Eshalots: A Class of Its Own

There are onions and green onions and then there is shalots. Known as Eshalot in France, it's a staple to any meal from sauce to grill. If you've noticed, most French menus harken the Eshalot in the base. Cooked alone, their aroma says "onion" but the taste is subtle and sophisticated, which gives chefs a flexible bandwidth toward creating a full-flavored, smoky and rich advantage over the traditional onion. Still, though, the traditional onion, a yellowy or white appearance, is king. Eshalots are princesses or princes.

Eshalots originated in Central or South-East Asia, traveling from there to India and the eastern Mediterranean. The name "shallot" comes from Isreal, where people in classical Greek times believed shallots originated.

What onions are to Italian cooking, eshalots are to French cooking. Like garlic, shallots are formed in clusters of offsets with a head composed of multiple cloves. Their skin color can vary from golden brown to gray to rose red, and their off-white flesh is usually tinged with green or magenta. Shallots are much favored by French chefs because of their firm texture and sweet, aromatic, yet pungent, flavor.