Celebrity Life
No More Tears: Krug x Onion Gives the Unsung Ingredient its Due
Krug x Onion is here to pay tribute to one of the most versatile- and most humble - ingredients.
Few ingredients do as much to satisfy our tastebuds as the humble onion. Chopped, raw, roasted, pickled, fried, carmelised — the list goes on — the onion takes many forms, all of them delicious, but rarely does it play a starring role. Outside of French soups and sour cream pairings, it barely even gets mentioned by name. Until now.
For the latest edition of their "Krug X Single Ingredient" campaign, the Champagne house founded by Joseph Krug demands that attention be paid to the long-overlooked allium. It follows a house philosophy that each onion, like each plot of vines in a vineyard, is itself a single ingredient worthy of celebration.
Krug x Onion is the sixth ingredient to be recognised in the ongoing campaign, which launched in 2015, first spotlighting the potato, with egg, mushroom, fish and pepper each getting their respective moment in the years that followed. But this time, it's all about the onion.
To kick off Krug X Onion, 11 Krug Ambassade Chefs from nine different countries — including Hong Kong's Uwe Opocensky of Restaurant Petrus at Island Shangri-La Hong Kong — travelled to India to explore the myriad delicious, delightful and unexpected ways the onion could be be enjoyed, and to better understand why it became a staple ingredient in every cuisine across the globe.
With Krug Cellar Master Julie Cavil and former Krug Cellar Master & Deputy Director of the House Éric Lebel, the group spent three days in Jaipur, letting the sights and sounds and flavours around them inspire their culinary creativity to new heights, with the onion, of course, celebrated at the centre of it all.
Because no celebration is complete without Champagne, each dish was designed to be paired with a Krug Grande Cuvée, a blend of over 120 wines from more than ten different years; or a bold and expressive Krug Rosé, uniting the meticulous care and attention to detail of the House with that of the Krug Ambassade Chefs and lovers of Krug.
While Opocensky was the lone Krug Ambassade Chef from Hong Kong to travel to Jaipur, he was not the only participant from the city in this year's Krug x Onion campaign. A number of other local chefs have joined in to put their twist on the onion as well: Robin Zavou (The Krug Room at Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong), Guillaume Galliot (Caprice at Four Seasons Hong Kong), Vicky Cheng (VEA) and Krug Lover Chefs including Agustin Balbi (Andō), Ricardo Chaneton (MONO) and Franckelie Laloum (Louise).
Best of all? The opportunity to taste each Chef's individual expression of this complex vegetable is all yours. So no more tears: Let's give the onion its due.
Caprice
The Chef: Guillaume Galliot
The Onion: Onion from Cevennes
The Dish: Onion Royale with saffron grapes, foie gras and crunchy brioche
Availability: Now
Price: HK$2,280 + 10% per guest as part of Caprice’s tasting menu
Petrus
The Chef: Uwe Opocensky
The Onion: Roscoff onion & banana shallots
The Dish: Onion tarte tatin
Availability: 17 September - 31 October
Price: HK$698 + 10% for dish + 1 glass of Krug Grande Cuvee
VEA
The Chef: Vicky Cheng
The Onion: White onion, red onion, shallots, Cipollini onion, chives
The Dish: French onion soup with grilled cheese
Availability: 17 September - 31 October
Price: Additional HK$680 for a dish + a glass of Krug Rosé as part of VEA's tasting menu
Andō
The Chef: Agustin Balbi
The Onion: Red onion
The Dish: "Tardes es San Telmo" — red onion consommé, almond cream, carabinero prawns
Availability: Now
Price: HK$1,888 + 10% as part of Andō's tasting menu
MONO
The Chef: Richard Chaneton
The Onion: Roscoff onion
The Dish: Roscoff onion, Paris button mushroom, black sesame condiment
Availability: From end of August onwards
Price: HK$1,480 (short menu) and HK$1,880 (long menu)
Louise
The Chef: Franckelie Laloum
The Onion: Cevennes onion
The Dish: Smoked and stuffed Cevennes onion with black truffle, 24 months comte cheese emulsion
Availability: 2 September onwards
Price: HK$328 a la carte, or part of the 6-course signature menu at HK$1,588
Missed your chance to taste one of the Chefs' inspired creations? This year's Krug x Onion book is available in all Krug Ambassades and partner restaurants, who will be celebrating the onion with menus and experiences through the end of the year. Portraits and recipes from the collection will also be featured on www.krug.com.
The post No More Tears: Krug x Onion Gives the Unsung Ingredient its Due appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.