So how come some sauces work only on pasta and others work only on rice (a grain) or toast??

[LAS14]

For instance: Last night we had creamed chipped beef on toast (a rare revisit to childhood). It would worked fairly well on rice, but never on pasta. On the other hand, I can't really imagine tomato sauce with ground beef or meatballs on rice or toast. there are lots of neat veggie pasta recipes, but I don't have any for rice or toast. Is there anything other than convention that drives this???

After seeing a couple of replies I should make clear that I put toast and rice in the same category. What works on one works on the other, but not (as far as I can figure out) on pasta.

tia
las

[katmondoo]

1. Chicken gravy works well on toast.

Also good on rice and pasta.

[LAS14]

3. Hmmm... I can't imagine chicken gravy on pasta. I do lump toast and rice in the same category. nt

[Frustratedlady]

2. Creamed tuna or creamed hard boiled eggs chopped up also work well on toast...

or biscuits. I also like creamed tuna on Chinese noodles (chow mein) as there is a lot of crunch, but you have to add them a bit at a time or they get soggy like toast.

Also, dried beef is good with white sauce. You can add hard-boiled eggs to that, as well.

I am getting ready to make creamed chicken/veggie on biscuits for a friend who had surgery, but she is still in therapy. That is a comfort food to me.

[LAS14]

4. I added this to my OP.

"After seeing a couple of replies I should make clear that I put toast and rice in the same category. What works on one works on the other, but not (as far as I can figure out) on pasta."

So, with this clarification, and with the understanding that chinese noodles are more like toast than like pasta, it looks like you agree with me. (I'd lump buscuits in with toast, of course, not with pasta.) Yes, there's nothing like creamed (whatever) on biscuits or toast or rice to say "comfort food!!!!&quot Hope your friend gets a pick up from it!

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. tomato sauce with ground beef or meatballs on rice

Do you make spanish rice?

[Marthe48]

6. Yes!

I like tomato sauce, or diced tomatoes in a sauce on any starch. (think pizza!) I make macaroni creole with a tomato base. I use the same sauce base to make spanish rice, vegetarian or meaty.

Stuffed peppers.
My husband didn't like rice, but he liked roasted peppers. So I used orzo and he loved it.
Cabbage rolls, made with rice or pasta. I recently made a cabbage roll casserole, but used shirataki noodles instead of rice or pasta. It was really tasty.

I found that a creamy or cheesy sauce doesn't go as well with the shiratake noodles. I tried having creamy broccoli over noodles and it was very bland. Although I did make a tuna shiratake casserole last winter. Maybe up the seasonings in a white cause to get the flavor.

I love chipped beef on toast, that's the only way

I like sausage gravy on biscuits or toast. I don't think I'd want it on pasta. I like ham and noodles with a little cheesy cream sauce. I used to make a ham and Swiss lasagna that was wonderful.

Maybe you want a better contrast in textures?

[LAS14]

7. Yes, I make Spanish rice, but the tomatoes and rice are cooked together. It's not a sauce on rice.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. My family recipe is with cooked bacon bits and cooked onion

added with tomato sauce to pot of cooked cooled rice. Couple tablespoons of the bacon/onion grease
makes it very flavorful.
Sometimes I add a bit of hot chili sauce just enough for zing.

super on 2nd day, too.

[LAS14]

9. Oh, absolutely. Bacon, especially the grease, is a goto ingredient! nt

[lillypaddle]

10. Now gravy, on the other hand

can be put on all of it: toast, rice, pasta, potatoes, and that is why I love gravy.

[LAS14]

11. Hmmm.... I wouldn't want to put gravy on pasta. Anything else, YEAH!!

[lillypaddle]

12. A nice brown gravy with tender roast beef or pork

and mushrooms on any kind of pasta will do, but on elbows, it's wonderful! Some sauerkraut on the side.

I lived with a man for a long while who always thought I was weird for putting brown gravy on pasta, I blamed it on my mother who was German. Anyway, I love it!

ETA: wide egg noodles are great, too. Ever had beef tips and noodles?

[LAS14]

13. OK. A meat cooked with gravy.... saurbraten, for instance...

... yeah noodles go with that. But a sour taste maybe sour cream is important.

[smirkymonkey]

18. Yes, for some reason egg noodles seem different than regular pasta.

I don't know why, I think it's just psychological. I love things like beef or chicken Stroganoff or Swedish meatballs over egg noodles.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. One of the guys in The Godfather called pasta sauce gravy.

First and only time I had heard that.
but hey..what's in a word?

[Kali]

14. also cream gravy only goes with fried meat

brown (water/broth based) gravy for roasted meats

cream gravy does NOT go with roast chicken or beef, and likewise brown gravy does not go with fried steak or chicken


in general cream gravies only go on potatoes and do not go on pasta or rice. exceptions might be alfredo (not on rice!), stroganoff.

I can do some tomato type sauces on rice, but not breads (except pizza!). actually I don't like soggy breads so I don't even do the ones that should go on them

[LAS14]

16. OK, Alfredo is a cream sauce similar to the cream sauce for creamed chipped beef and...

... creamed anything. So there we have an exception.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Creamed chipped beef on toast? My favorite breakfast in the Army.

When the mess hall served it, the place was packed. "Shit on a shingle", we called it, delicious.

Tomato sauce on rice is also good. On bread, it's close to a Meatball Sandwich, another favorite.

Bon apetit.