Kaiserschmarrn - the Austrian national dish

 

Some time ago I was in Vienna, Austria.  Visiting Schloss Schönbrunn and reading austrian menu cards the inspiration to try some 'Kaiserschmarrn' by myself developed.  It is thé national dish in Austria.  A short description could be a big scrambled pancake.  But is is a bit more complex than that.  

Ingredients (4 serves):

• 130 gr flour
• 250 ml milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 50 gr sugar
• 50 gr butter
• 50 gr rum-soaked raisins
• 30 gr sugar for caramelisation

Directions:

• Mix the flour, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt and then add the egg yolks.
• Beat the egg whites stiff, and gradually add the sugar.
• Mix the egg white gently through the dough.
• Heat the butter in a pan, and then add the dough and let it bake for a few minutes.  Meanwhile divide the raisons over the dough.
• After that, put the pan for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven, at 200°C.
• Take the pan out of the oven, cut the dough into 4 pieces and turn them around.
• Let it bake for another 10 minutes.
• Take the pan out of the oven and cut the dough into small pieces (2-3cm).  Watch out, because the pan is terribly hot!
• Add the sugar for caramelisation and heat for a few minutes in the pan.
• Then serve directly while it is hot, for example with powder sugar and a compote made of plums.

The recipe can be made in many varieties.  If you understand the local dialect you can also have a look at this video on youtube.

About Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn is without any doubt the best known Austrian dish. But what is it? And where does it come from?

The easiest way to describe it is a big, fluffy, shredded pancake. This sweet dessert became famous as it was the favourite dessert of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. Schmarren, or Å¡morn is a scrambled shredded dish. Kaiser refers to the emperor. So it was the favourite shredded dish of the emperor.

Of course you can also have a deeper dive in it on Wikipedia.

If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.