In our area the Italians sauce is always tomato based. They also use chicken, ribs or steak to cook in the sauce. The meat is later taken out and eaten on the side. It is also called "red gravy" not sauce. I don't know where the local Italians came from, but they came to work in the iron ore mines of the Upper Penninsula.
Long
Americans of Italian lineage have different English to describe it, depending on where they settled in America. In New York, if it's a tomato sauce made with meat, it's called gravy. If it has no meat, then it's called a sauce. Sunday grave is a meat sauce that takes several hours, and sometime all day, to make. My grandfather made what he called a quick sauce (because it only cooked long enough to break down the fresh tomatoes, about ten or fifteen minutes), which was made with fresh plumb tomatoes he grew in his garden, garlic, olive oil, wine, and basil also from his garden. This is delicious in its own way. He also made a marinara that was made only with canned tomatoes and took at least an hour of simmering.
