Kaiserschmarren

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PRESENTATION

It's not an omelette, it's not a crepe, it's a hearty dish and not just a simple dessert: we're talking about kaiserschmarren! A sweet dish of Austrian origins (like Linzer Torte), popular in Trentino and South Tyrol. If you happen to stop by a mountain refuge after a good skiing session, there's nothing better than tasting this simple and tasty dish made with milk, flour, and eggs often served with redcurrant jam. A real energy bomb, a delight to be savored with a steaming cup of tea or hot chocolate. There are different ways to prepare kaiserschmarren: some add raisins to the batter, some separate the yolks from the whites to achieve a more fluffy effect, some omit the rum, some "overbeat" it or, like us, cut it into portions and then shred it with a fork... tell us your version, it will surely be amazing like the one we propose!

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INGREDIENTS

Flour 00 7 tbsp (50 g)
Whole milk 3.5 oz (100 g)
Sugar 4 tbsp (50 g)
Eggs 6.3 oz (180 g) - (about 3 medium)
Rum 30 g (30 g)
Vanilla bean 1
Fine salt 1 pinch
for cooking
Butter 1.4 oz (40 g)
for dusting and serving
Powdered sugar to taste
Sugar 4 tsp (20 g)
Cranberry jam to taste
Preparation

How to prepare Kaiserschmarren

To prepare the kaiserschmarren, start by pouring the flour into a bowl, the seeds of one vanilla bean 1, a pinch of salt 2 and milk in a thin stream, mixing with a whisk 3.

Once you've incorporated the milk, add the rum 4, then the sugar 5, finally the eggs 6 and continue to mix the batter with a hand whisk.

The batter should be homogeneous, and it will be quite liquid 7: make sure there are no lumps. Take a stainless steel pan and completely melt the butter over low heat. Pour the mixture into the pan 8 and cook for about 3-4 minutes on medium-high heat, covering with a lid 9.

Once the bottom is cooked and colored, you can divide it into 4 parts 10 11, so you can flip them more easily and cook on the other side 12.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes, always with the lid on 13. After this time, you can remove the lid and "tear" with the help of two forks so as to reduce the kaiserschmarren into coarse and irregular pieces 14. Let it cook without the lid for a moment, then sprinkle with a tablespoon of granulated sugar 15, to caramelize.

Cover for a few moments with the lid 16, then stir one last time and the kaiserschmarren is ready 17. Serve immediately while hot with a dusting of powdered sugar and accompanied by redcurrant jam 18.

Storage

It is recommended to consume as soon as ready!

Tips

You can also enrich the batter with some raisins, soaked in the amount of rum specified in the recipe.

Curiosities

Behind this rustic and "scrambled" appearance of the kaiserschmarren hides a royal story that could be guessed even from the name itself: kaiserschmarren translates to "emperor's sweet omelette". Legend has it that one evening Emperor Franz Joseph, not having time to attend the usual evening dinner, ordered his cook for a crepe to be served in his study. The poor cook, taken by surprise and busy preparing dinner for the demanding royal family, forgot about the crepe and left it too long on the fire making it slightly burn; moreover, when he tried to flip it, it broke. Since he had no time to prepare another one, the cook completely broke up the crepe, unable to fill it, he put the jam on the edge of the plate and covered the burns with plenty of sugar. The emperor, seeing this new dish presented to him, tasted it and liked it so much that from that day it became his favorite and was established as a traditional dessert.