Recipe for Kaiserschmarrn from Austria

Kaiserschmarrn is one of the most popular dishes in Austrian cuisine. Few know that you can quickly cook the specialty at home. Kaiserschmarrn is a guaranteed success with this simple recipe!

Sweet Kaiserschmarrn is served in almost every mountain hut in Austria. Very few holidaymakers know why the specialty has its strange name. Countless legends circulate about the origins of the dish. One of them is about Emperor Franz Josef’s cook. The pancakes he was supposed to serve to the emperor were said to be a bit too thick and torn one morning. So the chef had to improvise and tried to save the dish with some icing sugar and raisins. Court servants are said to have dubbed this dish “Kaiserschmarrn”.

Origin of the recipe for Kaiserschmarrn unclear

In another version of the story, the chef is said to have been less pragmatic. In the second legend, he got so angry because of the failed Palatschinken, as pancakes are called in Austria, that he put the serving bell over them. When he stormed out of the kitchen in a rage, a servant is said to have mistaken the dish for a ready-to-serve dish and put it in front of the emperor. At the sight of the tattered dish, Franz Josef is said to have asked: “Tell me, what kind of nonsense is that?” To which the servant is said to have spontaneously replied: “Your Majesty, that is a Kaiserschmarrn!”

We still have a third legend that takes a completely different course. In this story, the emperor is surprised by the rain while hunting and then stops off at a farmer’s family. Of course the family has to serve something, but they only have eggs, milk, flour and fruit at home. The farmer’s wife could have used this to prepare the first Kaiserschmarrn. The dish is said to have tasted great to the emperor, whereupon the farmer’s wife replied: “Oh, that’s just rubbish”. To which Franz Josef replied with amusement: “Yes, but a real Kaiserschmarrn”.

The last story in particular makes one thing clear: you don’t need many ingredients to cook the specialty. You only need five ingredients for this recipe for Kaiserschmarrn. And not even a lot of time. If you are experienced, you can cook a Kaiserschmarrn in half an hour.

Recipe for Kaiserschmarrn from Austria

Ingredients for 2 people

1 tsp butter
4 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
200 grams of flour
400 ML milk

preparation

Separate the yolks and whites and keep them in separate bowls. Mix the flour, sugar and milk with the egg yolk and stir until smooth. Beat egg whites stiff.

Heat butter in a pan. Carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the beaten egg white. You can also add raisins if you want. Pour into the pan and heat for a minute. Bake the mixture with the pan for 10 minutes at 200 degrees in the oven.

If the mass still wobbles a bit, but is already brown on top, it can be removed. Now crush the mass. Sprinkle some sugar on top, caramelize and fry a little more in the pan. Serve with powdered sugar or plum compote and enjoy.