Sauces and condiments

The only cooks in the civilized world are French cooks. . . . Other nations understand food in general; the French alone understand cooking, because all their qualities - promptitude, decision, tact - are employed in the art. No foreigner can make a good white sauce. Roqueplan, La Vie parisienne (1853)

France is the undisputed world champion when it comes to sauces (which includes gravies and dressings). The Larousse Gastronomique lists pages and pages of sauces, including endless variations on the famous Five Mother Sauces of French Cuisine, plus all the orphans.

I’ve tried to include the ones you’re most likely to encounter or else this app would be twice as long! There is one thing that everyone I know agrees on: since French sauces are so good, why are restaurant chefs often so stingy with them? Why is there only a thin little zigzag or three arty drops of a delicious something on the side of dish that you can barely taste? Why?