The 25-year-old chef beat five other finalists in a fiercely contested final held at Westminster Kingsway College, London, yesterday (11 April).
Reacting to the win, Ferguson said: “I’m happy, really happy.”
For this year’s final dish, the chefs were asked to prepare a recipe for Chaud-froid of Merrifield duck à l’orange with Chartreuse of asparagus. This included chilled roasted ducks, coated in a brown chaud-froid jellied velouté sauce, served with chilled individual Chartreuse of asparagus.
“I freaked out a bit when presented with the dish we had to cook, but two minutes in to it, I settled down really quickly,” continued Ferguson. “I had done something similar to this technique but with vegetables, never with protein. I think I was pretty much on point with the timings.
“As it was a cold dish, plating up was a bit easier. Having been in the last National Final I wasn’t any less nervous today but I was much less anxious the night before as I knew what to expect.”
Ferguson was battling it out against the following chefs: Kieran Bradley from The Vineyard at Stockcross, Newbury; Ruth Hansom, head chef at The Princess of Shoreditch, London; Yiannis Mexis from Hide, London; Christos Sidiropoulos from Ormer Mayfair, London; and George Whitelock from Angler restaurant, London.
The judging panel was led by Honorary President of Judges, Hélène Darroze, who sat alongside joint chairmen Alain Roux and Michel Roux Jr, Brian Turner CBE, James Martin, Sat Bains (1999 scholar), André Garrett (2002 Scholar), Simon Hulstone (2003 scholar) and Clare Smyth MBE.
“This year’s final recipe is a typical example of a great classic French dish, but you won’t find it served very often these days,” said Alain Roux.
“Since it is a cold meat dish, it has gradually fallen from popularity. But for me, the combination of flavours of the duck and orange with the addition of asparagus, is simply unbeatable.”
As the winner, Ferguson receives £6,000 to support his career development, and an invitation to cook and train under the supervision of a leading chef at a prestigious three-star Michelin restaurant anywhere in the world for up to three months.
“I would probably like to take my stage in Asia, more precisely Singapore or Japan,” added Ferguson.
“It’s a very different cooking style and culture there and something I simply couldn’t organise for myself.”