In French cuisine, what is commonly used to enhance the flavor of vegetables before adding them to dishes?

In French cuisine, the refrogé technique is a method that involves gently cooking vegetables in fat, often with aromatics, to enhance their flavor before they are incorporated into dishes. This technique allows the vegetables to soften and intensify in taste, making them more flavorful and ready to complement the other components of a dish.

The refrogé method not only enhances the natural sweetness of vegetables but also adds depth through the caramelization that occurs during the process. This is crucial in French culinary practices, where flavor layering is essential, ensuring that each element contributes to the overall harmony of the dish.

Other methods mentioned, such as steaming, baking, or curing, although useful in their own rights, do not specifically focus on this flavor-enhancing preparation of vegetables prior to their use in creating more complex dishes. Steaming tends to preserve the vegetable's natural taste and texture without enhancing it through fat and aromatics, while baking and curing serve different purposes in cooking, not aimed at flavor enhancement through initial cooking.