Sandwich native competing on national television show Top Chef

When Ashley Merriman, a third generation Sandwich native, was first encouraged to apply for the sixth season of Top Chef, her reaction was a simple two word phrase: "No way". Yet, there she is, competing with 16 other chefs on the Bravo Network reality television series that airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m.

It meant Merriman had to take a leave of absence from Branzino, the Seattle restaurant where she is the executive chef, to participate. It also meant accepting that her career would no longer be defined by the elite kitchens in New York City or the West Coast that she's served in, or the three-star review she received from the Seattle Times; instead it would be defined by her performance on the show.

However, it also meant something else: "It's a one in 17 chance of winning $125,000 — who's going to say 'no' to that?" she said.

Every episode, one chef is sent packing. At the conclusion of the season, the remaining chef will receive, in addition to the cash prize, a feature in Food and Wine Magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Co., and $100,000 in merchandise.

But before she was a Top Chef contestant, or a chef at all, she was little girl growing up in a small, New Hampshire town.

Merriman was born at Lakes Region General Hospital in 1976. She went to Sandwich Central School, and in those days it was so small she had only four other classmates.

"I grew up on welfare, we didn't have a lot of cash growing up," she said. Yet out of that difficulty grew opportunity and an early introduction to cooking. Her mother waited tables at For Every Season, a restaurant that was on Main Street in Meredith.

Merriman would accompany her to work, which she joked was "part day-care, part employment opportunity." From the time she was 11, she was helping out in the kitchen, washing dishes, pouring pancake batter and the like. She said she had a natural aptitude for cooking. "It just immediately clicked for me," she said.

She attended Moultonborough Academy for grades 7 through 10, then transferred to a private high school in Southborough, Mass. In her high school years and during college, she worked in the kitchen of Chequer's Harbor, in Center Harbor in the location where Canoe is found today.

Yet, when it came time to go to college, Merriman chose to double major in philosophy and gender studies. She was able to attend Hamilton College in New York thanks to a generous financial aid package and she said she wanted to make the most of that opportunity. Shortly after graduating, though, she was enrolled in the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

Being a chef was nearly unavoidable for her. "I just strive off the stress and pressure." She likes that the culinary arts allow for creativity, while demanding precision at the same time. When she was in middle school, she took an aptitude test that said she'd do best as either an emergency medical technician, a police officer or chef.

The television show season has already been filmed, but a representative of the production company — listening in on the conference-call interview — wouldn't allow Merriman to answer any questions relating to future developments in the plot line. Nor could she answer questions about behind the scenes details, such as how much time Merriman had to spend away from home and the restaurant.

These days, Merriman finds herself in the odd situation of watching herself on the show, knowing what happens next but unable to tell anyone. After the shooting concluded, she drove across the country and spent the summer visiting her parents, occasionally flying back to Seattle to check in on Branzino. Her father, Roger B. Merriman III, lives in Center Sandwich and her mother, Edibeth Farrington, lives in Andover.

A few weeks ago, when the season began to be aired, people began to recognize her in public. Merriman is thoughtful and relatively soft-spoken compared to some of the oversized personalities on the program, but she's been prominently featured, especially in an episode where the chefs were tasked to cater a bachelor and bachelorette party.

On the program, Merriman said "I am gay, so I have personal feelings about this challenge. I am looking forward to the day when everyone is allowed to get married... I find it beyond comprehension, making us do effectively a wedding challenge, and at least three of us on that challenge aren't allowed in that institution."

In the interview on Thursday, she elaborated on her point, saying she was happy for the couple but thought it was an odd choice for the production company, likening it to serving lunch at a country club that didn't accept Jewish members. However, working in the culinary field, it's something she has made peace with professionally and has catered many weddings or related functions. "I have no problem whatsoever doing the event. If someone wants to propose at my restaurant, I'm the one putting the ring in the chocolate cake."

In that episode, the chefs were challenged to create dishes that complemented the couple's favorite shots of alcohol. Merriman created a watermelon carpaccio to accompany the tequila shot. Finding that she had a few extra moments, Merriman also made a bay leaf panna cotta with cranberry powder and honey.

She only was required to make one dish, and the watermelon carpaccio was judged to be one of the best of the day. However, the panna cotta was deemed slightly bitter from the tannins in the bay leaf.

As part of the Top Chef episode format, the chefs responsible for the least favored dishes of the day stand before the judges' table as they criticize, in brutal detail, what the chef produced. After they are dressed-down, they are sequestered in another room to stew while the judges decide which chef should be eliminated.

The chefs often have to work with surprise ingredients or other unusual limitations. For example, in the episode that aired most recently, the chefs were given 45 minutes to work with a surprise ingredient and serve it for one of the best French chefs in Las Vegas. The ingredient? Escargot — something Merriman had never cooked before, and she found herself before the elimination table again.

So far this season, she's stood before that panel three times, and each times the judges saw fit to keep her in the competition.

What's it like to endure the criticism? "It's horrible. No one wants to be in the bottom. At the same time, I'm a fairly young chef, to get the feedback is priceless. There's no other opportunity like it... If you take it in stride, it's very, very valuable."

Merriman can't let on whether or not she won the cash prize. However, she has gained something from the experience that can't be bought, even for $125,000. "I know it's made me a better chef," she said.