Les Sauces

French haute cuisine may boast about its three thousand sauces, but in Nice we do not want it said that “la sauce fait passer le poisson” (it is the sauce which makes the fish bearable).

The other basic difference from haute cuisine is that Niçois and Provencal sauces are not based on butter, cream, or flour but on oil and vegetables. Most of the sauces are cold, and accompany meat, fish, and vegetables. They are used to fill halves of hard-boiled eggs and lemon, tomato, and cucumber “boats”; and as dips to accompany a basket of crudités (trimmed raw vegetables).