Performance Foodservice-Caro, located in Houma, Louisiana, distributes more than 7,000 foodservice items from fresh produce and choice cuts of meats, to baked items, condiments, seafood and poultry. Including all your non-food essentials and cleaning products.
JUSTIN FERGUSON
Executive Chef, Stroubes Chop House, Baton Rouge
"My Goal is to show people that it is not crazy ingredients and wild combinations that make foodgood. It is perfect technique and using the absolute best produce and proteins you can find. We have those ingredients in abundance here in Louisiana" - Justin Ferguson
Justin grew up hunting and fishing in the Denham Springs area, pulling alligator, redfish and speckled trout from the water and downing wild boar, deer and other game with his grandfather.
He joined the military immeditely after 9/11, soon finding himself in an infantry battalion, fist in Germany, then in Iraq. After 18 months in Iraq, he returned to Germany, using that country as home base as he traveld Europe, familarizing himself with the many cuisines the continent has
to offer.
Upon his return from Europe, Ferguson, 28, earned a culinary cerificate from the Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge and took a job as a dishwasher at Captial City Grill in Baton Rouge, where he worked his way up to lead cook.Upon graduation, he moved to Boston and continued to advance his skills at Tresca. He retuned to Capital City Grill in 2007 as the ktichen manager and joined Stroubes Chop House as Executive Chef in 2009.
He takes his greatest inspriation from the beauty he finds in simplicity. In some of his applications,
he is not so much a cook or a chef as he is an artisan who brings together faultless examples of what he finds beautiful and juxtaposes them in a way that heightens each element of his composition, both on the palate and on the plate.
Jumbo Lump Crab with Citrus and Mango
Courtesy of Chef Justin Ferguson
1 pound Louisiana jumbo lump crab meat
1 mango, peeled, cut into 1/4 inch dice
Citrus Dressing (recipe below)
4 colossal (U-15) Louisiana shrimp, peeled and deveined, leaving tail intact
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of salt
1 large English cucumber, sliced into 4 long paper thin slices (use a mandolin)
4 long, uncut chives
1 teaspoon thinly sliced chives
Gently toss the crabmeat and mangoes with 8 tablespoons of the dressing, taking care not to break up the crabmeat. Set aside. Prepare an indoor or outdoor grill for indirect cooking, Coat shrimp with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the shrimp on the grill and cook for 90 seconds on each side until shells just turn pink.
To assemple, for each serving make a circle with a cucumber sheet and gently tie with a stem of chive. Fill with crab salad, sprinkle with chives. Artfully arrange 1 shrimp with each portion.
Citrus Dressing (makes about 1 1/2 cups)
juice of 4 limes
1/3 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of honey
2 teaspoons coarse Dijon mustard
pinch of salt
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Combine the lime juice, honey, mustard and salt. Slowly whisk in the oil or emulsify with an immersion blender.