Bavarian Recipes

Kaiserschmarrn – Torn Pancakes

by Ralph Kratzer

Introduction

Bavarian cuisine is originally a long-established, traditional country food which became popular in the 19th century with middle-class households in the Bavarian cities.

The main characteristics of Bavarian Cuisine are the numerous meat and roast dishes, dumplings and other flour based side dishes. It´s hearty, simple and a perfect comfort food.

Due to cultural similarities Bavarian food is closely related to the Bohemian and Austrian cuisines and in Germany to the Franconian and Swabian cuisines.

I hope you won’t be hesitant to try this great recipe featured here.

Kaiserschmarrn – Torn Pancakes

Pancakes don’t always have to be circular in shape. This Austro-Bavarian torn pancake speciality (translated: Emperor’s mess) contains raisins which have been soaked in Rum. After baking the pancakes in a skillet they are torn with a fork into irregular shapes and then re-fried again, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a hot blueberry compote on the side. You can eat Kaiserschmarrn as a dessert or main meal for lunch which makes a quite filling meal.

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 300 g flour, pinch salt
• 1/2 ltr / 2 cups milk
• 2-3 tablespoons Rum
• 5-6 eggs (separated)
• 80 g raisins or sultanas
• 50 g melted unsalted butter
• unsalted butter
• powdered sugar
• 250 g fresh or frozen blueberries
• 50 ml water
• 50 g sugar

Preparation

Cover the raisins or sultanas with Rum (alternatively use grape juice instead of Rum if serving to children) and let soak in a bowl while you are preparing the other ingredients for at least 30 minutes. Separate the eggs carefully. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiffened. In a second bowl add the sieved flour, pinch of salt, the melted butter, the milk and the egg yolks and mix all ingredients using your hand mixer. Drain the Rum soaking raisins and fold them into the batter. Add the whisked egg whites and fold into the batter carefully.

Pour the batter (about 1 cm or 1/2″ tall) into a pre-heated cast iron or non-stick skillet with little butter and bake on both sides until golden in colour. Never mind if pancakes break when flipping them over. Tear baked pancake using two forks into irregular shapes, stir and re-fry the pancake pieces covered with a lid for another minute or so. Place torn pancake (Kaiserschmarrn) on a plate and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with a hot blueberry compote/sauce on the side.

You can make your own berry compote using this method: Place your blueberries (or other favorite berries) in a small pot, add water and the sugar, stir and simmer covered on low heat for 5 minutes. If preferred you can blend the cooked sauce in a blender. Serve berry compote in a small dish on the side with your Kaiserschmarrn.

If you make Kaiserschmarrn for many people you can bake/re-fry it in batches then place each batch in an oven proof dish, dust each layer with powdered sugar and keep warm covered with tin foil on low heat in the oven until ready to serve.

Other variations of Kaiserschmarrn can include shaved/chopped almonds or nuts, small pieces of apple, cherries. Blueberry sauce can be substituted with apple sauce, lingonberry sauce, cranberry sauce etc.

Source: Bavarian Kitchen