There are several stories of how this dish was invented. One says that the court chef prepared it for Sisi – Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I. He spoiled the omelette, and did not manage to save it (in another version Empress Sisi, who was obsessed with keeping slim waist, refused to eat it finding it too greasy), and then the Emperor asked the chef to show him these leftovers, this rubbish (German: Schmarrn). The pieces of omelette, smelling of vanilla and sprinkled with sugar, did not look beautiful but they tasted fabulous. And since then, the dish has been bearing the Emperor’s name!
Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 glass of flour
1 glass of milk
1 tablespoon of sour cream
60 g butter
Handful of raisins and dried cranberries
Rum
Icing sugar
Place raisins and dried cranberries in a bowl and soak them in rum. Separate egg yolks from whites. Whisk egg yolks with sugar. Beat egg whites until stiff, add them to flour, milk, cream and melted and cooled butter. Mix all ingredients gently and add two handfuls of raisins and dried cranberries at the end. On a pre-heated pan fry a thick portion of the dough until golden on both sides. Serve torn into shreds and sprinkled with icing sugar. Traditionally, it is served with apple mousse but we were seduced by Kaiserschmarrn with apricot jam.
Recipe: Maja Pietruszka, photos: Krzysztof Kozanowski/ USTA Magazine
The Emperor’s Omelette
