My grandmother, a tiny woman with a big heart and golden hands. When I say imperial court, I am talking about the Austro-Hungarian court in Vienna. As a young girl, she went to Vienna and got a job in the court kitchen. I have no idea what exactly she was doing, but it has to be something good. After all, she later worked as a housewife for a fine family in Zagreb, Croatia. And I inherited my love of cooking from her. And some recipes.
And as she once told me, you, today’s youth, you don’t have a clue, when I was young, we danced all nights at the imperial court.
And what can we do in her honor first? Kaiserschmarrn of course.
Kaiserschmarrn or Kaiserschmarren (Emperor’s Mess) is a lightly sweetened pancake that takes its name from the Austrian emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph I, who was fond of this fluffy shredded pancake. It is served as a dessert or as a light lunch alongside apple sauce and contains raisins or dried cranberries. If you omit raisins and cranberries, then it’s just schmarrn.
The story is that Francis Joseph and his wife were traveling the Alps and stopped by a farmer’s home for lunch. The farmer was so nervous that he threw all the fanciest ingredients he had into a pan to make a delicious pancake; worse yet, due to his nervousness and shaky hands he shredded the pancake. Hoping to cover up the mess he then covered it with plum jam. Luckily, the Kaiser thought it was delicious.
The preparation is therefore quite simple. The recipe and preparation will follow in the next post.
And yes, Grandma never said if she ever met Kaiser Franz Joseph.