Consider The Onion

As part of its Single Ingredient programme, Krug sent chef ambassadors to Jaipur to create dishes using the humble onion. Zen’s executive chef Tristin Farmer shares the experience.

- Weets Goh

It’s probably a cliche at this point – that the humblest ingredients are usually the hardest to master. take the egg, for example, that’s used as the acid test in French culinary training. Stories abound with chefs having to prove their worth as a hire just by making a perfectly formed French-style omelette – a tidy package of finesse and delicacy with a smooth-as-silk exterior and a moist, creamy inside.

Champagne house Krug knows this all too well as one of the stewards of transforming a single type of produce – in its case, the grape – into an extraordinary product. Which is why each year, it challenges its chef ambassadors to create dishes based on just one ingredient. this year, it’s the onion’s turn.

To get up close and personal with the most commonly-grown allium in the world, Krug invited its chef ambassadors on a four-day trip to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, where there are around 50,000 onion growers. the onion is so integral to the Indian diet that its prices are occasionally a political issue in the country.

Joined by Krug cellar master Julie Cavil and deputy director eric Lebe, formerly the brand’s cellar master, 11 chefs from nine countries travelled to Jaipur. Scottish-born Tristin Farmer, executive chef of two Michelin-starred Singapore restaurant Zen, was one of the chefs tasked with preparing an onion-based dish – either a new and original creation or an existing one in their repertoire – to go with the Krug Grande Cuvee.