A Meal Fit for an Emperor

One of our favorite Sunday activities is to make breakfast together. And what better way to start the day than with a meal fit for an emperor? Mr. N will explain…

By Mr. N

The amazing world of pancakes…

mixing sugar

Pancakes were invented in 1403 B.C. by Erick W. Nickerbocker, the emperor of the city Driew Nwot, just off the coast of New Bozzland. The emperor was very rich and had many chefs. He also was a very greedy man and had a strange obsession of eating cakes.

austrian food

So one night he snuck into the kitchen to try and find one. As he was walking, he tripped and knocked over a box of cake batter, which then fell into a pan.

egg whites and yolks

He fell face first, towards the ground, accidentally turning on the stove in the process. “OWWWWWWW!” he screamed. He quickly rushed to the sink, but accidentally turned on the hot water instead of the cold.

cooking from Austria

“Ahhhh,” he screamed again, running around accidentally knocking sugar, milk and some other stuff into the pan on the stove before quickly fleeing the room. A half-hour later the chefs came in and found a pan with a strange, but delicious looking cake like object in it. And that is how pancakes were invented.

pancake

Okay, so that entire last paragraph was completely made up, but that is how I like to write. I’m pretty sure you figured that out already though. Here is the real information:

This week we made Austria’s emperor’s pancakes or kaiserschmarrn. Kaiserschmarrn translates to emperor’s mess (see now you get the connection to my story…).

baking pancake

This recipe is believed to have been discovered in the late 1800’s when it was made for Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I. One story is that the chefs made a cake for the Emperor’s wife, but she didn’t want it because she was on a diet. So the emperor said he wanted to see what mess the cooks had made. Then he ate it and loved it.

pan cake

Here’s how my mom and Miss A made ours: To begin set the oven to preheat at 400F.

Then whip the egg whites salt and sugar together until the egg whites form stiff peaks.

making a schmarrn

After you finish whipping them, get a separate bowl and cream together egg whites, vanilla, and cream. Next beat the egg yolk mixture into the whipped egg whites. Once you finish beating the eggs together fold flour into the mixture.

messy pancakes

After you finish that, melt butter in an oven-proof skillet. Pour the batter into the skillet and cook until the bottom starts to brown. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then remove it from the oven and turn pancake out onto a plate. Using two forks break apart the pancake into bite size pieces.

Kaiserschmarrn

We dusted our pancake bites with powdered sugar and ate it with apricot preserves.

Austrian Emperor's Pancake

This is a great recipe and I really enjoyed it. It’s usually eaten as dessert, but can be a main course. We had it for breakfast. Everyone else liked it too. It was an all-around 3 spooner. The pancake has a slightly more actual cake feel, which factored in on it not being all 4 spoons.

austrian pan cake

Here’s our recipe: Kaiserschmarrn – Emperor’s Pancakes

It was fun to get to tear it up into pieces. And the apricots and sugar were good too. So far I’ve liked all our Austrian food. Hopefully I’ll like Austria too.

Kaiserschmarrn Austria

Oh, and my mom said don’t forget to enter the giveaway from the last post. And that we’ll be back next time with a Polish recipe. Bye. Mr. N.

Austrian breakfast

35 thoughts on “A Meal Fit for an Emperor”

  2. Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says:
    Reply

    Haha, love it Mr. N! Especially the part about the paragraph being made up… spontaneous writing is the best and you sure have a flare. Thank you for this fascinating post and the history on pancakes — I’ve never heard of the coast of New Bozzland… is it now known as something else or was this part of your creative inspiration/interpretation? ;p Love the idea of cooking a pancake in the oven… I bet it smelled delicious too! My boys would just love this — thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Debra says:
    Reply

    You definitely have a flair for the dramatic–but I think we already knew that. 🙂 Great story, and an excellent recipe, too. I’ve never thought of pancake bites! I love that idea. I think the fact that it had a cake-like feel would give it one more spoon for me!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Eva Taylor says:
    Reply

    Very nice post Mr N, I had no idea that pancakes had such a long and colourful history! I like the mess, I thought breaking up that giant pancake would be fun too. I think you’ll like Austria, it’s a beautiful country with gorgeous historic cities.

    Like

  7. hotlyspiced says:
    Reply

    I don’t think I’ve ever had Austrian cuisine. I didn’t know pancakes had been around for as long as that. I think your emperor pancakes look great and I do like the sound of the apricot preserves xx

    Like

  13. sallybr says:
    Reply

    I will take the pancakes and A_Boleyn’s bananas as extra helpings on my plate… love them, good Brazilian that I am

    great story, great recipe, great breakfast…. all good!

    sending you all Brazilian kisses from Sao Paulo

    Liked by 1 person

  14. monika says:
    Reply

    When we make Schmarn, it’s essentially a crepe batter, cooked on the stove on one side, then flipped to the other side and then broken apart. It looks like it is the same wonderful result. Girls love it with “melted strawberries” (strawberry compote) and lots of powdered sugar. Austria and its food will not disappoint!

    Liked by 1 person

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