yubb]

I've never heard them called "flats", but instead "flappers".

[PensFanInDC]

People from NJ

[DudeMan2766]

Why did I get EPP flashbacks when reading tif's response to KtK? :slug pop:

[KennyTheKangaroo]

Yes the moral of the story is that new jersey sucks.

[columbia]

This reminds me of a former co-worker who spoke fluent Italian and his family was from Bologna. He went to an Italian social club in Jersey and was really disappointed that no one there spoke the language and were pretty much extras from The Sopranos.

My response was, "Well, you were in **** Jersey, what did you expect?"

[PensFanInDC]

I work with a woman from NJ and she blames everything she says and does on being "from Jersey" like it's an excuse. Don't know if someone is from NJ? Just wait a minute and they will tell you.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I am not from Jersey but I live in Jersey.


Does that count?

[MRandall25]

I work with a woman from NJ and she blames everything she says and does on being "from Jersey" like it's an excuse. Don't know if someone is from NJ? Just wait a minute and they will tell you.

Just like "spot the vegan"

[PensFanInDC]

Honestly it could be said for lots of people from all over the country, types of eating habits, exercise habits, sports teams, etc. I've just found NJ to be the worst so far.

[dodint]

New Jersey v. Texas

[Hockeynut!]

I'm still trying to find out where to get meatballs the size of a baseball.

[Letang Is The Truth]

Emporio

[slappybrown]

Alla Famiglia in Pittsburgh does a huge meatball for an app.

[columbia]

I'm still trying to find out where to get meatballs the size of a baseball.

Can we take this to the cooks thread?

[BigMcK]

Buca di Bepo

"our famous half-pound meatballs with our homemade marinara sauce"

[Hockeynut!]

I'm still trying to find out where to get meatballs the size of a baseball.

Can we take this to the cooks thread?

Back to topic.

Thread police...

[PghSkins]

I thought people from Long Island were the problem