The preparation of sauces takes a lot of training and skill. There are many techniques and secrets that must be perfected such as deglazing, reducing, thickening, preventing a skin from forming, stocks, emulsifying, using egg yolks and the list goes on and on. The choice of equipment is very important. Deep thick-bottomed sauce pans should be used, to insure the proper distribution of heat to prevent the sauce from burning or curdling. The bai-marie is an essential accessory, as well as a metal wire whisk and a spatula for scraping the residue From the base of the pan. A fine, perfectly smooth and glossy sauce can be obtained bt rubbing it through a sieve (known as "tammying"). This is why the sauce chef of the kitched staff is considered to be a great technician of that kitchen. According to Fernand Point, "in the orchestra of a great kitchen, the sauce chef is a soloist".

It was Carême who began to classify todays sauces. The hot sauces, which are by far the more numerous to the, are subdivided into white sauces and brown sauces. The basic white sauces are béchamel and velouté, which can be turned into many other derivatives. The great, or basic brown sauce, also from which many others are derived are espagnole, demi-glace and tomato sauces. Cold sauces are usually based on mayonnaise or vinaigrette, unless you are dealing with dessert sauces and they to also have many variations. The classical repertoire was gradually increased by sauces from other countries, often introduced by French chefs who have wprked abroad.