Cooking under pressure

Asiago cheese, white pumpkin and cotton candy. Those were the mystery ingredients Colleen Caldwell had to use in a pair of plated dishes she made in under 60 minutes.

No, it wasn’t for the latest food competition show on Netflix. It was for NMSU’s 575 Food Fights, a live culinary battle in Gerald Thomas Hall, in which Las Cruces food enthusiasts try to out-cook one another using secret ingredients to win bragging rights.

“When they revealed the third ingredient, I went, ‘Oh my gosh, what can I make with cotton candy,’” Caldwell says, “but I think I did a really good job with my final dishes.”

A fishery biologist and former NMSU professor who retired after a 40-year career, Caldwell returned to school and earned a culinary degree from Doña Ana Community College in May 2025. She decided to put her cooking chops to the test during the 575 Food Fights in fall 2024 and dished out a roasted pumpkin salad and a pumpkin soup in which she incorporated Asiago cheese and cotton candy for a salty-sweet zip.

“You have to be able to think on your feet how to use these secret ingredients,” Caldwell says.

While Caldwell didn’t win, she nonetheless enjoyed the practical experience of getting to cook in a professional kitchen under a tight timeframe.

“It was absolutely amazing,” she says. “I loved every second of it.”

575 Food Fights, created by chef Danielle Young ’04 ’13 of NMSU’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management, completed its third season over the spring 2025 semester. Since 2024, 575 Food Fights has brought together veteran and aspiring chefs for friendly competitions designed to foster community in the Las Cruces culinary scene.

Young borrowed the idea for 575 Food Fights from a similar competition in Albuquerque called 505 Food Fights. When she became an HRTM faculty member in 2023, she wanted to find creative ways to reinvigorate the local restaurant industry while giving students opportunities to interact with professionals. She thought she could do that by introducing a bracket-style cooking competition at NMSU.

“When I came here, I saw there wasn’t really a culinary community here for chefs,” she says, “and I wanted to bring that here because I missed it. That’s why I started 575 Food Fights.”

The premise is simple: Chefs in three categories, community, student and professional, face off in the Westside Bistro kitchen in Gerald Thomas Hall. They have 60 minutes to plan, cook and plate two dishes before a live audience. The catch? They must find inventive ways to incorporate three secret ingredients into their creations, using two in their first dish and all three in their second dish.

A panel of judges then selects the winner, who competes in another battle the following week. An overall winner emerges four weeks later after the final showdown.

“We’ve been blown away by what the participants have made, especially students,” Young says. “Everyone has done a fantastic job.

“From what I’ve seen, our students love being part of the competition,” Young says. “But I want to find ways to encourage our community to get more involved.” 

Previous winners include DACC student Elizabeth Quintana; Chris Ortiz ’14, an HRTM graduate from Deming; and Mia Dawes, a Las Cruces barista. 

575 Food Fights is open to all at no cost. Spectators may purchase drinks during the cook-offs, usually held Monday evenings, with all proceeds benefitting student HRTM activities. For information on upcoming competitions, visit hrtm.nmsu.edu.