Saratoga Chef To Appear On Food Network’s ‘Chopped’ Tuesday

One of our great local chefs will be competing on the popular cooking competition show, Chopped.

Saratoga Springs is a prime spot for great dining if you are a foodie, and one of the city's great up-and-coming chefs will be competing on an upcoming episode of Food Network's 'Chopped' airing this Tuesday at 9pm.

Michele Hunter, who is currently the head chef for Hamlet and Ghost on Caroline Street, will be competing against 4 other chefs on the cooking competition. Michele has been with Hamlet and Ghost for 2 years and was previously a pastry chef at the Adelphi Hotel.

I caught up with Michele earlier this week. She told me Chopped actually reached out to her to compete on the show. While producers did not give an exact reason for the invite, she said her work with the Fire Feast at Pitney Meadows Farm, which is attended by some big New York chefs, is most likely what got her on Chopped's radar (Fire Feast is a summer event that showcases local chefs).

While Michele could not give me too many details before the show airs, she did say the competing chefs were all very talented and the whole process was a little stressful, cooking on the fly. Michele said, "it was very hard. I put a lot of pressure on myself for not only me, but the restaurant and the town to make everyone proud." The premise of Chopped is 4 chefs competing to win $10,000. There are 3 rounds of competition - appetizer, entree and dessert - and a chef is knocked out of each round by a panel of judges.  In each round, the chefs must incorporate 4 mystery ingredients into their dishes.

So this Tuesday at night, root on one of our great local chefs on the Food Network. Better yet, head to Hamlet & Ghost to see what the buzz is all about.

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