Rosemont Market butcher Elise Miller's now a 'Chopped' champion

Rosemont Market butcher Elise Miller won the $10,000 prize on the Food Network’s popular chef competition show “Chopped” on Tuesday night.

Fans and friends gathered at Oxbow Brewing Co. on Washington Avenue for a viewing party, cheering as Miller was pronounced the winner. Miller is in an increasingly long line of Maine chefs who have appeared on the show, and she joined former Maine winners Rob Evans of Duckfat in Portland, Matt Ginn of Evo Kitchen & Bar in Portland and Christian Hayes of Dandelion Catering in Yarmouth. Rachel LeGloahec, a native Mainer who competed on the show when she worked as a chef in Las Vegas, also won. She now owns Weft & Warp, a Freeport business that makes knife rolls for chefs.

Next up will be Natalie DiBenedetto, owner of Figgy’s Takeout and Catering at 722 Congress St. on Portland’s West End. DiBenedetto is scheduled to appear on “Chopped” at 9 p.m. on March 26.

Chefs on “Chopped” are given mystery baskets of ingredients and an acutely limited amount of time to create an original dish for a panel of judges. Each episode features an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert. After each round, a chef gets “chopped” from the competition, until the last chef standing wins $10,000.

In Miller’s episode, “Meat Your Match,” four female butchers broke down a large piece of beef in the first round. The episode will be repeated at 9 p.m. March 14 and at midnight March 15.

In the March 26 episode, titled “Dollar Dishes,” DiBenedetto and three other chefs “set out to make low-cost items taste like a million bucks,” according to the Food Network. The appetizer round, for example, includes homegrown greens and a box of finger foods, and the dessert basket includes “leftover wine.”

Figgy’s specializes in fried chicken cooked in a cast-iron skillet, served with sides such as coleslaw, buttermilk mashed potatoes, and mac ‘n’ cheese.

Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:

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