This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
An Onion Piqué is a French flavor booster used by chefs in sauces and soups. It sounds fancy, but it only takes 3 ingredients and 10 seconds to make!
Recipe ingredients:
Step-by-step instructions:
- Begin by peeling a yellow or white raw onion. Then, cut the onion in half and trim off the root end. Attach 1 or 2 dried bay leaves to the cut-side of the onion using a couple of whole dried cloves as pins.
- Tuck the onion into your pot of broth or stock to cook. When the onion is soft and you’re ready to move to the next step in the recipe, you can take it out and discard it, cloves, bay leaf and all.
Recipe notes:
- How to say it: Onion pee-KAY
- Why bother: It adds a lot of flavor and you can remove it easily. No more fishing around for lost bay leaves (and you’d NEVER find those cloves!).
- Cloves: Use 2 to 3 cloves for a half onion, or up to 6 for a whole onion, unless the recipe calls for a specific amount. They have a strong flavor, so use them judiciously.
- Onion clouté: Leave out the bay leaf and just spike your onion with cloves.
Put your onion pique to work:
Join Us
How to Make an Onion Pique
Instructions
- Trim off the root end of half a peeled onion.
- Attach a bay leaf to the cut-side of the onion using 2 or 3 whole dried cloves as pins.
- Add to a pot of stock or milk to cook. Remove and discard when the stock is finished.
Notes
- How to say it: Onion pee-KAY
- Why bother: It adds a lot of flavor and you can remove it easily. No more fishing around for lost bay leaves (and you'd NEVER find those cloves!).
- Cloves: Use 2 to 3 cloves for a half onion, or up to 6 for a whole onion, unless the recipe calls for a specific amount. They have a strong flavor, so use them judiciously.
- Onion clouté: Leave out the bay leaf and just spike your onion with cloves.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
It sounds wonderful can’t wait to make it thanx
Hi MarySue, you’re welcome! Take care! – Meggan
This was a big help! I had no idea what to do to make one! lol