Fun fact… did you know that when you crack an egg, the height of the egg white indicates its freshness? Older eggs will have a flatter white that is more watery. This is one of many fun facts that I learned yesterday at The Abundant Kitchen while taking a cooking class on making a better breakfast. It was all focused around eggs. Aka my dream. Because I could eat eggs #alldayeveryday 😉 

My mom and I took a lovely little trip out to Buffalo, MN and had such a wonderful morning making a herbed cheese soufflé, poaching the perfect egg and honing our French omelette skills. It was such a great morning trip! We hopped in the car with our coffee cups and in a short 40 minutes were out in Buffalo, MN, ready to put our chef aprons on!

The Abundant Kitchen is set with a breathtaking view of Buffalo Lake and an inviting little storefront that is worth stopping into for everything from taking a cooking class, to picking up local meats and shopping for beautiful kitchenwares. Did you catch that I mentioned local meats? Yes. One of the coolest things about this spot is the emphasis on locally-sourced ingredients. We cooked all morning with fresh local eggs and my mouth definitely started watering when I saw that they had local meats at the front of the store.

Becki, the owner of The Abundant Kitchen, prides herself on building community through food and reigniting the chef inside all of us, all with locally-sourced goodies. I’ve taken a handful of cooking classes over the years and have yet to take one that had such an amazing emphasis on local ingredients, so I was a big fan of that!

The fresh local eggs we cooked with were crafted into so many delightful things over the course of the morning class. I can definitely say that the herbed cheese soufflé was the highlight for me… it was absolutely drool-worthy. We crumbed the dish with parmesan and put a healthy dose of gouda into the soufflé, along with herbs, for the most incredible taste. As I sunk my fork into it’s browned top, I could see the steam rise and the most delightful smell of cheese filled my senses. If I could wake up to that every morning, my life would be made. 

Beyond the mouth-watering foods we concocted, we also got to learn some interesting tips about shopping for eggs. Another fun fact for you… though “cage free” sounds like a lovely life for the chicken, it really isn’t. They are basically given a small door to roam out of, if they can even make it past the thousands of chickens in the cage between them and the door, so most of their time is actually spent in a cage. If you really want eggs from happy chickens, what you should look for is “pasture raised.”

Ok, I have one more knowledge bomb to drop, all thanks to Becki. When you cook with butter, start by melting it and removing the milk solids and water that rise to the top (you’ll see a layer of white contents floating on the golden butterfat), to prevent smoking up your entire kitchen. If you are cooking at high heat, the milk solids and water are what start to burn off and make your omelette-making experience a smoky mess. Skip rushing to open the window and turning on the vent, by skimming your melted butter so you are left with just the butterfat.

If you want to get your fill of more cooking knowledge bombs, make some delicious food with local ingredients and hang out with a fun group of people, I highly recommend checking out The Abundant Kitchen. You won’t be disappointed by taking the perfect little day trip from the cities, to get your fill of kitchen time and to enjoy Buffalo, MN!