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« Les concombres épicés ont été piqués de gousses d'ail. »
My translation: The spiced cucumbers have been made even more spicy with cloves of garlic.
I don’t understand how "piquer" is different in meaning from "relever" or "assaisonner". These three verbs seem so similar and confusing to me.
« Les concombres épicés ont été relevés de gousses d'ail. »
« Les concombres épicés ont été assaisonnés de gousses d'ail. »
Conclusion part:
While assaisonner or relever characterize how you are seasonning your meal, piquer some piece of food with another is a culinary technique to season a meal.
As @PapaPoule comment said, "piqué" is used to talk about some piece of food which has been pricked with another, or with some spice, which have been leaved inside, to add taste during cooking.
The 13th meaning of piquer from wiktionary is accurate :
- Larder.
Piquer de gros lard un morceau de bœuf, Le larder avec de gros lardons.
The etymology of this meaning seems to first involve meat but now it can be approximately used with any piece of food.
You can find recipes using this technique :
It is adding spices with no particular connotation, it can be soft or hot.
Accommoder un mets avec les ingrédients qu’il faut pour le rendre plus agréable au goût.
It is adding spices but, this time, to make it hot[ter].
- (Cuisine) Donner un goût plus piquant, un plus haut goût à des assaisonnements, à des sauces, à des ragoûts.
While assaisonner or relever characterize how you are seasonning your meal, piquer some piece of food with another is a culinary technique to season a meal.
Your translation is not correct. At least french natives will not interpret it like that. Piqués de gousses d'ail is a common term in culinary recipes to say implanted with garlic cloves.
On the other side assaisonner indeed means to season or to dress when speaking of a meal or a salad. Relevé in culinary terms is closer to hot, while épicé is spicy.
