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11. 06. 12. - 13:49
Kaiserschmarrn for a good cause at the Opera
Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I (1830–1916) and his wife, Elisabeth of Bavaria, knew how to make life difficult for the Royal cooks.
While his wife was obsessed with maintaining a minimal waistline, the Emperor was noted for his love of the plain and simple.
He was reportedly far from amused when the Empress Elisabeth directed the royal chef to prepare only light desserts for her, but declared herself far from impressed when she was presented with the chef’s sweet creation.
The light, caramelized pancake made from a sweet batter using flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and milk, baked in butter that he presented her was – she declared – far too sweet.
Her exasperated husband had then decided to try the dish with the words “Now let me see what "Schmarrn" (meaning nonsense) our chef has cooked up."
But as the legend goes far from being similarly dismissive he thoroughly enjoyed the dessert that then became known as Kaiserschmarrn across the Empire.
Exactly how to make it is open to interpretation but all of the best Austrian chefs have their own variation and this week until Sunday the top cooks from three of the best Vienna hotels are offering to cook up Kaiserschmarrn with all of the profits earned going to UNICEF.
The so-called "Live Cooking" will take place every day from today until Sunday in front of the Opera with the money being spent by UNICEF on its Ethiopian fund.
Chefs Siegfried Kröpfl, Rupert Schnait and Alexander Raddatz from the Hotel Imperial, Bristol and Le Meridien will cook up portions for a minimum donation of €4.90 between 11.00 and 22.00 on the Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz.
Last year a similar event managed to raise €13,500.
