Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: We're at the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm, located at the Hinchley Dairy Farm just outside of Cambridge, Wisconsin.

All right, good morning.

I'm just checking to see, anybody have anything they'd like to say about the dairy farm breakfast happening on the farm this morning?

I'm over-the-moooon excited today to be here to meet my neighbors, to taste some of this delicious food, to really better understand where our food comes from.

What more could you want?

This is a blast.

– Eli Gay: I've always loved breakfast.

My approach to food has always been the simple, the better.

We're just making good, simple food using the components that the community has to provide for us.

– Luke: This is delicious.

Thanks a lot.

You guys are the best.

- Thank you.

- Boom!

Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[group cheers] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So, are we an organic food cooperative that protects land, or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes; yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

- Our all-natural roll recipe has been around since 1830.

No binders or fillers, just pork, salt, and a savory blend of spices that we make ourselves.

Jones: Making breakfast better since 1889.

- The Wisconsin potato and vegetable growers are proud underwriters of Wisconsin Foodie.

It takes love of the land and generations of farming know-how to nurture a quality potato crop.

Ask any potato farmer and they'll tell you, there's a lot of satisfaction in healthy-grown crops.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, Love your butcher.

Also with the support of The Friends of PBS Wisconsin [upbeat music] - Luke: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[brats sizzle] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clink] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie.

Saturday mornings in June are a sacred time in Wisconsin.

As the sun rises, our farms come to life.

And today, over 7,000 visitors will travel to the Hinchley Farm in Cambridge for the time-honored tradition of the Wisconsin Dairy Breakfast.

– Tina Hinchley: We are doing the Dane County Dairy Breakfast.

So, this will be our third time hosting.

We'll be running around before 7 o'clock and getting everything done.

We gotta roll this morning.

We're gonna be out and about, and I think we wanna eat breakfast early this time because last time, I got stuck in the barn, and I didn't even get to eat breakfast.

For the pigs, the goats, and the kitties.

This is my granddaughter, Piper.

She is the sixth generation of dairy farmers in our family.

She gets to go out with us every morning.

Can you wake up and say hello?

But this is how you make the next generation appreciate what we do.

She loves cows.

She can say moo.

There are so many people that don't realize where their milk comes from.

And it doesn't just come from a carton in the grocery store.

It comes from the farmsteads.

It comes from these family farms that have been here for generations.

And with that, we have to let people know how much we care about these cows and everything that we're doing, not only to protect them and keep them healthy, but that relates also to the milk that they produce and the quality dairy products that are coming from them, going directly to the consumer.

And in Wisconsin, we are very proud of everything that we're doing.

And it's not just your carton of milk or your gallon of milk.

It's our amazing cheeses that we have in Wisconsin, and we have amazing cheesemakers.

So, with that, oh, my gosh, Wisconsin is the ultimate place to farm.

This is America's dairyland.

We have to show our consumers what all of us farmers are doing for them.

– Luke: I wanna eat a sausage I'll eat some pancakes And drink a lot of coffee We're riding the tractor into the farm.

This is really exciting.

Are you excited?

– Attendee: Absolutely.

– Luke: Yeah, what do you like most about the Dairy Breakfast?

– Attendee: I want my cheese.

- You want your cheese.

- I want my cheese.

- [laughs] I like that.

Cathy, how about you?

What are you excited about this morning?

- The eggs and pancakes.

- The eggs and pancakes?

- Yep, yep, and seeing the cows.

- And seeing the cows.

How many pancakes do you think you can knock down this morning?

- Two.

- Two, that's it?

- Yeah.

- You're capping yourself, okay.

- I'll cap it, yeah.

- How about coffee?

Are you excited for the coffee?

- Coffee's good.

- Yeah, that's what's getting me out of bed this morn-- - And the ice cream.

- And the ice cream?

- Yeah.

- Nice, you got a whole-- You got a whole progression planned out here.

- Oh, we know it all.

- You know it all, okay.

One of the things I love about Dairy Breakfast, it's a great way to meet your friends and neighbors.

And frankly, this place is chock filled to the brim with both.

Hey, two, please.

– Vendor: Two adults?

Gotcha.

- Thanks.

Here we go.

All right, good morning.

I'm just checking to see, anybody have anything they'd like to say about the dairy farm breakfast happening on the farm this morning?

[bluesy music] We're at the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm, located at the Hinchley Dairy Farm just outside of Cambridge, Wisconsin.

I'm over-the-moooon excited today to be here to meet my neighbors, to taste some of this delicious food, to really better understand where our food comes from.

Now, today, they're expecting somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people to come through, eat breakfast, and learn all about the agricultural traditions that make this place great.

So, without further ado, let's eat.

[groovy music] Tell us a little bit about what's going on.

- We are celebrating June Dairy Month at our dairy farm.

- Is this like a dream come true?

- You know, we've done this three times.

- Okay.

- The dream part of it is that it's not raining because that's happened before.

But this is wonderful.

Look at the turnout.

I'm so happy that there are so many people that are coming to celebrate June Dairy Month at our farm.

And you know what else?

We have three flavors of ice cream.

Three flavors from Chocolate Shoppe, made from Wisconsin milk.

Made right in the capital of Madison, Wisconsin.

It doesn't get better than that.

- It doesn't.

Thank you so much.

– Tina: Well, I am so thrilled.

- So, coming to a dairy breakfast, the things that I'm really excited about, number one, it's always good to be on the farm, right?

Like, to get to see where our food comes from.

I think that that's such an important and vital part of the American food system is showing people this is what you find in the grocery stores.

This is what you find on your tables.

These are the people producing it.

Secondarily, I love people-watching at a dairy breakfast.

You get a really beautiful slice of Americana.

And I'm really excited to be here today to meet a lot of folks, get to know my neighbors, and celebrate the Wisconsin dairy industry.

Good morning.

Thanks for having us.

Well, this is fun.

We're about 20 feet out.

Still hundreds of people in line.

I can smell the sausage.

Like, out here, it smells warm and comforting and delicious.

Right behind me, you can see these huge paella pans that they're making all the scrambled eggs on.

I know that there's pancakes.

I know that there's coffee.

I know that there's good people inside.

This is my jam.

I'm happy.

– Melissa Haag: All right, so, we're here at Dane County Breakfast on the Farm.

My name's Melissa Haag, and I've been supervising cooking the eggs since 2011.

So, I expect to serve around between 3,000 and 6,000 people, depending on how many people come out throughout the day.

So, we get three different egg pans going, depending on how big the line is and how many people are coming through.

Each pan holds about 300 eggs, or 40 pounds of eggs, and each pan will serve 150 people at a time.

Each pan gets seasoned with some salt, pepper, and chicken bullion.

And then, to top it all off, at the end, when the pan gets about done, then we add some mozzarella cheese to make 'em nice and cheesy.

It usually takes a good four or five people.

This grill gets really, really hot, so we like to have 'em just keep moving, keep mixing all the time.

So, it'll take this a little bit to get going.

And then, we can come on over to this pan over here.

These guys are a little bit further in their process.

So, the eggs starting to form and cook up there.

– Egg volunteer: He's always schlupping off.

- I was like, sometimes I get a volunteer that doesn't wanna quite pay attention to what they're doing.

They get distracted and start chatting, so then they get in trouble.

Hey, you're getting filmed here slacking off, so maybe you better get back to work.

[laughs] - Luke: What are we doing here?

- So, right now, we're cooking eggs for breakfast.

- Oh, my gosh.

- And we've got this huge pan here.

It holds 300 eggs, 40 pounds of eggs.

Each batch is gonna serve around 150 people.

- Okay.

- So, it takes about five to ten minutes to get it all cooked up.

When this pan gets about done, we throw a bunch of cheese in there.

- Sure.

- And then this isn't cooking at home on your cooktop, so to get these off of here, we take a big dustpan, scoop 'em on out for the dustpan, right into the NESCO, and then they go on up to the food serving line.

- How many eggs do you think you go through on a morning like this?

- Oh, thousands.

- Thousands, yeah.

- Until we get it all done and calculated.

But we'll probably turn these pans over 20 to 30 times.

- Wow!

- And if you think 300 eggs at a crack... - That's a lot, it's a lot.

- ...it's a lot of eggs, yes.

- Tell me a little bit about the folks doing the cooking right now.

- The folks doing the cooking.

These are our finest volunteers.

Most of them live and farm in Dane County.

Some of 'em, we recruit one year and we just keep begging 'em to come back.

They come year after year.

These guys were here last year.

They had so much fun cooking eggs that they came back and put up with me for another year.

- Even this guy?

- Even this guy.

- He looks like the sassy one, I can tell.

I can see 'em a mile away.

[laughs] - We just have fun.

- Oh, yeah, of course!

And you look like you're having fun.

- All right, you ready for the cheese?

[egg volunteers talk] - Oh, man, look at all that Grande cheese.

- Two and a half pounds of mozzarella.

Fresh Grande cheese.

Lots of the dairies in the area ship to Grande, so it's kind of like you're getting good, fresh local cheese there right on the eggs.

- I love it.

This is Wisconsin, through and through.

[groovy music] Well, I like this.

This looks like it's quiet.

It's industrious.

You don't have all the noise going on that you do over at the egg station.

- Oh, is that what it is?

- Oh, no, they're-- - Way too much.

- [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

Tell me a little bit about what you're doing here.

- Flipping pancakes.

- Flipping pancakes.

- What's your shift look like this morning?

Like, how long have you been on the griddle?

– Since 7: 00.

Well, yeah, we got here at 6:00.

Started flipping at 7: 00, yep.

- How many pancakes would you estimate you put out?

- I have no idea.

- A lot.

- A lot, a lot.

- Okay, so show me how this works.

- He's the batter... - Luke: He's the batter guy.

Okay.

Oh, look at that.

Slick.

Takes all the guesswork right out of it.

And, if you would, what are the credentials for becoming the batter guy?

- You don't need much, let me tell you that.

[Luke laughs] - Luke: Look at 'em, we're cooking 'em, the bubbles pop, we give 'em a flip.

– Pancake volunteer: Over.

– Luke: Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Well, today's a good day at the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm.

I'm really glad to meet you guys.

Thanks for breakfast.

I'm looking for a sausage boss.

What are we looking at here?

- Sausage.

- Sausage.

This has been going for how long today?

– Sausage volunteer: Since about 6:30.

- 6:30 this morning?

- Yep.

- Not that same sausage.

- Not that same sausage.

No, that would be a pretty dried out sausage at that point.

Look like me.

[both laugh] - Aah!

- Exactly.

- More like me.

[both laugh] [gentle music] - Luke: It's a cacophony of smells in here.

You've got, obviously, sausage.

You've got the pancakes, you've got the eggs, you've got maple syrup, you've got coffee.

Everything's kind of coming together here, and it's a really, really lovely hum.

And the whole pavilion, people are just really excited to sit down, enjoy some breakfast, and become friends and neighbors.

I can't think of a cooler way to spend a Saturday morning in June than on a dairy farm breakfast.

So, at long last, I'm able to finally sit down and enjoy the fruits of the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm.

You know, one of the actually most inspiring parts of today is the people.

I've said for a long time that Wisconsin's greatest asset is her people.

And today, that idea is totally reinforced whether you're from Green Bay or Waterloo, Madison, Belleville.

It's so fun seeing people connect over the agricultural industry that has taken hold and root.

It's our identity.

We are the Dairy State.

To come and see this in full glory, and to see people recognizing and understanding this is where their food comes from, I think is a vital step in creating a better sort of tomorrow.

It's easy, in this day and age, to go to the grocery store and pick things up wrapped in plastic and say, "Well, this is where my food comes from."

But in reality, it's hardworking farmers that put that food on our plates.

And I'm really, really thankful for the perspective to be able to get to see it up close and personal, and how many people it brings joy and absolute happiness to.

This is a good day.

What more could you want?

The Dane County Breakfast on the Farm 2025.

[gentle music] This is a blast.

[gentle music] Speaking of breakfast that's a blast, I don't have to look any further than across the street to my neighbors in Viroqua at Maybe Lately's.

- Hi, my name is Eli Gay.

[laughter] Maybe Lately's is a breakfast and brunch restaurant.

I've always loved breakfast.

[laughs] I mean, I think it goes back to, you know, I think about making drop biscuits with my mom.

You know, weekend breakfasts at my home growing up was big.

We would make, you know, big mess of scrambled eggs and biscuits and pancakes.

My approach to food has always been the simple, the better.

We're just making good, simple food using the components that the community has to provide for us.

So, you know, we're using, like, local eggs from the Amish.

We're using all locally-produced meats, milk and dairy and cheeses.

And being a responsible member of my community to use the stuff that's available to us and turn that into simple, good food.

And everything's made with care and love.

You know, you can expect to be welcomed here and accepted and to express yourself.

And that's what we're doing back there.

We're loving and accepting you and expressing ourselves through our food.

And I feel like that's a big part of what we're doing here.

- What's up, Eli?

- Hey, Luke.

- I'm having, like, a big indecision day today.

- Okay.

- So, I think I'm just gonna order kind of a plethora, a cornucopia of options, if that's okay.

– Eli: Sure.

I would say our most popular dishes at Maybe Lately's are our Mr.

Sandwich, which is a homemade milk bun.

It's got a crispy hashbrown on it, a sheeted egg with some American cheese.

And you can get that just like that.

Or you can add some meat to it, bacon, sausage, veggie sausage.

And it's got some chili mayo on it, and it's just a perfect bite.

And then, probably our French toast.

I always joke with everyone that it's probably the world's third-best French toast.

And-- [laughs] I think it is.

It might even be number two.

That's a really good dish.

And then our biscuits, of course.

- I'm making biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, which we make fresh every day.

- I first met JB in Columbia, Missouri.

I have a restaurant down there named Caf Berlin, and it's a similar breakfast/brunch spot.

But she had started working there, and right away, I could tell she was amazing at cooking.

She just has a knack for literally making anything delicious.

She always amazes me with her process and how she can make something out of nothing.

It's just amazing to me.

- Yeah, I wanted to be a dentist.

I went to college for that.

And then, after I graduated, I was like, "Do I have the chops to work in a professional kitchen?"

So, I started pretty late, but I went in, like, pretty hard.

I feel, like, baking, I could do that every single day for the rest of my life and smile.

It makes me so happy.

You know, I got this special made.

So, it's like, you just stamp out.

It's really cool.

– Arthur: What makes a good biscuit?

- Having a ton of butter and a ton of buttermilk flavor, I think.

I feel like biscuit people are really adamant about, like, their method.

There's the layer boys.

The people that like to make sure they're, like, this tall and 100 layers, whatever.

And then there's like the drop biscuit people.

I feel like we're in the middle because ours are beautiful, but they're really tender still.

High moisture, perfect biscuit.

Actually, my favorite part of a biscuit is the undercarriage.

So Eli and I, in the mornings, will share a biscuit, and he'll save the bottom for me, and he eats the top, which is funny 'cause it's like yin-yang perfect.

But I like the buttery, kind of, like, crunch bottom.

– Eli: JB making biscuits, she makes some damn good biscuits.

I think she's got some skill there, for sure.

– JB: I think that's my favorite food in the world is a biscuit right out of the oven.

Like, nothing better.

I just like rustic farmy food, and I think that's always the best.

I think that makes people super happy.

Uncomplicated, like, this is good because it's good, not because I'm, like, a magician or something.

So, just coaxing, like, the best quality out.

Oh, the steam.

Yum.

There's a lot of things that give my life meaning, but the number-one thing would be feeding people, and how that makes me feel is really... I can go on another day.

[laughs] - To have a passion that you're following is important, and maybe even more especially so in small, rural towns, that you're here and you're open and you're inviting acclimates people to ideas and thoughts that they, you know, might not have been exposed to before, then gives them confidence to maybe, you know, explore their own thoughts and ideas about things that maybe they hadn't had the chance to think about yet.

It's about, you know, creating community, making connections.

- Order up.

So, I'm gonna tell you right now, this is not my standard Maybe Lately's order.

This is, this is a little over the top.

It's a special occasion.

But I'm so excited.

This is truly a staple of my family's routine.

Every single weekend, we find ourselves in the position of eating kind of like this general cacophony of flavors.

And I love it.

I love Maybe Lately's.

I think today, though, I'm going to start with the French toast, because I haven't had their French toast in a little while.

[groovy music] That custard set, usually when you make French toast, you have that, that really thick custard.

And one of the things that actually surprised me is that they use a lot of egg whites in their custard, because the yolks, they use to make their own mayonnaise.

I don't know anybody who doesn't like French toast.

And, frankly, if I meet someone that doesn't like French toast, they're probably not friends of mine.

Now, here's a bite that I'm super familiar with.

Mr.

Sandwich.

Mr.

Sandwich is one of those perfect little combination of things just to get your day started.

You get the hash brown, you get that sheeted egg, you've got the little bit of sauce, and that sausage patty.

This is one of my faves.

Every time I eat this, it's like my first time all over again.

It's so delicious.

The richness of the pork sausage, crispiness of the hash browns, those eggs that are folded up so delicately.

A little bit of American cheese.

This is the breakfast of champions right here.

Mr.

Sandwich for the win.

And of course, the pice de rsistance.

The biscuit.

For any of you who may have been sleeping on the Maybe Lately's experience, the pice de la rsistance is the biscuit.

The outside is crispy, the inside is fluffy, pillowy.

And the thing that I love about this biscuit, biscuits can often be deceptively challenging to make because they are so simple and they are straightforward.

There is a tendency to overcomplicate them.

But in this application, it is perfect, and it's a wonderful vehicle to start any day off right.

Mmm.

You two, this is delicious.

I can't tell you how many amazing days I start with Maybe Lately's.

And I love the fact that you're here as kind of warriors in this community, laying down your roots of food, but then also bringing advocacy and awareness to everything that this restaurant stands for.

I love that you've created a container that is a safe space for anyone who walks through the door, and it makes me super proud to be your neighbor, and it makes me always so happy to eat this food.

Thanks a lot.

You guys are the best.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Boom, thanks.

- Open wide.

- This is why we get paid the big bucks, right?

Is it okay if I touch you?

- Oh, sure.

- All right!

- My husband of 51 years will love it.

[Luke laughs] - I think this-- Strike a pose.

Yeah, oww!

– Arthur: All right, give me a little pose.

Give me a little... [JB laughs] Work it, work it.

Wow.

– Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that, in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[group cheers] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So, are we an organic food cooperative that protects land, or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes; yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

- Our all-natural roll recipe has been around since 1830.

No binders or fillers, just pork, salt, and a savory blend of spices that we make ourselves.

Jones: Making breakfast better since 1889.

- The Wisconsin potato and vegetable growers are proud underwriters of Wisconsin Foodie.

It takes love of the land and generations of farming know-how to nurture a quality potato crop.

Ask any potato farmer and they'll tell you, there's a lot of satisfaction in healthy-grown crops.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit Swissconsin and see where your beer's made.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

Also with the support of The Friends of PBS Wisconsin